Language Tools: 中文

I have recently come across two great tools that I thought might be of use to any Chinese learners out there…

The first is Nciku, a relative newcomer to the world of online Chinese dictionaries, but a very nicely designed site aimed at specifically at those learning the language. Packed with features that other dictionaries do not offer, I particularly like the flash animations illustrating how to write characters with the correct stroke order, the wealth of usage examples given for each entry, and other sections such as thematically arranged vocabulary lists and the new ‘video note’ feature which visually describes the exact meaning of verbs we don’t have in the English language.

They even have a recognition tool that lets you search for characters drawn using your mouse – in case you don’t know the pinyin or stroke composition of a certain character. And it talks – in English AND Chinese. The site has an active user base, and a rapidly growing database of notes on idioms and usage – definitely one to bookmark.

The second tool is Perapera, a pop-up Chinese translator for firefox. Simply hold your mouse pointer over any Chinese character shown on a web page to display its pinyin and meanings…great study aid, and might help you shed some light on that difficult to read website you’ve been struggling with.

Download Chinese Perapera-kun Pop-up translator for Firefox

props to Justin at perapera.wordpress.com for this one

Happy Learning, 学习努力吧 :)