In the spirit of rounding up 2008 on a positive note, I thought I’d share my top 5 tools for studying Chinese this year. Learning any new language is a very personal journey and it has taken me some time to settle on a set of tools that help support my learning style.
As my Chinese progresses, the tools I find most effective will change as well. Consider this list, a cross section of the tools I find most useful at this point in time.
ChinesePod
I’ve been a member of ChinesePod community for some time now. ChinesePod provides a series of Chinese lessons at all levels. The lessons are engaging, topical and are supported by a series of expansion exercises. But, it is the community aspect of CinesePod that makes it such a great tool. With the pace of life today, finding time to sit down and study can be a real challenge, but ChinesePod’s “Learning on Your Terms” approach has worked well for me.
Skritter
Skritter is a new addition to my toolset. It is the first tool that I have come across that take a serious look at improving character retention. According to their about page, Skritter has two aims, to improve retention and to improve the speed at which new characters are learned. It works by encouraging you to draw characters rather than just recognise them. It requires time and dedication and is still in beta, but it is a promising tool and one that has already started to deliver results.
Anki
Anki is the best all round flashcard tool that I have come across to date. Technically, Anki is a Spaced Repetition System (SRS), but to me it’s clear benefits are that it is cross platform, takes care of synchronising your decks and encourages you to devote time to your vocabulary each day. This time tomorrow I will have 30 new cards and 120 review cards available for study.
ZDT
It is hard to love ZDT. The user experience leaves a lot to be desired. But, somehow it has found its way into my list of essential Chinese study tools. It combines a dictionary with flashcards and easily exportable vocabulary lists. With the addition of Anki to my toolset, ZDT (Zhongwen development tool) serves as my main dictionary and master list of words and characters that I should know. You may be put off by the somewhat clunky user interface, but give ZDT a chance. I find it invaluable to my study.
SMS
Yes, you read that right, I said SMS and not Twitter, MSN, email or any other computer centric technology. I’ve found that sending short text messages in Chinese has been a great way to improve my Chinese. With SMS (on my handset at least) there is no way to copy Chinese text into a translator or dictionary. I have to look at each character individually and work out the meaning. The short nature of the messages also makes the task manageable. Reading a newspaper or website is still a long way off for me, but battling against 140 characters is far more manageable.
So what tools do you use? Are any of the tools listed above surprising? Whilst everyone has their own approach to studying, it is worth pointing out that all the tools above can be used in different ways to suit your own learning style. Looking forward to your thoughts below.
Photo credit: Simon Shek
The only one I would add to the list is Chinese Perakun. Its dictionary could be better, but having popup definitions while reading online is really, really helpful.
Skritter is really neat. Not terribly useful for me right now, but it has a promising future.
I’ll have to check out Skritter and Anki. I could use something more than just listening to Chinese and reading.
Hey Bill, George alerts just tipped me off (some 10 days late it would seem) to your link to us over at Skritter. I just wanted to drop by and say thanks for the link. Additionally, I’m bookmarking your blog since I’ve enjoyed reading the more recent posts. Have a great new years!
If you would like to include my Anki flashcards in your deck, you are welcome to use my Deck Key: 5953491e98925fdd
Hey Bill,
I’m Andrew (史度), a fellow ChinesePod student. I started following you on Twitter and then found your blog linked from there. I agree with you about the top two: ChinesePod and Skritter are great. I stopped using ZDT once I found Skritter, but I’m checking out Anki.
BTW, should 这个我的部落格 be 这是我的部落格?
Andrew
Dear Bill,
I found your blog via chinesepod and appreciate the links etc you have shared. Two tools I have founds very useful on my PC (in addition to Chinese Perakun!) are Google Pinyin and the MDBG online Chinese-English dictionary, both of which I found on post on this: blog.
Regards,
Elrond (puerhan)
[Modified: 04/01/2008 @ 17:20 by Bill] – Modified to fix HTML link.
oops seemed to have made quite a mess of the html there!
