1. Agreement
These Terms of Use govern your access to Chinese Out Loud, including its website, guided Chinese practice scenarios, roleplay, translations, speech features, subscriptions, and related services (the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Notice. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
"Chinese Out Loud," "we," "us," and "our" mean the independent operator of the Service. You can contact us at support@chineseoutloud.net.
2. Eligibility and accounts
You must be old enough to consent to online services under the law where you live. If you are a minor, use the Service only with a parent or legal guardian's permission and supervision. You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and for activity under your account.
3. The learning service and AI
Chinese Out Loud is an educational practice tool, not a substitute for a teacher, translator, interpreter, medical professional, legal professional, or other qualified advisor. Guided content and AI-generated translations, corrections, pronunciation feedback, and roleplay responses may be inaccurate, incomplete, or unsuitable for a particular context.
Use your own judgment before relying on any output in a high-stakes setting, including healthcare, emergencies, legal matters, financial decisions, safety-critical instructions, or binding business communications.
4. Voice and third-party technology
Some features request microphone access. You choose whether to allow access in your browser or device settings. Speech recognition, text-to-speech, and AI features may depend on your browser, operating system, or third-party service providers, and may not work on every device or browser.
When you use AI roleplay or translation, text you submit may be sent through our server to an AI provider in order to create a response. Do not submit passwords, payment-card information, government identification numbers, confidential business information, or personal information about other people unless you have a lawful basis and permission to do so.
5. Your content
You keep ownership of the text and other content you submit. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive right to process that content only as needed to provide, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the Service. You confirm that you have the right to submit your content and that it does not violate another person's rights or applicable law.
6. Acceptable use
You must not misuse the Service. In particular, you must not:
- break applicable laws or infringe another person's rights;
- attempt to access systems, accounts, or data without permission;
- interfere with, overload, scrape, reverse engineer, or bypass limits or security controls;
- submit malware, harmful code, or content intended to disrupt the Service;
- use the Service to create or distribute unlawful, abusive, exploitative, or deceptive material; or
- represent AI output as professional advice, human-authored content, or a certified language assessment when it is not.
7. Our content and feedback
The Service, including its software, design, scenarios, text, audio controls, and trademarks, is owned by or licensed to Chinese Out Loud and is protected by applicable intellectual-property laws. We grant you a personal, limited, revocable, non-transferable right to use the Service for its intended learning purpose.
If you send feedback or suggestions, you allow us to use them without compensation or obligation, unless we agree otherwise in writing.
8. Availability and changes
We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service, including features, scenarios, limits, and availability. We do not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or permanent availability.
9. Plans, payments, and subscriptions
Guided Practice may be made available without charge. Paid plans, if and when offered, will be shown on our Pricing page before purchase. The checkout page will show the applicable price, currency, billing period, taxes, renewal terms, and any trial before you are charged.
Paid plans renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless you cancel before renewal. You can cancel through the subscription-management link in your purchase email or by contacting support. Cancellation prevents the next renewal; you retain access until the end of the already-paid billing period.
Payments are processed by Paddle, which acts as the merchant of record for purchases where applicable. We do not receive or store your full payment-card details. Additional Paddle checkout terms may apply to your purchase.
10. Refunds
Our Refund Policy explains eligibility and how to request a refund. Nothing in that policy limits any non-waivable consumer rights that apply where you live.
11. Disclaimers and liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available." We do not guarantee that AI output is correct, that pronunciation scores are objective measures of fluency, or that the Service will meet every learning objective.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Chinese Out Loud will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of data, profit, goodwill, or business opportunity arising from your use of the Service. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded.
12. Termination and updates
You may stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or end access where we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms, created a security risk, or exposed us or others to legal risk.
We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the revised version here and update the date above. Continued use after an update takes effect means you accept the revised Terms, unless applicable law requires a different form of consent.
13. Governing law and contact
These Terms are governed by the laws applicable to the operator of the Service, except where the mandatory consumer-protection laws of your place of residence require otherwise.
For questions about these Terms, contact support@chineseoutloud.net.