Mandarin Scholarship Taiwan » software

Web based handwriting recognition tool at NICKU.com

kang-wei — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:33:10 +0000

Nciku is basically an online Chinese-English dictionary and is a great tool for Mandarin scholarship students. I had a look at it a while ago and came to the conclusion that it was a social networking dictionary. You can sign up and interact with others in the nciku community, as you look up new vocabulary. It didn’t appeal to me, as I thought the concept was odd and had been happily using mdbg.net.

That said, the Handwrite Characters function, or handwriting recognition tool, is brilliant! Pinyin.info recently highlighted this feature which I have used several times.

What is the handwriting recognition tool? The handwriting tool allows you to find characters by drawing them. Simply write the character, with your mouse, in the box and select the desired one from the list that appears.

If you’ve ever tried to translate a character, you will know that if you don’t know the radical it can take a very long time to work out. This tool makes short work of that problem.

How does it work?

The tool searches our character database based on the appearance of what you draw, the stroke order you use, and other factors. Even if you are unsure how exactly to write a character, the character you are looking for will most likely be included in results for you to recognize and choose from.

Does stroke order matter?
Stroke order does not matter. We will find your character even if you don’t write it perfectly.

http://www.nciku.com/

The handwriting recognition tool has been around for many years. My Chinese teacher introduced me to it a few months ago. It was part of his Chinese language Windows OS or MS word suite. Unfortunately, I run an English language version of XP and that tool is not included.

This tool/software can also be put on a PDA. A mobile handwriting recognition tool! Just the thing for long bus journeys.

Online role playing game for learning Mandarin Chinese

kang-wei — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:20:42 +0000

Mandarin scholarship students who enjoy multiplayer online role playing games may be interested in Zon. I think this kind of language immersion tool is great for students who are not in Mandarin speaking environments.

The information below is from massively.com:

A team of developers supported by Michigan State University and the Office of the Chinese Language Council International have spent the past few years piecing together Zon — a browser-based virtual world wherein users can learn the Mandarin Chinese language. The game is currently in its open beta phase; you can sign up to play right now.

Users create an avatar and then find themselves in a representation of Beijing International Airport. From there, they may interact with NPCs and other world objects to learn more about Chinese language and culture, as well as communicate with other players to practice their language skills. As they progress through the system, they move up in rank from Tourist to Resident, and finally to Citizen — at which point they may create their own content for the world.

Learn Zhuyin fuhao/BoPoMoFo software

kang-wei — Sun, 18 May 2008 01:29:36 +0000

Learning Chinese in Taiwan will most likely involve learning Zhuyin fuhao (BoPoMoFo, ㄅㄆㄇㄈ, Zhuyin) which is is the standard phonetic system used in Taiwan to teach Mandarin (see earlier post).

I’ve looked at several software/learnware packages and one stands out for those needing to learn Zhuyin/BoPoMoFo.

Chinese LearnWare for PC Windows

Text can be displayed in traditional or simplified characters, pinyin romanization, or zhuyin symbols. There are many interactive Zhuyin/BoPoMoFo games that help you to memorize the alphabet.

Other features include:

Over 1000 characters, Recorded conversations between native speakers, Voice Animation, Speech Recognition and Voice Record and Compare, Character writing, Exercises and games, Grammar notes, Flash cards, Vocabulary builder.

I’m done with my copy of Chinese LearnWare. If you want it I’ll send it to you.

Fast Online Chinese Character to Pinyin Converter

kang-wei — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:29:31 +0000

Just found this easy to use Chinese character to pinyin converter/ translator at PurpleCulture.net.

It’s web based which I like and fast. It supports both Simplified and Traditional characters, which is great for those learning Chinese in Taiwan.

If you happen to need to convert/translate between one of the many different Romanization systems and Zhuyin (BoPoMoFo) the Chinese Romanization Converter over at MandarinTools.com works well.

How did people learn Mandarin before the internet revolution?

Zhuyin/BoPoMoFo/ㄅㄆㄇㄈ & Yahoo Taiwan Online Dictionary

kang-wei — Sat, 10 May 2008 06:40:40 +0000

Zhuyin or BoPoMoFo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) is the standard phonetic system used in Taiwan to teach Mandarin. It’s also refereed to as Zhuyin fuhao, jhuyin, BoPoMo, Mandarin Phonetic Symbols and MPS! Confusing no?

It is a comprehensive system that can transcribe all the possible sounds in Mandarin. The alphabet consists of 37 letters, each representing a single or a group of sounds: 21 for consonants and 16 for vowels and vowel clusters.

[Visit this blog for Zhuyin audio.]