The best current tool in my arsenal is Wenlin which I’m now using in a completely different context than its design or my intention. I’m a “learn in context” sort of student, so while I’m on MSN with my Chinese friends, I cut and paste any text I don’t grasp into Wenlin and can hover over characters I don’t know and save as a flashcard file for later review. I agree texting is one of the best methods of study/review/upkeep once you have a good knowledge of 500-1000 characters. It’s also a great method for making the switch from Traditional to Simplified (or vice versa) less painful. Get up on italki.com and get some MSN friends.
ChinesePod was an okkkaaay resource… when it was free… but if I’m paying that much money, I expect a helluva lot more than what they provide. I’m sorry, but I think Anki is the cream of the crop there.
Honestly ask yourself: “if I only used ChinesePod, how much would I learn?” HONESTLY, it’d be very little for the amount of time invested. It’s a good supplement… but you should be paying for flagship products for your learning, not supplements.
Hi Bill,
Just been looking around for a way to get pinyin 拼音 & hanzi 汉字 on my mobile and remembered you posted about using sms. What set up have you got on your mobile for this?
Cheers!
Hi, Bill,
Another Chinesepod and Skritter user just dropping by to say hello. I have to agree that both are incredibly useful. And as for ZDT, when I started using it, I found it hard to love, but now I find it hard not to love. It’s not going to win any beauty contests, and it has its quirks; but nothing else does what it does quite so well.
All the best,
Will
I just saw one mention of Wenlin… and I think it is an incredible resource… to bad they have not updated it recently… but I use a combination of Wenlin and ZDT to rapidly gather vocabulary for everything that I am reading.
ZDT is a great tool also.
My biggest challenge now is to find a good Chinese-Chinese digital dictionary… I want to start working only in Chinese… Any suggestions?
Have you tried Loqu8 iCE? See http://www.screencast.com/t/P7PatNCtb for a demo. We are looking into licensing the dataset behind Wenlin…
I wasn’t impressed with ChinesePod either but I must say the best “tool” is to go for a coffee with your teacher! that applies to all languages
I’ll give a go to Skritter, I started with characters this year and it’s been a bit painful….
thanks for the tips
I recently added “Arch Chinese” to my toolset. I like the stroke order animations, Pinyin table and the powerful search capability. The link is http://www.archchinese.com
Most of the stuff I have used or use is on here but here’s my top 5:
First, nciku (www.nciku.com): loads of great stuff her but I love the ability to handwrite characters.
Second, CC-CEDICT (www.mdbg.net): yeah it’s just a dictionary but I love it (even more now that they have introduced Mandarin pinyin tone colours – why isn’t there a standardised tone colour system?). Also has a nice simple quiz (http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=charquiz)
Third, Qing Wen app for iPhone/iPod (http://short.to/2s52): uses CC-CEDICT (like a lot of iPhone apps) but you can look create word lists, look up characters within words and find others words that contain or start with a particular character.
Fourth, StudyArcade app for iPhone/iPod (http://short.to/264u): it has ANKI import feature as well as ChinesePod vocab import. Not perfect but definitely a keeper.
Fifth, LiveMocha (http://www.livemocha.com/): havent used it in a while but you can connect with Chinese people, yeah, a language exchange site but I like it.
You mentioned SMS. Do you know of anything that is supported by Blackberry’s for this?
[...] one question remains, Is Yabla ready to be included on my Top Tools for studying Mandarin Chinese? In short, I think the answer is, not yet. But, Yabla is definitely one to watch. As it continues [...]
That could be mighty useful. It’s a great shame that I’ve just switched my default browser back to Safari from Firefox (stability issues). This plugin could just make me switch back. Thanks for the tip.
Flashcards don’t seem to work for everyone. And whilst Skritter is more than just simple flashcards, the process is similar. That said, I’m a long way off being able to read more than a few basic phrases in Chinese so my choice of tools is pitched very much at the Elementary level.
