New Chinese learning App: ChineseSkill

[wangzhulong]

Hi, is there any Duolingo Chinese fan here?
About a year before, I am crazy about Duolingo. It makes skill trees and adds gamification elements for learning language. Many of my friends got started to learn Spanish, French, and German in Duolingo and start to research its design. But unfortunately, Duolingo didn’t plan to develop Chinese. We really love Duolingo and then are determined to make a Chinese Duolingo, Chineseskill. We hope Chineseskill can make Chinese learning easy and encouraging.
After a year’s hard work, Chineseskill released today. It supports iOS devices (iPhone/iPad) and Android devices.

 

Features of ChineseSkill:

• An easy start for newbie;
• Game-based learning;
• Learning while testing;
• Native pronunciation at standard and special speed;
• Easy to review and strengthen;
• A novel way to study Chinese Character
• Effective and efficient for learners on the go

What are you going to learn in Chineseskill?

• 100+ Chinese skills
• 150+ Chinese grammar points
• 200+ sentence patterns
• 1000+ key words and phrases
• 2000+ essential Chinese characters

If you want to give Chineseskill a try, click here to download:
ChineseSkill for iOS

 

ChineseSkill for Android

 

Preview of ChineseSkill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vStkETYsKVw

 

 

 

ChineseSkill released version 1.5 on 6/6/2014 and removed IAP. It is now completely free.
And if you have any comment or suggestion to polish this App, please give me a message or an email: wangzhulong@gmail.com
 
Thanks for your help and support.

[wangzhulong]

BTW, we've set up a page in facebook, www.facebook.com/chineseskill

Welcome to join the discussion.

[Noziar]

That's great! I was really waiting for this - I'll give it a try as soon as I can. Quick question: do you know the approximate size of the vocabulary covered by the app?

[wangzhulong]

@Noziar, thanks for your reply.

And for your question(Maybe you've seen this in the introduction of the app)

 

What are you going to learn in Chineseskill?

• 100+ Chinese skills
• 150+ Chinese grammar points
• 200+ sentence patterns
• 1000+ key words and phrases
• 2000+ essential Chinese characters

[imron]

You'd probably be better off changing the heading and first post to be an introduction to your new product, rather than having it be about Duolingo, which is it seems is completely unrelated to this program (except being the inspiration behind it).

 

E.g.:  New Chinese learning App: Chineseskill rather than: Duolingo Chinese.

[wangzhulong]

@imron, thanks for your nice advice. I have made changes to my post. 

[Mouseneb]

I downloaded the app, but it seems that after the first two (extremely basic) levels it will cost money to continue.

 

My suggestions (if I'm not mistaken that the further levels are not free) would be to make this clear from the beginning, so that people do not feel cheated at being presented with a "free" app that in actuality costs money to use. I think people will be happy to pay as long as they know what they are getting into (provided of course that the app is good quality).

 

Also, the first levels were very basic (which is not a problem if you are a beginner), so it would be nice to have a way to "test out" of the beginner levels for more advanced learners, instead of having to waste time completing them.

 

These small changes would make the app much better, in my opinion. It's very promising though, thank you for posting it!

[wangzhulong]

 @Mouseneb, Thanks for your feedback and suggestion. I am so lucky to receive these precious suggestions from you.

I think App Store gives clear IAP tag under the App's ICON. But thanks for sharing your real feelings which a customer feels when he/she is asked to pay in this App. We will consider to
make it more clear in the next version so that people can  make a decision to pay or not, just as you said.
And then, the "test out" suggestion is awesome. We will make some changes to the App so that it can support this function. But it may take some time. Hope we are able to release this function in the next version.

You are so nice.Thanks again! 

[Francis101]

I recently downloaded this app and enjoyed the interface as well as the "workout" section I thought it was intuitive and very easy to use which is a big plus for beginners. I think my chinese knowledge has surpassed this app but I would be willing to share it with my friends who are interested in starting to learn chinese.

 

I agree with previous statements. It needs to be more clear that money will be require to continue to be able to use the app.

 

The only other suggestion I have is I really liked being able to record my voice with the native speaking behind it but did NOT appreciate how it was on an infinite loop until I changed the word or navigated to a different page. There should be a function for a replay on my own voice and the voice of the native as well. Other than that good work!

[Noziar]

My 2 cents: I agree that being able to take a test for direct access to advanced levels would be nice. I also noticed a small bug on the "review" pages at the end of the lessons, where the contents at the bottom don't fit on the screen of my iphone 4s (but probably would on an iphone 5/5s/5c). I'll keep posting bugs when I see them. Nice app otherwise, keep up the good work!

[wangzhulong]

@Francis101 Thanks for your feedback and suggestion. 谢谢您！

Your suggestion is very important for me and I will revise this app according to your suggestion right away. 

 

In the next version I will set a option for customers which means you can choose listening to the comparison voice once or on loop.

But the replay function is a little complicated cause it may destroyed the interface's Design.I need to discuss with our UI designer and make a new design ASAP.

 

Thank you very much!

[wangzhulong]

@Noziar, Thank you for your post and support.

 

I will check the bug you mentioned immediately. If possible, would you please give me a screenshot of the bug? My device is iPhone 5 and I am afraid I can't trace the bug quickly. 

 

再次感谢您的帮助！

Thanks again for your help.

