Wenlin Chinese text editor for teachers to create new course materials, and for students to read both new materials and thousands of existing texts in electronic form; instant dictionary access with an expandable, cross-referenced database of Chinese vocabulary; a flashcard system with automatic drill for memorizing characters, $150.00. Review Wenlin Institute 348 Haddon Road #4 Oakland, CA 94606 Tel: 510-444-7975 |
| Cantonese Self-paced introductory course, record/playback & compare pronunciation, everyday topics, grammar and on-line references, $15.95. Chinese Poems 100 traditional Chinese poems, English translations, graphics, listen to poems, $10.95. LanguageQuest 800-622-3574 |
| Power
Chinese Beginning, four skills, over 2500 audio clips, 600 characters, 800 phrases and 1,200 sentences, impromptu interviews with native speakers; interactive drills, CD-ROM, $89.95 Review Grammar Pro! Grammar tutorial, quizes, linked to Language Now!, on CD-ROM. Easy Translator Translation program for web pages, e-mail, memos, $129.00. Kid Speak Pronunciation, alphabet & word recognition, understanding simple sentences, using plural & singular forms, telling time, matching numbers to written words, simple addition and subtraction. over 700 Words and Expressions in common categories; 12 printable activities and projects. Transparent Language |
| TalkNow! Beginning survival program, tourist-type topics, record, playback & compare pronunciation, on-screen help, picture dictionary, tests & feedback, $49.95. Software World P. O. Box 429 Mount Pleasant, SC 29465-0429 1-888-EDUWORLD sofworld@sofworld.com |
| Return from Silence:China's Modern Writers An intermediate/advanced course that integrates authentic Chinese materials -- TV interviews with Ba Jim, Mao Dun, Ding Ling, Cao Yu, and Ai Qing; archival footage; performances of the writers works; and comments on contemporary China with 240 language learning activities. Available from Dr. Chung-wen
Shih |
| Chinese Learnware ™ Beginning program, 1,000 characters, voice record and compare speech recognition, traditional and simplified characters -- pinyin, romanization, zhuyin symbols, stroke-by-stroke templates, downloadable web lessons, PC, $79.95. Learnware Inc. 228 Krams Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19127 tel 215-509-6100 fax 215-509-6550 e-mail: info@learnware.net |
| Chinese
Express Vol. 1 Interactive dialog sessions, 105 different conversations and 210 commonly used expressions. These are split up into different sessions - each with its own theme. Record/playback and compare pronunciation; movies and pictures about climate, population and currency; a built-in English-Chinese talking dictionary and a quick pronunciation guide for easy reference, $49.95. Perfect Media, Inc. 12015 Mora Drive, Bldg. 1 Santa Fe Springs, CA 906070 651-944-0860, fax 562-944-3730 sales@perfectmedia.com |
| Apple
Chinese Dictation Kit Speech dictation system that converts Mandarin (Putonghua) speech into either simplified or traditional Chinese text. Requires no additional hardware to operate on a Power Macintosh computer. It is a user-interface extension that complements today's U.S. keyboard and mouse. It is made up of two components: the Apple Chinese Dictation Kit software and the Apple Dictation Microphone. To get started, you first 'teach' the system to recognize your voice by reading several pages of text into the microphone. Most users can finish the training in about three hours. The system processes the recording to produce voice "models" which it then uses for speech recognition. These models make up the "user profile." Once you've trained the system, you can dictate to the computer by speaking one phrase at a time. A typical speed would be about 40 characters per minute to begin with, and up to 60 characters or more per minute after several weeks of regular use. This is approximately 5 times faster than using Pinyin or ZhuYin, the two most popular Chinese keyboard input methods. It is also about three times more efficient than any other commercially-available Chinese speech recognizers, which require that users speak one syllable at a time. After completing dictation, just copy and paste (or drag and drop with System 7.5) the text into other word processors or applications for formatting. Provides a standard vocabulary of over 3,500 single characters and over 12,000 multicharacter