Universe Labs

Universe Labs Inc.

Building apps from a parallel universe.

We build Haniverse, the app that teaches Chinese through the parts each character is made of, so learners see how the language fits together on their way to fluency.

Explore Haniverse About the company
明 míng bright The sun 日 and the moon 月 are the brightest things in the sky.

What we build

One app, built to take you from your first stroke to fluency.

Haniverse

Chinese that clicks.

Haniverse breaks Chinese characters into the components they are built from, with stroke order, pronunciations, meanings and mnemonics for each one. Every new character builds on ones you already know.

  • Free to start
  • Simplified & Traditional
  • HSK 1 and up
Download for iPhone haniverse.app
Haniverse’s character page for 明 (míng), an HSK 1 composite of 日 rì and 月 yuè, with notes and definitions.
Haniverse on iPhone teaching 明, bright: “The sun 日 and the moon 月 are the brightest things in the sky.”
  • 01

    Characters, taken apart

    See the parts each character is made of, with stroke order, readings and meanings for every one of them.

  • 02

    A story for every character

    A short scene ties a character’s parts to its meaning, so recalling the scene recalls the character, and lookalikes stop being a coin flip.

  • 03

    Pinyin from zero

    Initials, finals and tones arrive one layer at a time. No lesson expects anything an earlier lesson didn’t teach.

  • 04

    Reviews that don’t hide gaps

    Meaning, pronunciation and word reviews are scheduled separately with FSRS, so knowing a meaning never hides a forgotten sound.

How we build

What we believe about learning a language this big.

  • 构 gòu · to construct

    Structure before memorization

    Chinese characters are not thousands of unrelated pictures. They are built from a much smaller set of parts, and we teach that system so each new character builds on the last.

  • 通 tōng · to get through

    All the way to fluency

    A good first week is easy to make. We design lessons, reviews and reference to keep carrying a learner forward long after the first week.

  • 时 shí · time

    Respect for the learner’s time

    Short lessons, honest reviews and nothing to grind for its own sake. Every minute in our software should leave you knowing more than before.

Company

The company behind Haniverse.

Universe Labs Inc. is a Canadian software company. We design, build and run Haniverse, and everything we make starts from the same idea: a hard subject gets easier once you can see how it is put together.

Legal name
Universe Labs Inc.
Incorporated in
Canada
Product
Haniverse