[wangzhulong]

Thanks for all of your support. ChineseSkill version 1.1 was already submitted to Apple for review.

This version including the following bugs fixed and functions improved based on feedback from you:

1. Fixed the problem of lacking audios and pictures by modifying resource download algorithm.
2. Fixed the out-of screen bug for iPhone4/iPhone4s (This problem appears in the review page).
3. Improve loop-playing model of "recording pronunciation and comparing with standard pronunciation"
4. Add the "find us on Facebook" link
 

Heartfelt thanks to our kindly users here! Thank you so much for your continuously support and good advice for ChinesesSkill. We will try our best to make ChineseSkill better and better.

According to Apples workflow, ChineseSkill version 1.1 is supposed to be released in a week. Hope you can update and test it.

非常感谢！

[wangzhulong]

Hi, good news for this weekend is that Chineseskill Version 1.1 is released. 

 

Don't forget to update the new version in your iPhone/iPad. 

 

Hope improved functions in this version make Chineseskill better and I am eager to receive your valuable feedback.

 

谢谢！ Thank you so much!

 

 

This version including the following bugs fixed and functions improved based on feedback from you:

1. Fixed the problem of lacking audios and pictures by modifying resource download algorithm.
2. Fixed the out-of screen bug for iPhone4/iPhone4s (This problem appears in the review page).
3. Improve loop-playing model of "recording pronunciation and comparing with standard pronunciation"
4. Add the "find us on Facebook" link

 

 

 

[wangzhulong]

Hi, guys, when I read reviews for ChineseSkill in App Store this morning, I guess this one must come from this forum. Thank you so much!

ChineseSkill is online for 3 weeks and I am working for Version 1.2 now. And also, android version is coming soon. Hope I won't disappoint you.

 

 

 Feb 23, 2014

Very good! - 

Finally a good and systematic way to learn Chinese. Seriously, most other apps are all over the place. Also, I reported a bug and it was acknowledged and fixed in the following update. Cool!That said, it still has some way to go: need some more content, a gentler learning curve and a more sophisticated character practice (perhaps integrated into the main learning process as one of the types of exercises?). I found that I have no problem recognizing the characters within the app but in real life I tend not to remember them, so overall more emphasis on character recognition would be nice.I think that in the future it has a real potential of becoming much more than just a "Duolingo" for Chinese.

 

 

[wangzhulong]

ChineseSkill Version 1.2 released! Don't forget to update and give me your precious comments.

Improvement and bugs fixed in  version 1.2 :
1. Add "Test-out" function so that you can skip some skills learning.
2. Add new function to download all skill materials in advance to support offline study.
3. Add the review port for each skill after one passed the skill.
4. Open more skills for free.
5. Other performance improvement and small bugs fixed.

 

I really enjoy polishing this app and thanks for all of your help.

 

[Auberon]

I have been using this app for several days. I am very impressed by it, by and large.

 

There are a few bugs/mistakes I have noticed, however:

 

1. On several occasions, upon entering exactly the right answer, it has marked me wrong. This has happened quite a few times in various lessons.

 

2. There was inconsistent spelling of colour/color in one of the lessons, making it unclear which one to use in giving an answer.

 

3. The last update added the 'character test' to the lessons. However, this only shows simplified even when traditional is selected.

 

4. Also, some of the words in the 'select word' screen (with pictures) appear in simplified form, even when traditional is selected (I remember 阴, instead of 陰 being one example).

 

5. There are a few other instances of simp/trad errors in the lessons: 面条 becomes 面條 instead of 麵條.  什么 doesn't change to  什麼 .

 

6. I've just come across a sentence in 'number 4/4' where the chinese doesn't seem to match any of the possible answers. Also, in this same lesson, there is a sentence where the slow voice says a different thing to the fast voice!

 

7. On some questions that involve assembling a sentence from disconnected words, if the sentence is too long, the words overlap the 'continue' button and are impossible to select without pressing 'continue' at the same time and getting the answer wrong. (I am using the iphone 4s.)

 

8. Major bug in lesson 'word review' since last update: clicking the back arrow doesn't do anything, so I have to restart the app!

 

 

However, I'm pointing these things out in the hope that they will be rectified; I don't wish to give the impression that I dislike the app. On the contrary: I am a beginner, and this app has certainly improved (and no doubt will continue to improve) my grasp of basic sentence patterns. The voice recording is clear and readily audible from the iphone speaker, and most of the time it all works like clockwork. It's also nice that one can use the iphone's chinese handwriting input to write characters in response to audio; I haven't come across any other apps that do this, but it's very effective for associating sounds directly with characters.

£2.99 is very good value for almost 50 lessons (all subdivided into several 'sub-lessons'); a 'paper' course with book and CDs would easily be ten times that. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

 

[Auberon]

^5. + Just noticed another one: 頭發 instead of 頭髮.

[wangzhulong]

Hi, @Auberon, sorry for late reply and thanks so much for your feedback and recommendation.  I am going to fix bugs and mistakes you reported here now.

 

If you find any bug/mistake, could you please keep reporting here?

 

Thanks so much!

 

谢谢你！

[roddy]

Wangzhulong, if you've done an automatic simp<>traditional conversion, then you shouldn't need us to tell you what the errors are - you just need to go through your files looking for the problematic characters and fixing them. This is elementary stuff.