Iphone/iPad Apps for Learning Chinese

[nommoc]

Hello all, as directed by the admin... I'm putting a disclaimer on this post, namely, I'm directly invested in nommoc... thus take everything I say with a grain of salt right... because you might just say I'm partial! haha

Seriously though, I'm a Chinese learner too... of course I've tried Skrtter and countless other apps in an attempt to learn to write Chinese.

In the end, all can be summarized by saying, I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, and I felt that many apps were too expensive... so I had one developed... nommoc.

The short story is: 1) get a native Chinese person to hand write the 2500 most commonly used Chinese characters with proper stroke order, 2) give a free hand writing area for me to write... and yeah, and be usable on my Apple device and be as close to free as possible... ; )

Thus you have nommoc.

Ok, that's my plug for nommoc and it's directly related to the post topic and includes a disclaimer, so hopefully this is OK and meets the approval of the mighty "admin"... hehe

http://www.nommoc.com

@nommoc_app

[hackinger]

Hi,

(I just bought Nommoc.)

I study characters using Pleco, just hit the 2500 characters mark. I use two Pleco flash card profiles, one with spaced repetition and one where I simply "march" through a range of characters for a certain number of days until I have learned them and then on to the next batch. I would use Nommoc with the latter method.

I first saw Nommoc a few weeks ago, when I searched for the 2500, 1000 and 7000 character lists which it supports.

Since it is cheap, I now bought it and I like it. Nice app!

Small issue:

- If you switch lists and then go back to the previous list, it does not seem to remember the last character position.

Two suggestions how to improve it further in the future:

(1) Add Pinyin sound files with a sound button for each character. (Play several Pinyin sounds if there is more than one pronounciation.)

(2) The example words are nice, example sentences are even better.

Edit: An Android version would be great too. The Galaxy Note 2 got this nice pen ...

Cheers

hackinger

[linguaholic]

I really like the eStroke app and of course Pleco. I bought almost all expansions (dictionaries, handwriting, etc) and I am completely satisfied with them.

eStroke has stroke order diagrams for all the characters..it is also nice as an app on the computer...you can create working sheets with different characters on it and stuff...really cool...costs a few bucks though (pc version being much more expensive.

[MandarinCslpod]

First of all, thanks for Chinese forums, CSLPOD prepared 10 promotion code for users in Chinese forum. First ten users who follow this post are able to get the promotion code of Chinese listening Pro App.

This app is designed for those who want to improve their Chinese listening. Users are able to

1. Listen to the real Chinese dialogues talking about different issues;

2. Listen to Chinese audio and read Chinese subtitle at the same time, even you are offline.

3. Record your speaking and make a comparison with the standard pronunciation

4. Check the meaning and usage of a word by tapping it without a second

5. Choose simplified or traditional Chinese

6. Choose the patterns to represent the words: only Pin Yin, only Chinese characters, or both of them

7. Mark the text or the sentence that you like

8. Refer to English/Japanese /French translation of each dialogue

9. Consolidate learning by playing games online or offline

Download URL:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chinese-listening-pro-practice/id684065795?ls=1&mt=8

Screenshots:

[character]

@MandarinCslpod, I don't know what you mean by 'follow this post' but your app looks impressive. Listening comprehension is the hardest part of Chinese for me.

[MandarinCslpod]

@character, thank you for you message. Your promotion code is: P6X4A7W3744H

CSLPOD released this news as a NEW post. But Chinese forum's administrator insisted merging the post here. That's why "follow this post" is extremely strange here.

If you have any suggestion using this app, you may leave us a message.

[etm001]

Hi,

Some feedback and questions in regards to the new CSLPod "Chinese Listening Pro" app:

Feedback

• Consider allowing this app to be downloaded for free, and include several sample lessons. This will allow users to evaluate the app and determine whether it's worth paying $.99 for the full app.
  
• When searching on the term"CSLPod" in the App Store, it's not clear that "Chinese Listening Pro" is related to CSLPod. The other apps that are returned in the search results all display "CSLPod" as part of the name of the app, and/or as part of the app's icon.
  

Questions

• CSLPod already has an app in the App Store. How is "Chinese Listening Pro" different from the existing app?
  
• Will "Chinese Listening Pro" eventually replace the existing CSLPod app?
  
• Are all the lessons from the CSLPod website available in the "Chinese Listening Pro" app?
  
• Will you provide this app, for free, to CSLPod subscribers (as you already do with the existing, original CSLPod app)?
  

An additional question, unrelated to "Chinese Listening Pro"

• I noticed that the CSLPod website now supports 繁體字. Are all CSLPod materials (lesson transcripts, etc.) available in traditional Chinese?
  

[MandarinCslpod]

Hi, etm001,

Thank you for your feedback and questions.

CSLPod will release this app's free version in days. And yes, this app didn't take CSLPOD as its keywords. That's why when you search CSLPOD in app store, it didn't show up.We will improve this. Thank you very much.

And here are answers for your questions:

1. How is "Chinese Listening Pro" different from the existing app?

CSLPOD released some apps in app store. Some of which focus on Chinese Pronunciation, such as https://itunes.apple...d593839601?mt=8. Some of which focus on frequently used phrases and sentences practice, such as iPad:https://itunes.apple...d514225868?mt=8. Some of which are used as a client of CSLPOD website, making CSLPOD's all lessons available for mobile devices: http://itunes.apple....d522628849?mt=8

I think you are wondering the difference between Learn Chinese with CSLPOD (iPhone HD Version) and Chinese listening Pro.

