Learning Chinese with help of Iphone/iPod Touch

Posted on July 15, 2009

A quick post about learning Chinese Mandarin with help of my iPod Touch, because I think it’s a remarkable useful device for learning phrases and – in the case of Chinese – also for learning to write characters using the touch screen. All and all, very efficient for those idle moments of the day to study a new language. I agree it would not help one to pronounce Chinese right, but I consider it a first steps to learn some basics before commencing lessons in August.

iChinese

*Please note my beautifully written “di” in the picture, just to show of in the screenshot. : )
iChinese uses the iPhone’s touch-based interface to teach users how to write the characters on-screen. At first I realized that the amount of study material seemed to be limited, with four libraries of words available. But the first two packages of ideograms have kept me busy for a month already. The application has a useful dictionary too, which is very useful to support you in explaining yourself on the streets of China. Costs: 7,99 Euro (excluding text to output.)
Link

BYKI

I believe that Before You Know it for Iphone (BYKI) is one of the best apps out there to learn Chinese. Using an intelligent flash card system, one can quickly learn (selected) phrases and words. Intelligent because your faulty answers are being represented from time to time until you don’t make them again, leaving the ones you know behind until you almost finish memorizing a complete package. Each chapter starts with reviewing the words/phrases, followed by learning to memorize the Chinese phrase to English. Then the hard part: Hearing English and memorizing the Chinese phrase correctly. Think this software is definitely worth the money, the app stopped working temporary when I upgraded to OS 3.0, and I found out that their customer service (Twitter/Email) is quite responsive and helpful.
Link

ChinesePod

Besides previous apps, I like to listen to the Chinesepod Podcast. While some don’t like it that much, I like to listen to it to hear about Chinese culture, and get some introduction to simple phrases. I find it hard to memorize what they are talking about, as I prefer the earlier discussed BFYI app much better, but it’s a nice human addition.

Others

Any fundamental language tools that I am missing?

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  • Anonymous

    I think Chinese pronounciation is very funny^^

  • Anonymous

    Good to know that you are learning chinese. Show me what you learn next time.

  • http://www.nourishflourishwithlifeplus.com Life Plus

    When are you going to post again? You really inform a lot of people!

  • http://twitter.com/rsharrott Ross Sharrott

    You should also check out Chinese Flash, it’s a flashcard based study tool with an integrated dictionary, 150+ word sets and native speaker audio of tone pronunciation.
    Chinese Flash is newly released, but it’s sister program, Japanese Flash has 80+ 5 star reviews.
    More info: http://www.chineseflashapp.com
    Full Disclosure: I’m one of the developers.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Ross, i’ll check it out