George, thanks for dropping by. I’m always curious as to how people end up on my blog. You’ve got a good thing going on there at Skritter. I continue to drop by when time allows. Hope you and the team are getting at least a few days off during the festive season.
Andrew,
Thanks for dropping by. I use ZDT for two reasons; as a dictionary and as the master list of words I should know. I then export my vocab list from here into whatever tool (e.g. Anki) I happen to be using.
Thanks for pointing out the correction. It should indeed be 这是 instead of 这个. Have updated it now.
Elrond,
I’ve had a go at fixing the HTML. Please let me know if this is not what you intended it to be.
Elrond thanks for sharing these useful tools. I haven’t actually tried Google Pinyin myself but have heard good things about it. Here are some direct links to the two tools mentioned:
Google Pinyin
MDBG online Chinese-English Dictionary
That’s cool thanks Bill.
Jill, thanks for taking the time to share your insight. I have always avoided wenlin for some reason, but I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve looked at the page a couple of times, but never really understood how it would fit into my workflow.
I have also been a member of iTalki for some time now. I dip in occasionally and often find many new friend invites which has always led me to feel it was more of a social network than a serious language learning tool. That said, there is no reason why it can’t be both. I have found it a useful resource for asking or even answering questions.
I have added links here for both of these tools to make it easy for others to find them.
italki.com
wenlin.com
Once again Jill, thanks for taking the time to share these with us.
@0__o Whilst I can’t disagree with your own personal experience of ChinesePod, I have to say my experience has been very different. I will attempt to explain why.
I have a lifetime ahead of me to learn Chinese. I’m not looking for a quick win here. I have no immediate need to learn the language and, for me, it is a long-term voyage of discovery. In that context, I freely admit that my progress has been slow by many standards, slow even compared to those using ChinesePod as their primary resource.
I selected ChinesePod because it allows me to study in a way that fits in with my lifestyle. I spend 4hrs a day commuting to and from work. I never work in the same place and am always away from home. Depending on the client of the day, internet access is hard to come by and installing software on a PC is a definite no-no.
Given these circumstances and a whole host of other “excuses”, studying with ChinesePod just seemed to fit. It is far from perfect and I’m sure they will be the first to admit that there is room for improvement. I have a whole bunch of lessons stored on my phone and can dip in whenever I have a couple of moments to spare. On a good weekend, I sit down and attempt to run through the expansion sentences and exercise. This works for me, and the most important thing when learning any new language, is to find a method that works for you.
ChinesePod is by no means my only resource for learning Chinese. I use all the tools listed here, and several more. However, the most inspirational tool of all will remain nameless. She knows who she is.
Aww, that last sentence, beautiful! =D
I wasn’t attacking you personally. I wasn’t aware you even thought your progress was slower than most! So I’m sorry for that.
Taking your time is great. However, why would you not make the most out of each minute? It’s like finding a faster-but-equally-priced commute and using the extra time to enjoy breakfast or something. So why take the slower route to slough through?
I used to have a 2 hour commute too! =D I could veg out and enjoy the view, listen to music, or I could read – or all three. It was a lot of time, so I opted to do something constructive. I finished so many books and learned so many things during that time, but I had to turn off my mp3 player to do it. Not saying it’s bad to listen, mind you (I wasn’t language learning at the time, was studying philosophy and science).
So, I could listen to music while reading/learning, but it did slow me down significantly (120-ish pages in 2 hours, or barely 40ish pages with music).
Point is… ChinesePod is like reading a book with mp3: too much noise, not enough substance. I use them too (to this day), and they are a good SUPPLEMENT, but I’d probably be still struggling with tones and ni hao 你好 still (started in August ’08). I’d know zai jian 再见 like the back of my hand, but I wouldn’t be progressing much beyond that lol.
