Chinese language Chrome extension [feedback needed]

[GaoJinJie]

I hope I'm not breaking any forum rules here. I'm thinking about building a Chrome extension to help with my Chinese and want to see if others would find it useful.

 

It's quite basic really. The plugin would randomly replace English words on a website with the Chinese version. You then click on the word and select whether you know or don't know it. As you click know more often, the particular word would present less frequently (like SRS flashcards).  It would start with the HSK lists and we could extend it from there.

 

It wouldn't be the main way you learn Chinese, but it would help with word retention in a way that is almost effortless and non-disruptive.

 

If I built this plugin, would you guys find it useful? Please be honest, it's only worth doing if people would actually use it

 

[mungouk]

Interesting idea... how do you know if the translation is correct for the specific context?

[Demonic_Duck]

Sounds a lot like Flewent (first one I could find, but I think there are other extensions with similar functionality). I can understand the appeal, but you'd end up learning a lot of incorrect usages that you'd later have to unlearn or missing out on a lot of nuances, unless you could somehow work around the problem @mungouk mentioned.

[markhavemann]

I would say that if you are at a level where you can read an article, and having a selection of words translated into English would help you understand more easily, then you are at a level where you can benefit from reading that article fully in Chinese, guessing the words and looking up the ones that you need (this process also makes them easier to remember compared to if you are just spoon-fed their English counterparts).

 

If you couldn't understand without having parts translated into English, then you probably aren't at a level (grammar, vocab, just general fluency in the language) where you can understand enough to benefit from reading it anyway, with or without English words. Maybe you'll read the odd sentence that you can understand, but isn't it better to find materials at i+1? There is quite a lot available. Maybe it's not as interesting as native content, but trying to plow through impenetrably difficult content that's way above your level is also a good way to get discouraged and waste your time. 

 

Better to find materials that are suited to your level, in my opinion.