Free online tools to learn Chinese

The internet is full of sources to learn Chinese. This article gives an overview of the offers and evaluates them. It is a team project by students of the Fall 2011 "Beginning Chinese I" class at Utah Valley University.

Integrated Chinese

• http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/chinese/ICL1P1.htm Integrated Chinese Level 1 Lesson 1 to Lesson 22

This website provides an array of different Powerpoint slides that accompany each lesson. The best feature about this website is the online exercises. In addition to the Powerpoint slides, there are exercises where you can build sentences with words provided (just like the workbooks). There are also exercises with fill in the blank sentences. It's a great tool, and much faster than writing. This site also provides dialogues with sound clips and animated characters so you can learn how to say certain words correctly and how to write certain characters with the correct stroke order.

• http://www.language.berkeley.edu/ic/ (Edition 2) MULTIMEDIA EXERCISES by University of California, Berkeley

On the homepage you choose from any of the twenty-two lessons in the Integrated Chinese I Textbook (3rd Edition). You then have the choice between traditional and simplified characters. Once you start you will be asked to read a short dialogue. The great thing about this website is that you can read the text your self, although there is also the option to listen and read the text. You also have the choice to underline new words in the dialogues.

• http://www.integratedchinese.com/ online study material Integrated Chinese

• http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/pcr/Supplements/Supplement for 101/Supplement1.htm Dr. Xie, CSULB: Supplement 1

Pinyin

• A Brief Introduction to Pinyin http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/pcr/soundsys/introtopinyin.htm by Dr Xie, CSULB

Here you'll find a great resource for beginners. This site is dedicated to pinyin. Words are organized by consonants, vowels, tones, and syllables. Click on each letter and you'll hear the tone.

• Pinyin Practice http://www.pinyinpractice.com/wangzhi/ by University of Iowa,

This website is fantastic not just for studying pinyin but for other purposes as well. Once you're on the tone page, you can choose to study by choosing a tone, entering a tone, choosing a tone combination, or entering a tone combination. You have the choice to pick you preferred method of studying. If you select "choose a tone" you will be prompted to choose one of the four tones listed for the pinyin that appears. If you choose "enter tone", you must enter a number for the corresponding tone and press enter. You do the same thing for the two "tone combinations" exercises. For all exercises, there is the option to include the character.

• Pinyin song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSlNwgyFjhY

This six minute video helps in learning the pronunciation of single letters and combinations.

• Pinyin Builder: http://www.language-power.cn/pinyin-builder.html

Vocabulary

Online Flashcard for “Integrated Chinese http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/fc-options.php?deck=ic3-1-1 (3rd Ed.), Level 1,Part 1, by Yellow Bridge

The Online Flashcard is a great resource. It may not look as modern as Skritter, but it truly has some interesting features. On the Language tab, found on the left, you'll find nine sections that provide different study guides. Out of these nine sections, these six are the ones I felt were the easiest tools for studying.

The Chinese-English Talking Dictionary The most appealing thing about this section is probably the ability to search for a character or word by just drawing it. Talk about saving some time! The second is to see related words. It's like extra practice with radicals.

• Lets you listen to words.
• Handwriting recognition.You can draw it with your mouse to search for a word.
• Fuzzy pinyin matches words even when you are unsure of the exact pronunciation.
• Word and character decomposition, character etymology, and stroke order.
• Lists related words that share the same head or tail word; derived words, and words with a similar pronunciation.
• Sample sentences helps understand proper word usage.

Online Chinese Flashcards It's extremely easy to use and the great thing about this is you can study words from each dialogue. While writing real flash cards can take tremendously long and doesn't necessarily help you remember the characters, it's a good quick study guide. Once you pick which lesson and dialogue you want to study (you can pick more than one) you have the option to shuffle the flash cards. There are two modes to choose from. "Study" mode shows the character and pinyin. "Practice" recognition only has the character with the choice to flip the card and see the pinyin.

Chinese Memory Game This is great for recognition. Like the flashcards, you can pick any dialogue or lesson and then match the pinyin with the characters. It just might be a bit better (and a lot more fun) than the online flashcards.

All About PinyinThis is great for a refresher. Tones are definitely hard to remember sometimes, and these are two great tools.

• Rules: Initials, Finals, and Tones.
• Valid Combinations.

A is for Love http://www.chinapage.org/flash/love.html - a set of flash cards for learning Chinese It is extremely easy to use. You just select a letter from the alphabet to start. A character is shown as well as the definition. By simply clicking on the character the pinyin is revealed. The downside of this website is that there isn't any particular order, just alphabetical order. You can't study a list of words from the textbook for example.

Vocabulary Index http://my.cheng-tsui.com/files/IC3Textbook1-1VocabIndexTradSimp.pdf (Chinese-English) for Integrated Chinese, Level 1 Part 1, by Cheng & Tsui This is a PDF of Chinese characters. It's very similar to the one found towards the end in the Integrated Chinese I Textbook (3rd Edition). It consists of a table, with characters staring on the left, then pinyin, part of speech, translation, and finally the lesson the word appears in. The table is organized alphabetically, like in the textbook, by pinyin.

Characters

• Strokes of Chinese Characters http://www.csun.edu/~ll51106/stroke.html, by Li-Bu Larson, CSUN

This resource, provided by the California State University - Northridge, is an excellent guide, both for those who are new to writing characters and for those who would like a refresher. This website is different from the textbook in that the strokes aren't just demonstrated, step by step, but they are also highlighted. Before each stroke there are instructions and tips to help you remember the order and type of stroke required.

