Mandarin for TCM and Acupuncture
Learn spoken Mandarin tailored specifically for traditional Chinese medicine clinics and acupuncture practice. Build functional clinical communication from patient intake and the four examinations to needle sensation checks and herbal aftercare.
Like Duolingo, but for Mandarin for TCM and Acupuncture. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
23 levels across 3 sections, about 46 minutes end to end, roughly 9 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Opening the Clinical Encounter, Conducting the TCM Intake and Diagnosis, and Practicing Acupuncture and Delivering Treatment. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Mandarin for TCM and Acupuncture
- Pinyin writes Mandarin sounds phonetically using the Latin alphabet and tone marks
- Each Pinyin syllable corresponds to the pronunciation of a simplified Chinese character
- Learners can speak and comprehend oral Mandarin using Pinyin without first memorizing written Hanzi strokes
- Mandarin tones change the dictionary meaning of a syllable, not just its emotional emphasis
- The falling tone 'wèn' means 'to ask', while the rising second tone 'wén' means 'to smell' or 'to hear'
- Saying the wrong tone can turn a standard medical polite phrase into an entirely different request
- 'Nǐ hǎo' is the standard, everyday greeting for 'hello'
- 'Nín hǎo' uses the polite honorific pronoun 'nín' to show respect to elders or patients
- 'Nín guì xìng' literally asks for an 'honorable surname' and serves as the customary formal way to ask someone's last name
- 'Shì' means 'to be' and is used to confirm an identity or factual statement ('yes, it is')
- 'Duì' means 'correct' or 'right' and confirms that what was said is accurate
- 'Bù shì' denies the statement ('is not'), and 'qǐng' means 'please'
- Mandarin expresses symptoms simply by following Subject-Verb order: state the person/body part first, followed directly by the pain descriptor
- Mandarin does not require a linking verb like 'is' (shì) before sensory or pain predicates
- 'Tóu' refers to the head
- 'Bèi' refers to the back
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Mandarin for TCM and Acupuncture the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
How does Pinyin match up with simplified Chinese characters?
Get it right to open this lesson and 22 more in the app.
Where Mandarin for TCM and Acupuncture takes you
- 1
Opening the Clinical Encounter
- Pronouncing Pinyin and Clinical Greetings
- Identifying Body Parts and Describing Pain
- 2
Conducting the TCM Intake and Diagnosis
- Asking Intake Questions and Taking History
- Directing the Four Diagnostic Examinations
- Describing Patterns and TCM Disharmonies
- 3
Practicing Acupuncture and Delivering Treatment
- Navigating Meridians and Acupoint Names
- Directing Needling and Patient Sensations
- Explaining Treatments, Herbs, and Aftercare
3 sections · 8 units · 23 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Mandarin for TCM and Acupuncture is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Mandarin for TCM and Acupuncture today.
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