words. By combining these, the system can recognize approximately 350,000 phrases. A phrase-adding feature allows you to customize the system's vocabulary, and a bulk-phrase-adding utility scans dictated text to find new words and automatically add them to the system. In addition, a voice-macro feature lets you input long, fixed text blocks such as addresses, boiler-plate paragraphs, and company mastheads simply by speaking a single phrase. The system also includes an error-correction feature, which helps to correct mistakes quickly and easily. Just click on the first incorrectly displayed character of a phrase, and choose the right character from a pop-up list of likely replacements. When the character is replaced, the software automatically corrects the rest of the phrase. AsiaSoft 5070 N. Highway A1A, Suite 225 Vero Beach, Florida 32969 Phone: 1-800-882-8856; Fax: (407) 234-4991 asiasoft@asiasoft.com |
| Colloquial
Chinese Everyday language for the complete beginner. The course is dialogue-based with listening, speaking, voabulary and grammar exercises, and searchable grammar and vocabulary lists. The themes which the program covers include: meeting someone for the first time, asking the time, the date and weather, shopping, at the restaurant, asking directions, buying bus and train tickets, at the hotel, making telephone calls.$66.00. Smart Start Chinese 1, 2 Survival Language for Mandarin: games, conversations and speech recognition activities allowing users to learn up to 1000 words. Themes include food, numbers, people & clothing, places & transport and daily activities. Students can choose a game from three levels of language, to learn vocabulary, phrases and complete conversations. $38.00 TalkNow Cantonese! Basics of the language through topic vocabulary, which includes: first words, phrases, food, shopping, numbers and time. Users can compare their pronunciation with that of native speakers using the record facility. There are a number of challenging quizzes. There is also a comprehensive dictionary, which can be printed. $48.00 TalkNow Mandarin! Basics of the language through topic vocabulary, which includes: first words, phrases, food, shopping, numbers and time. Users can compare their pronunciation with that of native speakers using the record facility. There are a number of challenging quizzes. There is also a comprehensive dictionary, which can be printed. $48.00 Talkfast International, Ltd. London House, 243 Lower Mortlake Rd, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 2LS, United Kingdom Tel: (+44) 0181 948 1011 Fax: (+44) 0181 948 3900 e-mail:info@talkfast.com |
| Step into China v1.1 Step into China - The Dialog v2.4 Step into China - The Basics v1.2 20 lessons present daily-life conversations with playback, recording, translation, key-word, writing, phrasing, sentencing, role play, printing, and on-line help; 4 lessons introduce the Chinese romanization system (pinyin); complete standard pronunciations of the vowels, consonants and their combinations and the tones; 4 lessons illustrate writing order; strokes; stroke counting; and the radicals; 400 plus most-used words, 800 plus phrases. v 1.1 $69.95, v2.4 79.95, v1.2 $69.95. Resources United International P. O. Box 660551 Sacramento, CA 95866 |
| Rosetta Stone -
Chinese Level 1 programs have 1 CD-ROM with 8 units divided into 92 chapters. Level 2 programs have 2 CD-ROMs with 11 units divided into 118 chapters. Review by Chorus Fairfield Language Technologies 122 South Main Street Harrisonburg, VA 22801 800-788-0822 |
| HyperChinese: The Pronunciation Modules l.l
This is a program for learning the pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese. It is divided into 4 modules; General Introduction, Four Basic Tones and Single-Syllable Words, Neutral Tone and Two-Syllable words, and Sound Discrimination. The program's auto-record function allows its users to record their pronunciation of all the model pronunciation. The program will repeat both the model and the user's pronunciation for comparison. CD-ROM, $79.95. Review HyperChinese: The Grammar
Modules 1.1 Ni Hao 1 Hanzi Assistant
Hanzi: Practical Chinese
Reader Software for the PC Hanzi Conversational ABC Interactive Chinese
Understanding Chinese
Language HyperChina Chinese Breakthrough
Multimedia Chinese Reader The China Bookshelf Audio-Visual
Chinese-English Dictionary |
| Dr.