The main difference is that, the first one contains all levels lessons in CSLPOD. But the latter only have intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced lessons picked from CSLPOD's library. CSLPOD staff will elect some lessons and update them to the latter one regularly. And all lessons in the latter one are refined. We even divided each word in lessons with a space so that users are able to recognize which characters are a word. As users tap a word, they are able to study all the words' information, such as pronunciation, meaning and usage.

The second difference is that, the latter one designs some functions which can help enhance Chinese listening and speaking skills. For example, users are able to read after a sentence audio, then record their own pronunciation of a sentence and compare it with standard pronunciation right away.

2.Will "Chinese Listening Pro" eventually replace the existing CSLPod app?

No. Two apps have different focuses, users and functions.

3. Are all the lessons from the CSLPod website available in the "Chinese Listening Pro" app?

No. Just part of CSLPOD's lessons will be available in Chinese Listening Pro.

3.Will you provide this app, for free, to CSLPod subscribers (as you already do with the existing, original CSLPod app)?

No, as explained above, Learn Chinese with CSLPOD is like CSLPOD website's client. So Subscribers are able to use one account in their PCs or mobile devices. But Chinese listening is another product focusing on listening skill improvement. So if subscribers want this app, they are required to pay.

4. I noticed that the CSLPod website now supports 繁體字. Are all CSLPod materials (lesson transcripts, etc.) available in traditional Chinese?.

Yes. Traditional Chinese 繁體字 will be available in all CSLPod's products.

Hope the above answered your questions. Any further question or comment is welcome!

谢谢！

[etm001]

Hi,

Thanks for the prompt reply. I have some more thoughts about the "Chinese Listening Pro" that I will send to you privately, as I don't think posting them in this thread will add any more value to the discussion of iPhone/iPad apps for learning Chinese. That said, there is one thing that I'd like to point out, which some other people might appreciate to know:

• As far as I can tell, the current CSLPod app does not support 繁體字.
  

I'm sure the majority of your users study 簡體字, but it would be really nice if the app also supported 繁體字 too. (Since the CSLPod website now supports 繁體字, perhaps you are already working on an update to the CLSPod app?)

Thanks!

[MandarinCslpod]

Hi, currently Learn Chinese with CSLPOD (iPhone/iPad Version) doesn't support 繁體字. And we we will release a new version which supports 繁體字 recently.

Many thanks!

[MandarinCslpod]

Hi, today is 中秋节 in China, 中秋节快乐！

CSLPod released Chinese Listening Lite today. Welcome to use it and give us your feedback.

In this Free app,

1. All lesson audios are free;

2. Users are able to listen to text audios while reading transcripts and get familiar with Chinese sounds and characters;

3. Users can speak Chinese and record your own pronunciation. Then compare your pronunciation with the standard. Find out your pronunciation’s problems.

4. Users can do smart and interesting dictation test in pinyin, simplified Chinese or traditional Chinese mode.(New!)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chinese-listening-lite-practice/id699053161?ls=1&mt=8

[chriswhizz]

This is my first posting to the forums, but I have been lurking for a little while. Hello!

 

The reason why I am posting here is that we have recently released an app that helps people to learn how to read and write Chinese. I would love to get feedback from a community that is so focused on the topic of Chinese learning.

 

It is called Whizz Learning and you can download it from the app store (iOS only right now) here:

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whizz-learning-for-chinese/id730158734?mt=8&uo=4

 

We are currently targeting people that are just starting on their journey to learning to read and write (whether they know how to speak or not).

 

The product has taken a lot of inspiration from Anki, Skritter, etc. and added a specialized input method that should help students break apart characters easily. There is a quick summary on our blog of the system if you are interested.

 

I currently live in Hong Kong and have been using it to help me read directly from Chinese to English (and visa versa). I only speak a handful of words and phrases in Cantonese at this point. My main motivation is to read restaurant menus. :-)

 

Happy learning!

[chriswhizz]

BTW, I didn't mention before but Whizz Learning for Chinese is FREE. :-)

[DaveR]

Hi, I'm the developer of an iPhone app which helps you learn and practice numbers and counting in Chinese. It will display the pinyin as well as the hanzi characters for numbers you enter. I designed it specifically to make it easy to learn counting. Also, it has a random flashcard mode for practicing (shows a number on the clue side, you guess the Chinese answer).

 

It's free, it has ads, and a paid upgrade will remove the ads and unlock numbers higher than 10,000. 

 

You can download it here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/polynumial-chinese-numbers/id873957316?mt=8

 

or just search for "Polynumial" on the app store.

 

cheers,

dave r

[Morgana Chin]

Hello everybody,

 

We are a new (completely free) language exchange app that not only communicates individually with natives of the language, but also allows you to be part of our awesome community. 

You are always welcome to ask questions, as the community works as a team to help out and answer each other’s questions.

 

Check out our app in the apple store - https://appsto.re/cn/OA7o2.i

 

Some of the current features include:

- Chat functionalities

- Chinese to pinyin translation

- Channels with learning resources (provided by the Hiway community & the Hiway team)

- The interface is available in English, Chinese and Traditional Chinese 

- Flashcard system including example sentences

- create your own word list and use our Spaced Repetition System to improving your Chinese or English

 

Upcoming features:

- Full text translation (translate Chinese to English or vice versa for FREE)

- Video channels with free language lessons by professional teachers

 

We hope to welcome you on our app and would love some feedback to keep improving our app. 

Right now its IOS only so android lovers need to wait a little bit longer.

 

You can also follow us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/hiwaylanguage or Twitter - https://twitter.com/hiwayapp