• Basic Radicals http://www.usc.edu/dept/ealc/chinese/character/output/index.html by EALC, USC

USC's website provides different characters from the textbook, but it provides the ability to listen to each word as well as see the pinyin and translation. It goes one step further by providing an animated display of how that character is written. This particular tool is limited to radicals and numerals but is a great practice tool for beginners.

• Practice Chinese Characters online (traditional characters), by EALC, USC http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/ealc/chinese/characters.html

This page is similar to the previous one. It differs in that you can choose a specific lesson from the Integrated Chinese I textbook and it also lists where else this character is found in the text book. It lists the lesson and dialogue. Unlike Skritter or the Online flashcards you can't study multiple lessons or dialogues but is a much quicker resource to access and does not require you to register.

• Some Chinese Characters http://www.chinapage.org/word/chineseword.html - a few randomly chosen Chinese words are here just for you to look at.

This is a nice reference for the different styles and fonts of Chinese characters.

• Top 300 Characters http://www.csun.edu/~ll51106/top300.html by Dr. Xie, CSULB

Here you'll find a list of the top 300 Chinese characters from A-Z.

• Skritter http://www.skritter.com/

This is the only website that will require registration to use. It is an amazing tool that serves almost like an all-in one package. It has many of the features you'll find in "Strokes of Chinese", "Practice Chinese Characters", and "Online Chinese Flashcards". Through your instructor, you can get the code allowing you to register as a student (no cost to you). Here you can choose from countless textbooks and can study multiple dialogues and lessons at a time. One feature that can't be found anywhere else is the ability to pick and choose the words, dialogues, or lessons you want to study. You can create your custom list and study it as often as you want. You can also create as many lists as you want. Like other sites, each word provides the pinyin, character, sound and is used in a sentence. The only difference is that it lets you draw the character, which allows you to practice the stroke order. It's a fantastic tool with the attributes of many other sites all rolled into one. Quite a time saver.

Powerpoint

• A set of Power-Point slides for Integrated Chinese http://my.cheng-tsui.com/node/683, Level I, Part I (3rd edition), by Cheng & Tsui

These powerpoints help to teach different lessons. The lessons present vocabulary, ask questions and have the viewer complete sentences. There are also lots of pictures to help understand the characters.

Phrases and Conversation

• Conversational Mandarin Chinese Online http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/ccol/content.htm, Level I (Fifteen Units in Pinyin, English, Characters and Exercises with sound), by Tim Xie, CSULB.

This site allows you to choose a topic in Chinese and learn more about the vocabulary. There are three parts to a topic. In part one, you listen and read a sentence in Chinese. In part two you change and modify that sentence. Part three is a test, to see what you learned.

• Real People on Real Topics http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Mll/Chinese/BBVideo/index.htm, by Jianhua Bai

The Backpacker approach

• Chinese Phrases for Travelers http://chinese.travel-way.net/
• Sexy Beijing http://sexybeijing.tv/new/default.aspx, by Anna Sophie Loewenberg
• China the Beautiful http://personal.kenyon.edu/bai/vcsc.htm by Pei Minglong
• Survival Chinese – Lost Laowai http://www.lostlaowai.com/learn-chinese/basic-mandarin/survival-chinese,
• Video Clips of Survival Chinese http://personal.kenyon.edu/bai/vcsc.htm

This site provides some dialogues that are examples of situations you might encounter in China. You have to download software to use it, although there is an annotated transcript available that you can read instead. The transcript is written in Chinese characters only. Some dialogues can be harder than others, so people with different levels of Chinese might find this site helpful. After watching the video clips, or reading the transcript, there are questions provided (with an answer key) to help you further understand what you read or watched.

• Danwei www.danwei.org - Chinese media, advertising, and urban life

History

• Chinese History Timeline http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html, A Timeline https://www.csun.edu/~ll51106/timeline.html - The Chinese Dynasties, By Li-Bu Larson, CSUN

Reading

• Chinese Reading World http://chinesereadingworld.org/ (simplified), by University of Iowa, Chinese Program, Chinese Reading http://www.usc.edu/dept/ealc/chinese/newweb/reading_page.htm (traditional), by EALC, USC

Culture

• Chinese Festivals http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/heritage/festivals/index.jhtml This site provides a list of festivals, and the corresponding dates, that the Chinese people celebrate. If you click on any festival listed, you are taken to a page of background information about the festival.
• CHINESE NEW YEAR LANTERN FESTIVAL http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/khsu2/MainPage.html, Online Exercises on Grammar and Vocabulary, by Kylie Hsu, CSULA, Chinese Way to Go,

• http://www.chinesewaytogo.org/ by Emily Yih

Miscellaneous

• Elaborated online dictionary: NCIKU: http://www.nciku.com/ This site is good for trying to translate words from English into Chinese or the other way around. There is an interactive box on the site where you can draw characters to find out their meaning or their English translation. On the homepage of this site, there is a "conversation of the day" which is helpful when it comes to learning new vocabulary. This site also has vocabulary lists and themed lists. These can be helpful if you are trying to learn words that are in the same category. There is also a place for you to ask questions and receive answers about the meanings of words or phrases.

• Works of other students http://www.usc.edu/dept/ealc/chinese/newweb/student_page.htm by EALC, USC

• Translation Software 金山词霸 http://cp.iciba.com/

• Purple Culture http://www.purpleculture.net/index.asp – free tools (Dictionary, Character to Pinyin Converter, Vocabulary List Generator, Traditional/Simplified Converter, Online Chinese Input System, Handwriting Input, Chinese Flashcards, Chinese Seal Generator, Editing and Polishing Service)