Jacy Chen's learning series: Easy as ABC For all ages, Mandarin pronunciation, listening, vocabulary & short sentences; Native Chinese speakers; interactive practice and games; over 500 video and audio; over 2000 Chinese words; 12 topics; basic grammar and character writing; $54.95. 66 Communications Inc. 490 Greenwich St. New York, NY 10013-1313 (212) 226-2307 or Fax (212) 226-7342 |
| EZ Language
(25-language edition) Vocabulary/pronunciation tutor for beginners with over 800 words and phrases in 16 different thematic lists, record/playback/compare, $69.95 Reviewed in The Northeast Conference Newsletter, 39, Winter 1996, p. 40. EZ Language (17-language edition) Vocabulary/pronunciation tutor. 25,000 Words & 2,250 Phrases reord/playback/compare; on-line multimedia dictionary. IMSI 1939 Fourth Street San Rafael, CA 94901-5506 Telephone: (415) 454-7101Fax: (415) 257-3565 Sales: 1-800-833-8082 |
| Multimedia Flashcards Chinese Ages 2 - 10. Introductory program to introduce Mandarin Chinese to young children. Learn several hundred words divided into the topics of: Colors, Plurals, Places, Actions, Positions, Professions, and 3 miscellaneous groups. After the vocabulary is learned, there are 3 games: "Find the Card", "Match the Pairs", and "Beat the Clock" - each with 3 levels of difficulty - to test your knowledge. Earn enough points and print out a bronze, silver or gold medal certificate. Finally record your voice in your own mini-movie to practice pronunciation. For teachers, print out a list of all the students' names and scores. The progress of each student can be saved separately. Chinese Character Tutor 5.0 Ages 5-adult, organizes and locates characters; online dictionary of over 7,000 words, predefined lessons map directly to vocabulary in Elementary Chinese Readers and Practical Chinese Readers, over 1750 simplified characters, cultural info, tests, tracks progress, audio for all vocabulary, CD-ROM, $110.00 Review Professional Interactive Chinese for Windows Ages 12 - Adult. This new multimedia program teaches Mandarin Chinese using the most contemporary language learning techniques. Each student can be kept track of separately. Record/playback & compare pronunciation while looking at the dialogue in pinyin romanization, phonetic equivalents, and traditional or simplified Chinese characters.Listen to discussions in Chinese and get direct English translations, grammar and culture notes. View the dialogue in either traditional or simplified Chinese characters, pinyin romanization or phonetic equivalents. Write Chinese characters. Character recognition allows you to practice character drawing and test your accuracy. Print out exercise sheets. Animation Articulation: Animated visual displays and voice explanations show correct mouth and tongue positions for proper pronunciation and articulation of Chinese sounds. Interactive Vocabulary Builder: Study new words, characters and sounds in context. Translation Relay: Learn the proper pronunciation of words and phrases found in text of phrase books by typing in the pinyin romanization and the program will correctly pronounce them. View scenes from contemporary China while learning about different aspects of the Chinese culture. Practice new material in a fun and familiar way, while reinforcing basic character recognition, pronunciation, phonetics and sentence patterns through games. Equivalent of 2 years of Chinese instruction. $200.00. Reviewed by Chorus Chinese
and Characters |
| Chinese Language Video Clips For all language levels. Fifty video segments from footage shot on location in and around Beijing, including 2 CD set. PC and Mac compatible.$50.00. NFLRC Publications, University of Hawaii http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/kanna/#cclips: |
| KAN NA! Authentic Chinese Reading For Intermediate and Advanced levels. Ten reading lessons from a variety of sources, including: a newspaper report of a hijacking, a family letter to Chinese students in the US, a letter of agreement between two institutions. Mac compatible. $50.00. NFLRC Publications, University of Hawaii http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/kanna/#creading |
| KAN NA! Authentic Chinese Video For Intermediate and Advanced levels. Twenty video lessons from a variety of sources, including: an interview with a girl about her class schedule, an interview with a street vendor about how she makes her specialty snack, television commercials for everyday products. Mac compatible. $50.00. NFLRC Publications, University of Hawaii http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/kanna/#cvideo |
| The Passage to China For students and business people who want to brush up on a practical knowledge of Chinese culture.$95.00. Review Producer: EduMedia Research Inc & WiCON International Ltd 886 Saw Creek Estates (S27 - L2052) Bushkill, PA 18324, USA Tel: (717) 588-2875 Fax: (717) 588-9383 James_Shen@hotmail.com |
| CHINESE WEB-BASED PROGRAMS OnLine Chinese Lessons |
| University of Michigan On-Line Resources for Students of Chinese |
| Professional Interactive Chinese |
| Learn Chinese |
| Chinese Online Reading Assistance |
| Learning Chinese Online |
| An Etymologycal Dictionary of Chinese Characters |
| CyberChinese contact: sharonyu@humanitas.ucsb.edu |
| Chinese Pronunciation and
Romanization Diagnostics This computerized program tests the learner's recognition of Mandarin syllables and familiarity with the pinyin system of Romanization for Chinese. It consists of six sets of diagnostics on the pronunciation and written representation of Chinese sounds and words. |
| HyperChina: An Interactive Chinese
Courseware |