Free online tools to learn Chinese

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 are the online exercises. Along with the Powerpoint slides there are exercises where you can build sentences with words provided,which is just like the workbooks. There are also exercises with fill in the blank sentences. It's a great tool and much faster than writing.

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

Upon entering the homepage you can choose from any of the twenty-two lesson 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, but 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; and finally you have the choice to underline any new words in a given dialogue.

• 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 , Pinyin Practice http://www.pinyinpractice.com/wangzhi/ by University of Iowa, Pinyin song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSlNwgyFjhY, 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 Flascard is a great resource. It may not look as modern as Skritter, but it truly has interesting features. On the Language tab found on the left you'll find nine sections that provide different study guides. Of the nine I picked 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 would be to see related words, it's like extra practice with radicals.

• Lets you listen to words.
• Handwriting recognition.You candraw 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 don't necessarily help you remember the characters it's a good quick study quide. 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. The "study" mode shows the character and pinyin, while "practice" recognition only has the character with the choice to flip the card and see the pinyin.

Chinese Memory Game This is a great for recognition. Like the flashcards you can pick any dialogue or lesson and then match the pinyin with the characters. It may just be 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 and by simply clicking on the character the pinin is revealed. The downside of this website is that there isn't any particular order, other than it being in 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 all Chinese characters. It's very simliar 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 speach, translation, and finally in what lesson the word is found. 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
• Basic Radicals http://www.usc.edu/dept/ealc/chinese/character/output/index.html by EALC, USC
• Practice Chinese Characters online (traditional characters), by EALC, USC http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/ealc/chinese/characters.html
• Some Chinese Characters http://www.chinapage.org/word/chineseword.html - a few randomly chosen Chinese words are here just for you to look at.
• Top 300 Characters http://www.csun.edu/~ll51106/top300.html by Dr. Xie, CSULB

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

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, 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 ttp://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
• 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, 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

• 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)
• Elaborated online dictionary: NCIKU: http://www.nciku.com/