Privacy Policy

Last updated: 4 October 2026

Who we are

Chunking Chinese ("we", "us", "our") is a Mandarin speaking trainer available at chunkingchinese.com/app. This policy explains what data we collect when you use the website and the trainer, why we collect it, and the rights you have over it.

Chunking Chinese is run by Karl Baker and Will Hart, who are joint controllers of the personal data described in this policy and decide together how it is used. Will Hart is registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under reference ZB890628. You can reach either of us at will@chunkingchinese.com.

Your account

If you create an account, we collect your email address and a password (stored only as a cryptographic hash, never in plain text). An account lets us save your progress on our servers so it isn't lost if you change device, and helps us stop spam and bots from degrading the service.

We use your email to operate the service and occasionally send marketing and update emails. Your email will never be shared with or sold to third parties.

The waiting list

If you ask to hear when places open, we store the email address and first name you gave, when you asked, and whether you confirmed the address by clicking the link we sent. Only confirmed addresses are ever emailed. You can leave at any time using the unsubscribe link on any of our emails, and we honour that permanently.

After you confirm, we offer an optional form asking when a batch opening would suit you. If you fill it in, we store the time zone you chose and the hours you ticked, separately for weekdays and weekends. We use it for one thing: choosing an hour to open a batch that suits as many people as possible. It is never shared, it is never used to work out where you are, and leaving it blank changes nothing about your place on the list. You can change or clear it at any time from the same link, and it stops counting towards anything the moment you start a trial.

Your learning data

To run the trainer, we store your placement level, which chunks and words you have studied, your review schedule, and your practice attempts (the sentence you were asked to say, what you said or typed, and how it was graded). If you add your own sentences or chunks, we store those too. This data is tied to your account, is not visible to other learners, and exists solely to run your practice sessions.

Speech input

Chunking Chinese is a speaking trainer, so with your permission it listens through your microphone while you answer. Audio is used for two things: to work out which words you said and in what order, and to score how you pronounced them. Speech recognition is performed either by your browser's built-in speech engine or by our speech provider (Microsoft Azure AI Speech), which processes the audio to return a transcript. If pronunciation feedback is switched on for your account, the same short clip is also sent to our pronunciation assessment provider (SpeechSuper), which returns a per-character score for the sound and the tone of what you said. Those providers do not keep your audio, and neither do we, unless you choose to switch on Store my recordings (below). The text transcript of your answer and the pronunciation scores are kept as part of your practice history, so we can show you progress and improve the trainer. You can turn pronunciation feedback off in Settings, and if you would rather not speak at all, or the microphone is unavailable, you can type your answers instead.

We also keep a few technical measurements about each take, so we can find and fix problems with particular microphones. Many wireless headsets take up to a second to start capturing after you press record, which can lose the first words of your sentence, and these measurements are how we tell which devices do it. They are: how long your microphone took to start capturing, how loud the audio was over time (a series of numbers, not the audio itself), and the name your browser gives your microphone, for example "Headset Microphone (Jabra Link 390)". Please note that if you have given your device a personal name, that name is what your browser reports and what we would store. None of this lets us reconstruct what you said, and it is used only to improve how the trainer handles different microphones.

Store my recordings (optional)

Store my recordings is a setting you can switch on in the trainer. It is off unless you switch it on, and it is only for users aged 18 or over.

What we keep. While it is on, we keep the audio of each answer you speak, stored against your account's internal identifier rather than your email address. Nothing is kept while it is off, and nothing is kept when your browser's own speech engine is doing the listening, because then no audio reaches us.

Why. So you can listen back to your own recordings and hear your progress; so we can find and fix problems, such as the trainer mishearing you; and so we can improve and train the speech recognition the trainer uses.

Who listens. Will Hart and Karl Baker, who build Chunking Chinese, and nobody else. We may write down what was said in a recording, to check and improve recognition.

Where it goes. Recordings are stored on Microsoft Azure in the UK. They may be processed by speech technology providers acting on our instructions, to test or improve recognition. We never sell your recordings, never share them for anyone else's purposes, and never use them for advertising. We do not use them to identify you or to make a voiceprint.