If you are learning Chinese in Taiwan you will most likely have to learn Zhuyin. Personally, I have found that Zhuyin enables me to pronounce words much more accurately than pinyin. Another advantage of Zhuyin is the availability of Chinese learning materials. Every child in Taiwan learns Zhuyin/BoPoMoFo, as a result materials are cheap and available everywhere.

If you are studying in Taiwan and need a fast way (without software) to convert traditional Chinese characters into Zhuyin, I highly recommend http://tw.dictionary.yahoo.com/online dictionary.

You can paste in some characters and instantly get Zhuyin and English translation. It also provides a rudimentary Romanization without tone marks. I make flashcards and this has been by far the easiest way to get Zhuyin translations.

Here’s an example:

部落格

ㄅㄨˋ ㄌㄨㄛˋ ㄍㄜˊ

bu luo ge

Blog

Using Yahoo Taiwan’s online dictionary, MDBG free online Chinese-English dictionary, Babel Fish Translation and Google Pinyin certainly makes studying Chinese much easier.

Babel Fish Translation…fast Chinese to English translation

kang-wei — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:12:13 +0000

Babel Fish ©Jenny M. Parks jmparks.elfwood.com

Babel Fish Translation is a web-based application developed by AltaVista (now taken over by Yahoo) which machine translates text or web pages from one of several languages into another. The translation technology for Babel Fish is provided by SYSTRAN, whose technology also powers a number of other sites and portals.

Currently there are 36 translation options including Chinese Traditional to English, Chinese Simplified to English, English to Chinese Traditional and English to Chinese Simplified.

It also allows you to input a URL and translate an entire website. This function hasn’t always worked well for me but when it works it’s great.

Of course this is just a machine translation and should only be used to get the gist of the information being translated.

The Babel fish is a fictional species in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. It is introduced in the first novel of the series as a species of fish that can instantly translate any language to any other language. The word Babel is a borrowed reference to the biblical account of the city of Babel and the various languages which were said to have arisen there.

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/

Google Pinyin: The easiest way to type Chinese

kang-wei — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:50:49 +0000

Google Pinyin was released about a year ago. I must admit I didn’t really know what to expect when I downloaded it and installed it. I am only a beginner and the Google Pinyin site is written entirely in Chinese so I didn’t expect to get very far. About 60 seconds later I was typing simple sentences in Chinese. It’s that easy to use.

As you can see from the image above, imputing Hànyǔ pinyin (without any tones) activates a drop down menu with Chinese character suggestions. This kind of software is known as an Input Method Editor (IME). An IME is a program or operating system component that allows computer users to enter characters and symbols not found on their keyboard.

Using Google Pinyin and MDBG online Chinese-English dictionary I can complete my class assignments in double quick time.

Shawn over at Scattered-notes has gone to a great deal of trouble to translate the setup options and other configurations for Google’s Pinyin Input Method Editor. Thanks Shawn!

Jetorz has outlined 5 big advantages of Google Pinyin.

Google Pinyin is currently only compatible with Windows. It works fine with Firefox.

I love ChinesePod…我愛中文pod

kang-wei — Sun, 04 May 2008 08:19:23 +0000

I listen to ChinesePod mp3s everyday. It’s free and I can listen anytime. CP has really got the formula right and is now the leading example of a Web 2.0 language learning service.

The podcasts are short, usually around 15 minutes and they are generally quite entertaining. I take my mp3 player everywhere with me and often listen to 4-5 a day.

I have been meaning to pay for the premium service, which gives you access to a huge amount of written resources and a vibrant community of learners, for a very long time. But I have found that my Chinese classes provide enough written material so I just supplement that with the mp3s.

Chinese students in Taiwan may well ask if CP materials are available in traditional characters, apparently they are. I found the information below on Forumosa.com:

Once you’re logged into CP, click on the tab that says “Your Feed”, scroll down to “Step 3″ and click on the “PDF Transcript (Traditional)” checkbox. Be sure to click on the “Save” button. Then copy and paste the feed url into your podcast aggregator. You can then download both the transcript and the podcast.

A browser plugin can also be used by Firefox users:

For Firefox users CP also recommends a browser plugin that:

works with Mozilla Firefox (versions 1.5 – 2.x)
replaces simplified characters with traditional ones on the dialogue/expansion/vocabulary pages
adds traditional character support to vocabulary lists/games/etc.
replaces the link to the simplified PDF with the link to the traditional PDF

Things it won’t do:

work with other browsers (without tweaking – see below)
alter content you already have in your vocabulary list
change Chinese text posted in comments, introductions, titles, ID3 tags, etc.

To download the plugin visit the ChinesePod blog.

http://chinesepod.com/