Flashcards

One of the requests I get from users is to add more flashcard options to the zdt. Currently the app only shows a chinese character and allows the user to input the corresponding pinyin. So I’ve taken the time to look at a few of the other chinese learning programs, to see what other flashcard options are out there.

1) Show character -> Answer pinyin & defintion using multiple choice. This is what Clavis Sinica does. I personally think multiple choice tests are on the easy side, but I think it could be useful for learning definitions.

2) Show flashcard (character and/or definition) -> Manually select whether you know the character. This is essentially how Wakan and YellowBridge handle it.

3) Show flashcard only. There is no “test” per se. Just look at the card and review by yourself. This is Dimsum’s system. You can view flashcards as a slideshow or manually review flashcards at your own pace.

I’m sure there are other options out there and feel free to suggests some for me to look at. More importantly, which flashcard options do you like and would like to see implemented in the zdt?

Add comment September 24th, 2005

New character lists

Stephen O’Connor was nice enough to submit character lists for the first five chapters of Yong Ho’s Beginner’s Chinese. I have that book as well and it’s quite good. I actually bought it after reading his book Intermediate Chinese.

Anyway, contributions are always great. I actually have a lot of chinese books myself so if anybody has any requests, I could get off my lazy butt and make some word lists from them too.

Add comment September 19th, 2005

Developer guide

I’ve finally added some content to the developer guide. It’s still in draft form and very much a work in progress. I hope to add some nice screenshots as well later on.

Also, the cvs in sourceforge now has the latest code (0.3.1+) I will start working from it as my main cvs server.

Add comment September 15th, 2005