Your choice. We rely on your consent, which you give when you switch the setting on and can withdraw at any time by switching it off. Switching it off stops new recordings being kept; the ones already stored stay until you delete them.

Deleting them. You can listen to your recordings, and delete any or all of them, at any time from the My recordings page in the trainer's Settings. A deleted recording is permanently removed from our storage within 7 days. If your account is deleted, all your recordings are deleted with it.

What stays after you delete a recording. The text of what the trainer recognised is part of your practice history and stays with it, as described above. If we have written down what was said in a recording, or you told us what you said, we keep that written note too. Improvements to recognition already made with a recording cannot be undone once it has been used.

AI grading

Your answers (as text) are graded with the help of an AI service (Microsoft Azure OpenAI) running in our own cloud environment. What you say or type in an answer, and any sentences you add yourself, are sent to that service for grading and analysis. Please do not include personal information in custom sentences or spoken answers. AI grading can make mistakes; it is a learning aid, not an authority.

Usage statistics

We collect first-party usage statistics (for example that a practice session was completed, or that a visitor arrived at the landing page) so we can see which features are used, find bugs, and improve the trainer. These events include a timestamp, and for visitors arriving from elsewhere, the source of the visit (a referring site's domain or a campaign tag, never the full page you came from). Your IP address is processed to associate anonymous activity with usage patterns and to prevent abuse. We use no third-party analytics services and no advertising trackers; this data stays with us and is not used to build advertising profiles.

Feedback and crash reports

If you send us feedback through the in-app feedback button, or the app crashes and files an automatic error report, we receive what you wrote plus technical details (the app version and, for crashes, the error message). Feedback can be sent without an account and is anonymous unless you choose to include contact details in your message. Feedback goes only to us and is never published.

Reviews

If you write a review from your account page, you are asking us to publish it. We store your star rating, the words you wrote, the name you chose to be credited by, and the date. We read every review before it appears anywhere, and we may shorten it or correct a typo; we never rewrite what you said, and the version you submitted is kept alongside any edit.

A published review shows only the name you chose, an indication of your level, your rating and your words. It never shows your email address, your progress, or anything else about your account. If you joined our waiting list, the form suggests the first name you gave there so you do not have to type it again; you can change it to anything you like before you send it, and what we publish is whatever is in that box.

You can rewrite your review at any time from your account page, which takes it off the site until we have read the new version, and you can ask us to remove it altogether by writing to will@chunkingchinese.com. Reviews we have not published are visible only to us.

Cookies and local storage

We use no advertising cookies and no third-party tracking cookies. Your browser's local storage holds a small number of items needed for the site to work: your sign-in token if you log in, your progress and preferences, and a flag remembering that you've seen our privacy notice. These stay on your device and can be cleared at any time through your browser settings (you will be signed out and local progress will be lost).

Our pages load fonts from Google Fonts; when your browser fetches them, Google receives your IP address as part of that request, as with any web resource.

Where your data lives

Our servers run on Microsoft Azure, which hosts the website, database, speech recognition, and AI grading. Pronunciation and tone scoring is performed by SpeechSuper. Cloudflare delivers the website. These providers process data on our behalf under their own security and privacy commitments; none of them may use your data for their own marketing.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR and equivalent data-protection laws, you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you (including any recordings you have stored), ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete your account and its data entirely. To exercise any of these rights, email us at will@chunkingchinese.com from the address on your account, and we will respond within a reasonable period (at most the timescales the law requires).

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first, so please contact us before you do.

Retention and security

We keep your account and learning data while your account is active, and delete or anonymise it when your account is deleted. Recordings you choose to store are kept until you delete them or your account is deleted. All traffic to and from the site is encrypted (HTTPS), and passwords are stored only as cryptographic hashes.

Children

Chunking Chinese is intended for users aged 13 and over. Users under the age of digital consent in their jurisdiction should only use the service with parental or guardian consent.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will post the updated version here with a new "Last updated" date, and where changes significantly affect account holders, we will let you know by email or in the app. Continuing to use the service after a change takes effect means the updated policy applies.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: will@chunkingchinese.com

See also our Terms and Conditions.