New Chinese learning app: Ninchanese - Interested in giving it a try?

[Sajimi]

Hi guys!

 

I'm Sarah. I need your advice and feedback on an app I'm working on!

 

For the past two years, I've been working on Ninchanese (www.ninchanese.com). It make learning Chinese different in a lot of ways. It combines game mechanics, cute cats and efficient Chinese learning techniques  and makes learning Chinese a bunch of fun.

 

To sum up, what you can do on Ninchanese is: 

• learn and practice new vocabulary,
• build sentences,
• practice your pronunciation with the voice recognition feature
• and play Ninchallenges, so you can compete against your friends online.

 

The web app is in beta right now; really happy to finally be at a stage where I can invite some of you to try it out and get your take on it!

 

I'm looking to get as much constructive feedback on it as I can right now from Chinese learners and speakers.

A lot of you seem to be already learning Chinese and have tried multiple apps, so your take on Ninchanese would be wonderful.

 

Just let me know if you're interested and I'll be happy to send you an invite! 

 

Interested in trying it out? 

 

=^_^=

[Demonic_Duck]

What does Ninchanese mean? 您查nese?

[AlexBlackman]

It looks like it could be useful,  how much were you inspired by Kanji slime forest?

[Sajimi]

 

 

What does Ninchanese mean? 您查nese?

 

Haha Demonic Duck, no not quite!

The name Ninchanese is a cross between Nincha, our mascot and the main cat character, and Chinese.

 

No Chinese name yet; working on that! Any suggestions? ^^

 

 

 

how much were you inspired by Kanji slime forest?

Never heard of Kanji Slime Forest; but the name sounds cool! Will go look it up. 

[abcdefg]

The name Ninchanese is a cross between Nincha, our mascot and the main cat character, and Chinese.

 

I thought it might be Nin您 Chinese, just not spelled quite right.

[Mr. 愛爾蘭]

I'm trying out the beta right now. Very nice looking website. It seems inspired by duolingom and memrise, but it does things neither of those sites do.

 

Is there a way of testing out of the early levels?

 

Can I turn off pronounciation challenges? Let's say I want to work on something new on the site and a pronounciation challenge is in my way. If I'm in a place where I don't want to speak aloud or I don't have a mic, I can't progress. It would be nice to make the pronounciation levels optional.

 

Is this simplified only?

[miaomiao]

I am interested in an invite!

[Sajimi]

Hi,   Mr. 愛爾蘭, 

 

Glad you're testing Ninchanese and you like the design! 

 

To answer your questions: 

 

-  Currently, no, there is no way of testing out of the first stages if you already know some Chinese, but it'll be an option in the near future. 

 

- About turning off the Speaking portions: definitely! To skip using the microphone in a speaking stage, you can click on the "disable mic" at the bottom of the screen. This'll allow you go through the exercise using only audio, which is indeed convenient if you're in at work or in a place where you don't really want to be speaking out loud. You can then go back to that stage at a later period and redo it with the microphone.

 

Lastly, Ninchanese does only support simplified characters for now. Adding support for traditional characters in our plans for the near future though!

 

Miaomiao, happy to send you one! PM me your email address and your invite will be on its way. Thanks!