Thursday, September 08, 2011

iPad/iPhone app for learning Chinese

My hubby recently bought an iPad, and he installed this Pleco Chinese dictionary app that runs on both iPad and iPhone.

I find that this app is excellent for encouraging children to learn Chinese independently. When using a dictionary(book) to search for a Chinese word, a child have to first recognize the 部首, then count the number of strokes. Then he has to look through the index pages and scan many words with the same 部首 and strokes in order to find the right word. This process can take a few minutes.

When using this iPad/iPhone app, the child can simply write the word and he will be able to know the pronunciation and meaning of the word in English almost instantaneously. He will be more motivated to learn Chinese on his own since it is now so easy to look up difficult words.

Click the following link for more information :


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Tamarind,

For the above app u have generously shared, the handwriting part (the app is free though) is purchased by ur hubby?

Cheers.. Melody

S said...

Did you have to buy an add-on for te handwriting

Tamarind said...

Hi Melody and S,
The basic version is free and includes a small area for handwriting.

For full screen handwriting, it costs US$11.99 for the add-on.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tamarind,

Thks for ur recommendation.

Juz to share that this app is indeed free but the small area for handwriting is actually provided by iPad/iPhone OS itself; yup if we want, we will have to purchase the big screen.

My hubby did not download tis app bt is still able to use the small screen handwriting part on other type of free Chinese dictionary app after some exploring. Hope this helps for other who might want to use this function in iPad/iPhone. =)

Cheers.. Melody

Anonymous said...

hi,
i couldnt find any small area of handwriting. May i know where can i find it? i m using iphone 4. Thank you.

Tamarind said...

Sorry for the late reply.

Just go to settings -> general -> keyboard -> international keyboards-> choose Chinese simplified or Chinese traditional -> choose handwriting or pinyin.

Anonymous said...

My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!

Anonymous said...

hi,
i follow ur setting n set according to stroke. however i still couldnt find the small area for writing :(
need help here.

Tamarind said...

Hi,
You can try watching this video, make sure you watch to the end :

How to activate your Chinese Text Entry in your iPhone

You may need to press and hold the globe button.