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Hi parents,

I’m a new dad who recently moved to Singapore. As I think about raising my child here, I’ve become interested in how children in English-speaking families get comfortable speaking Mandarin.

I’ve been building Xiaozhu (小竹), an AI Mandarin chat buddy for children aged 5–9.
The idea is simple: give children a friendly partner to talk to, where it’s okay to start in English or mix both languages. Xiaozhu responds in simple Mandarin and encourages them to join in, at their own pace.

We’re currently looking for a few families to join a free early trial. It’s still early, and I’d love honest feedback on whether children enjoy the conversations and what we could improve.

You can find out more and apply here:
https://xiao-zhu.xyz/

You’ll need to sign in and submit a trial application. Once approved, we’ll guide you through getting started.

Feel free to reply here or PM me with any questions.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for sharing! It’s lovely to see a parent building something useful for their child and sharing it with other families.

I’m a new dad who recently moved to Singapore, and I’ve also been working on something in this space — Xiaozhu (小竹), an AI Mandarin chat buddy for kids aged 5–9, especially those who mainly speak English at home.

The idea is to give them a friendly partner to practise with, where it’s okay to start in English or mix both languages. We’re currently looking for a few families to join a free early trial and share honest feedback.

Would love to connect with other parents here. Happy to share a short demo and trial details if anyone’s interested!