An Input Method for Foreign Chinese Learners--ICboard

[roddy]

I perhaps didn't get the message across when deleting this yesterday, but this site really isn't the place for this kind of marketing effort. How about showing us how you're getting on implementing all our wonderful ideas? 

[Hofmann]

If I may be blunt,

Do you think we're stupid? 門 in 問 and 勿 in 吻 are obviously phonetic components. Think about the kind of reputation you're building here. Not what you intended? Go back and talk to marketing.

[ICboard]

20 hours ago, Hofmann said:

Do you think we're stupid? 門 in 問 and 勿 in 吻 are obviously phonetic components.

 

Sorry we are not quite clear why you commented that way.  Yes we can say that they are phonetic components. We just share more background info about the characters when they are witten in 金文、篆文， just try to show the development of the characters. We refered to http://www.vividict.com/WordInfo.aspx?id=682     We never think about making people stupid……

 

 

 

Some beginners do have this problem when they pronounce "问“ and ”吻“，and it always have been being taken as the example on the class.  We think it's a not bad topic so just made an article to share some details about these 2 characters including tone，writting orders, background knowledge，usages and the method to type by our app.

 

At least we got some positive feedback that the article is helpful to some degree. Not every learner's Chinese level is high,  and not all of them would memorize the characters relying on seeing them if they are phonetic characters. We just want to share some interesting points (which even we Chinese are not clear) aout the character and practical usages.

 

[ICboard]

22 hours ago, roddy said:

How about showing us how you're getting on implementing all our wonderful ideas? 

 

We are trying to improve the app such as increasing accuracy of the associating inputing（algorithm of accuracy）；adding the tones on words not only the single characters, taking the mini dictionary display into consideration etc.  As for the "auxiliary code", we are thinking about a better way to display and will not emphasis too much on it. We are trying to add more other functions which is helpful for Chinese learners.  Yes it's a long way to go.

[Hofmann]

On 7/20/2018 at 1:53 AM, ICboard said:

Sorry we are not quite clear why you commented that way.

OK, I'll make it very clear: Your marketing is inappropriate.

 

You have something with potential, but you're in dangerous territory, for reasons including the following.

 

Right now, it's not clear whether this input method is better than existing methods, because it's so different. Specifically, we don't know, compared to existing solutions (i.e. substitutes), whether this makes typing faster or easier for certain groups of people, or promotes efficient and effective character acquisition. This could be good or bad for you, but probably bad. To name one, Google's built-in keyboard usually types exactly what you say without errors, doesn't require knowledge of Pinyin, has the option to handwrite, and comes already installed on many devices. For learning characters, there is a variety of solutions including books and dedicated apps.

 

You also have to overcome existing conceptions/prejudices against it. There is an aversion to thinking about English (or whatever other language) when using Chinese. There is also a preference for thinking in and typing words instead of morphemes. Finally, there is a reluctance to trying something new that attempts to invalidate these preferences.

 

Given these obstacles, your marketing has to be spot-on, but it wasn't. This particular market segment (chinese-forums users) is made up of a wide range of skill levels and expertise. Nonetheless, beginners have easy access to expert information. Sometimes it even volunteers itself. There are people here who can vet everything from your business plan to your basic philosophies about language acquisition to your knowledge of Chinese linguistics. You have to avoid stepping on their toes, which requires changing your marketing approach.

 

As I said, there is still potential, mostly because this product's effectiveness is yet unknown. If you can't change your marketing approach, and this product isn't actually better than its substitutes, then you've got to find a market segment that you can deceive, but that isn't here. That isn't r/chineselanguage either. Perhaps try YouTube. Nonetheless, it's a difficult battle. Bad products usually can't be saved by good marketing.

[studychinese]

On 6/27/2018 at 12:55 PM, ICboard said:

The new Pinyin code adds the first two letters of the English word to the original Pinyin.
For example, the new Pinyin code for 你 (pronounced “ni”, meaning “you”) is “niyo”.
Every Chinese word has its new Pinyin code, which helps you improve input accuracy.

