Read Chinese aloud in a natural Mandarin voice
Lullula reads Chinese web pages, Google Docs and PDFs with a neural Mandarin narrator and highlights each sentence as it speaks. For learners who can read the characters but want the pronunciation, and for anyone reading Chinese news. Free, no account needed.
Free Β· No account needed Β· Chrome, Edge and Firefox
Xiaoxiao is one of Lullula's Chinese narrators and speaks Mandarin. Press play and she introduces herself. The other pills are the same engine in a few other languages, for comparison.
These are premium neural voices. The free plan includes 2,000 words a month of them, with no account needed, plus unlimited listening with the voices built into your browser.
How to have Chinese text read aloud
Three steps, and nothing to set up beyond installing the extension.
Install Lullula
Add the free extension from the Chrome Web Store (Chrome, Edge) or Firefox Add-ons. No account needed.
Open something in Chinese
A news article, a Chinese Wikipedia entry, a blog post, a Google Doc from class, a text-based PDF.
Press play
Lullula recognises that the page is Chinese and reads it with a Mandarin narrator, one highlighted sentence at a time. Slow it down to hear the tones, or skip back a sentence.
Where Chinese text to speech helps
For learners who read faster than they can pronounce, heritage speakers, and anyone reading the news in Chinese.
Chinese news sites
Read the headline yourself, then let the narrator read the article. If it's long, the AI summary gives you the gist before you commit.
Chinese Wikipedia
Long entries dense with names and technical terms. A narrator sets the pace, the highlight keeps your place, and Lullula remembers where you stopped.
Characters you know, sounds you don't
You recognise the characters but aren't sure of the pronunciation or the tone. Hearing each sentence as it's highlighted supplies the sound without adding pinyin to the page.
Slow down for the tones
Drop the speed toward 0.5x to hear tones and syllable boundaries clearly, repeat the sentence, then skip back and try it again.
What it can't do (yet)
Lullula reads text. A few things about Chinese text in particular are worth knowing before you install.
Pinyin and mixed-language pages
Lullula picks one narrator per page from the page's language. Real characters sound right; pinyin is Latin-alphabet text and won't be read as Mandarin. A page that mixes Chinese and English is read by a single narrator throughout.
Scanned PDFs
A PDF that is only a picture of a page β a scanned book, a photographed handout β has no text layer, so there is nothing to read. Text-based PDFs work; image-only scans don't.
DRM-protected books
E-books bought with copy protection, which includes most Kindle and store purchases, can't be opened. DRM-free EPUBs read fine, with the same highlighting and speed control as a web page.
Questions, answered
Is it Mandarin?
Yes. Xiaoxiao, the narrator in the sample above, reads Mandarin. Several Chinese narrators are available; pick the one you prefer and Lullula uses it on every Chinese page.
Do I need pinyin on the page?
No. You hear the pronunciation as each sentence is highlighted, so the characters and the sound arrive together. The page doesn't need any romanisation.
Is there a Chinese version of this site?
Yes. lullula.io/zh is Lullula's Chinese-language site. The extension is the same one, and it reads pages in any of its 80+ languages regardless of which site you installed it from.
Can I slow it down for tone practice?
Yes. Speed runs from 0.5x to 2x. Skip back a sentence to hear it again, and Lullula remembers where you stopped, so you can come back to a long text later and carry on.
Is it free?
Yes. Listening with your browser's built-in voices is free and unlimited, and the free plan adds 2,000 words a month of premium neural voices like Xiaoxiao, with no account needed. If you want more premium listening, Pro is $4.99 a month, or $4.17 a month billed yearly ($49.99 a year).
Does it work on my phone?
Not yet. Lullula is an extension for desktop Chrome, Edge and Firefox; there is no phone app.
Start listening in Chinese
Install Lullula, open a Chinese page, press play. Free, no account needed.
Other languages: Japanese, Spanish, French and German β or see text to speech in 80+ languages. Lullula also reads Google Docs, PDFs and EPUBs aloud.
Add to Chrome β It's Free