Using Anki religiously everyday, and subsequently listening to ChinesePod, I realized I could pick up on a whole lot more things and understood them better. I was even able to disagree with some interpretations of what words mean (translations are finicky, of course, so I just mean that their translations were correct – moreso than mine – but it helped me more to see it the way I was seeing it, and it was amazing that I was in a position to do that!).
Their glaring problem, IMO, is having only two people who sound like they speak Chinese fluently/natively found in Advanced podcasts: Amber(?) and Jenny(?) (and those guest dudes on ask Amber whose English is worse than Jenny’s, dunno to count ‘em). The rest of them either say the language awfully, or it’s very obvious it’s not their first language. Mind you, I picked this up myself and I’m a complete beginner, both to Mandarin and to language learning, so that’s pretty serious a flaw. Asking three friends (anecdotal, but that’s all I have to work with!), two from Beijing and one from Taiwan, I got confirmation that “they sound bad.”
And, back in August, I remember reading on Wikipedia that they were exploiting a 9-year old to demonstrate how awesome their service is. At that age, the boy is doing more than all those people who are making money off of him, so it provides no real proof, only doubt to me about their service. Desperation, even, because they need to lie for marketing. Now if they had someone who knew only one language for 50 years being able to hold a simple conversation in Chinese after a year of ChinesePod, sign me up! But they don’t, because there are so many problems I could list (but won’t because this comment is already longer than the post it’s for!).
What I do love, though, is you hear the language a lot, which is better than learning using a audioless book.
I’m sorry if I sound rude or anything: it’s unintentional. My bottom line is: nothing wrong with taking your time, but don’t reduce the value of your time by learning inefficiently. I’m sure ChinesePod works, but there are too many things (free and paid) that work better to consider it $$$-worthy.
One of the reasons I opted to go for the iPhone was it’s native support for Chinese. Tried many places to get hanzi on my old Nokia and nowhere would do it.
Ah I see! Wasn’t aware the iphone had that…. guess I’ll keep looking for a windows mobile ap.
Cheers.
Sorry, unable to help as I haven’t used a Windows mobile device before. I had great trouble trying to get Hanzi/Pinyin on my previous Nokia. Would be interested to hear what you find.
Will,
Thanks for taking the time to drop by and comment. Your experience of ZDT mirrors mine exactly. How do you handle the situation where the built-in dictionary doesn’t have the words/phrases you are looking for?
I tend to just look them up elsewhere. You can add entries to the categories with Ctrl+E, but I’m not sure that you can to the dictionary. Have you tried using the Adso dictionary plugin or any of the other dictionaries from the sourceforge page? I haven’t yet, but would be interested to see how they compare.
All the best,
Will
Mark,
Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences. I confess that I have never really given Wenlin a fair chance. For some reason I just didn’t take to it. I may have to have another look as it seems to have a good number of recomendations.
URL: http://www.wenlin.com/
With regards the Chinese:Chinese dictionary, I’m not really able to help out here as my Chinese isn’t good enough (yet). Anyone else able to offer any suggestions?
Tim, I haven’t tried Loqu8 iCE. It appears to be Windows only so am unable to test it. If anyone else has any experience of using it I would love to hear from them. It looks like it could be useful if easily disabled.
@Georgina: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The general conclusion seems to be that the ChinesePod style works for some people but not for others.
You are 100% right about going for coffee with your teacher. Can’t say I’ve done that myself, but putting yourself in situations where you are able to practice your Chinese outside the normal learning environment is key, especially when studying outside China.
I’ve never heard of Arch Chinese but am heading straight on over to find out what they offer. Thanks for sharing.
One of the primary reasons both my wife and I opted for the iPhone is not one you’ll hear many people shout about; the ease with which it handles multiple languages. I tried for a long time to get my Nokia flashed with Chinese support but with no joy, even in China Town.
Unfortunately I’ve never owned a blackberry so I can’t comment. Anyone else aware of anything?