 

Yeah, no, absolutely not.

 

I hope you don't think this will help because it will not.

[ICboard]

On 7/21/2018 at 5:36 PM, Hofmann said:

Bad products usually can't be saved by good marketing.

 

Hi! Thanks for your valuable suggestions very much. And thank everyone here for all comments and advice before! They are very helpful for us to change and improve this app.

 

We just want to make a special input method for foreign Chinese learners (mainly for the beginners) to help them type Chinese better. We know that some people do need a pinyin keyboard can tell them if they type the right words. And meanwhile people can use it as a normal input method as well.

 

We have made some changes in the past a couple of months. We really hope you all could take a look to check if it's better than before:

 

1. Tone and Translation in Common Use Display (no "auxiliary code" any more)

 

- 字

 

   

 

- 词

 

   

 

 

2. Long Press Shows More

 

We add a mini dictionary on the keyboard. Long press the every single word if you want to learn more. Then you can get the translations, pronunciations, sentences. We also add the label on the word if it's belong to HSK vocabulary.

 

 

 

 

3. Use it as an normal input method

 

- You can input long sentences with high accuracy.

 

   

 

 

- You can also long press the sentence you type. It will simply show you the translations to check if the sentence is correct.

 

 

 

- normal English input

 

 

 

4. No need to switch to translation apps for searching unknown words when you are typing

 

- If you have the word you don't know how to say it in Chinese when you are typing Chinese, press the button "译"，then input English word it will output Chinese word. To some degree it save your time.

 

 

- Long press it you can also learn more.

 

 

 

5. Voice Input

 

Press the microphone button and say Chinese, it outputs the characters.

 

 

 

6. Gesture

 

Create your own gesture and name it in Chinese. Then you can easily send a Chinese message by "drawing".

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the changes and improvements we are currently making.  Is the app better than before? We'll be very appreciated if you all can give your suggestions!

 

Thanks again!

 

ICboard team

 

 

 

[ICboard]

On 9/20/2018 at 9:43 PM, studychinese said:

I hope you don't think this will help because it will not.

 

Hi! Yes we know that it's perhaps helpless so we removed “pinyin code”.  We did some changes. Please take a look at the above reply.

 

Thanks!

[roddy]

Deleted your other topic - please use this topic for any new info. 

 

Anyone using this?

[imron]

3 hours ago, ICboard said:

(no "auxiliary code" any more)

This solution seems much more useful.

[ICboard]

54 minutes ago, roddy said:

Anyone using this?

 

It's still a beta version. People can download at app stores. We will upload the latest version soon to see the feedback. Now we have some followers on our WeChat.

 

 

We are collecting more suggestions, like this:

 

 

And we constantly improve it according to their feedback.

[Tomsima]

Respect for listening to feedback and coming back with a much better looking product in my opinion. If you clean up the cheap looking 'K' logo it would probably give you better branding too

[陳德聰]

I think number 4. is the most useful and key thing that is helpful for learners in this app. It would even potentially mean I would recommend it to some of my students who want to communicate on WeChat but aren't super literate yet.

I see number 6. as being something I might actually want to use personally just as a person who enjoys shorthand.

[ICboard]

@Tomsima @陳德聰

 

Thank you all! We are trying hard to optimize it. We'll release a new version as soon as possible.

[Hofmann]

Thank you for coming back with your changes. With this, not only does your image improve substantially, you're in a better position because if you implement these changes, you will retain the most valuable features of substitutes, improving on some of them, while still offering your major differentiating features. This way, users don't have to choose between a more typical Pinyin keyboard (such as Google's keyboard) and yours, eliminating trade-offs, and lessening the need for marketing to justify the value of your differentiating features.

[ICboard]

@Hofmann Many thanks. 

[ICboard]

[ICboard]

Hello everyone! The upgraded ICboard (beta v1.3.1) is available now！

 

 

Learn More

 

If you would like to take a look just download HERE and have a try. (Android only at present)

 

Please give us your Feedback if you have any problems and suggestions. Thank you very much!

[ICboard]

[ICboard]