So I've been studying Chinese for a while now, although not super consistently, and I'm at about the HSK 3 reading and speaking level, I believe. When I first logged in, I took just the reading...
So I've been studying Chinese for a while now, although not super consistently, and I'm at about the HSK 3 reading and speaking level, I believe. When I first logged in, I took just the reading test, and it pegged me at 583 characters memorized. This is unsurprising, considering the cumulative words and characters up to HSK 3 are about 600. Next, I chose the "study reading" option on the website. For context, I primarily use Anki and personally made decks to study, so this is somewhat of a departure from that.
One of the first things I noticed right off the bat was that the site presented the same word many times in a row. This probably isn't that efficient, memory wise. If possible, I would recommend trying to implement something like spaced repetition, as it's proven to be very effective at helping memorization. Another thing I noticed was that when it would provide the definition for characters, they would often be incorrect for the context. For example it had the character "月", and it provided the definition "moon" which is somewhat accurate, but in context it meant month. Also, some of the concepts where too low level for someone with ~HSK 3 knowledge. For example one test it gave me was just asking how to write different numbers, which is probably HSK 1 - HSK 2 level content, if that. Some interface decisions were weird, for example when you leave a test it says "Don't cancel", and "Cancel", which should probably be something like "Stay", "Leave", or "Leave? Yes, No".
Otherwise it seemed interesting, I haven't tried out the writing section yet, and the concept of seeing characters within sentences seemed cool as well.
I tried to implement some spaced repetition concepts. It does remember the history of when you last saw a character, and whether or not you got it right or wrong, and makes decisions based on...
I tried to implement some spaced repetition concepts. It does remember the history of when you last saw a character, and whether or not you got it right or wrong, and makes decisions based on that. One challenge that makes it more complicated than Anki flashcards is that I show full sentences instead of individual words, and the user will have a different "readiness" for each of the words in the sentence. Also, when I introduce a new word, I want the user to see it in more than one sentence so they can see how it's used in different contexts, but at the same time I don't want it to be too repetitive. Anyways I'll see if I can tweak my sentence selection algorithm some to add more variety.
When you tap on a character twice it will show a gloss (short definition), which might or might not match the context of the sentence. If you tap it again it will show the dictionary entry with more details and all the different meanings.
I'm writing down a note about the "Don't cancel"/"Cancel" - that's an easy change I can make quickly. Did you notice anything else like that?
For example one test it gave me was just asking how to write different numbers, which is probably HSK 1 - HSK 2 level content, if that.
Had you done a writing proficiency test? Writing and reading are treated as separate skills (for example you can be a beginner in writing and advanced in reading). If you are a beginner, numbers are the first thing it will introduce to you, so it sounds like it started you from the beginning in writing.
If you only do writing it will actually increase your reading score, since it assumes that you are able to read a character if you can write it, but it doesn't work the other way around - being able to read a character doesn't mean you can write it.
And thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate it - it's very useful to me.
Just started playing with it, but during the initial assessment test, the writing portion has some issues: Picking up the strokes is really slow. Writing at normal speed for me seems to only...
Exemplary
Just started playing with it, but during the initial assessment test, the writing portion has some issues:
Picking up the strokes is really slow. Writing at normal speed for me seems to only register every third stroke
Overly specific on placement of strokes, which might be a problem for words with "repeating" strokes like 很 or 間 (might just be me, but I couldn't enter 我, looks like I wasn't drawing it quite straight enough)
Cancelling the test midway and the restarting doesn't seem possible. When I cancelled and reentered the test, it starts on a new question, but doesn't seem to actually restart. This could be just a progress bar count issue - haven't confirmed it.
When I enter an incorrect stroke or word, I can't go back and correct it, immediately or after another word is entered.
No back button (not sure if this is by design to prevent "cheating" by looking at other questions).
It also looks like it's not taking into account when
你 and 妳 can be interchanged
Missing a "Next" or otherwise confirm button for the writing questions, similar to the reading ones. Would prefer entering a full sentence instead of one word at a time, which I find really slow
Might be nice to be able to skip a single word and not the entire writing question. Need to confirm if hitting skip skips the entire question or just what was not filled in and how the writing is scored. Correction - looks like it does and may have a timeout issue instead
Suggestion - maybe add ability for someone to write a quick explanation or fix sentence when sending feedback if they choose
Just a peeve if mine - you don't automatically need feminine pronouns when the subject is a woman. 他是我媽。is correct.
For words like 所 that have multiple uses, maybe add more translations in the explanation part if the reading test. Otherwise, you might have the wrong usage listed.
May want to add Chinese punctuation as part of the writing test too.
Longer sentences are cut off and not wrapped.
That's it from me. The logging in requirement is hindering my ability to jump back between the app and writing my findings. (This isn't an issue for the actual usage as I assume people won't bounce in and out like I am).
Hi, thanks for the comments. Just a few things I'm having trouble reproducing or confused about: I just tried taking a test and canceled it midway. When I started it again it started afresh from...
Hi, thanks for the comments. Just a few things I'm having trouble reproducing or confused about:
Cancelling the test midway and the restarting doesn't seem possible.
I just tried taking a test and canceled it midway. When I started it again it started afresh from the beginning.
Were you expecting it to start in the middle from where you canceled it before?
Would prefer entering a full sentence instead of one word at a time, which I find really slow
I'm not sure I envision what this would look like. You would write the characters small enough to write the whole sentence in the box?
Might be nice to be able to skip a single word and not the entire writing question.
Are you talking about the test? If you tap skip during the writing test it only skips one character (and marks it as wrong).
Suggestion - maybe add ability for someone to write a quick explanation or fix sentence when sending feedback if they choose
In the feedback form there's an "other reason" text field where you can write anything. Did you have something else in mind?
suggest a cancel and a pause feature. When actually cancelling, it should clear all existing progress and restart. I got a new question, but progress bar wasn't zeroed, which implied test wasn't...
suggest a cancel and a pause feature. When actually cancelling, it should clear all existing progress and restart. I got a new question, but progress bar wasn't zeroed, which implied test wasn't restarted. For pause feature, just save current results with a X% completed so far. This seems to already happen when just jumping out of the app.
I picture the full sentence being writing each word one at a time, but the app wouldn't check each one individually before moving on to the next one. So someone would enter each word and then hit next or submit and you grade the sentence then. Currently, it seems like the app is checking each stroke.
Skipping character seems to be a technical bug with the app, not a functional one in your design. Looks like I might have tripped some time out, where it skipped to the end instead of a single character. (Didn't try reproducing the issue, but I did see it at least twice).
For the feedback, I'm suggesting adding an ability to comment in addition to selecting one of your existing choices. For example, someone could select your poor Chinese grammar and suggest a fix, instead of selecting other and then stating the issue (poor grammar) and then the fix.
There are a number of differences that I think set apart my app from other apps for learning Chinese: Full sentences: A lot of apps are basically flashcards that drill memorization of individual...
There are a number of differences that I think set apart my app from other apps for learning Chinese:
Full sentences: A lot of apps are basically flashcards that drill memorization of individual words, but don't show how words are used in full context. Dong Chinese searches for full sentences containing the vocabulary that has been introduced to you and quizzes you on them. Similarly, most apps that have handwriting practice only drill individual characters, but when you do writing on Dong Chinese, you have to write complete sentences.
Based on frequency statistics: many apps introduce vocabulary either thematically or according to HSK word lists. Dong Chinese introduces words based on frequency, so that you learn the most common words first.
Data-based progress reports: Dong Chinese is the only app I know of that will estimate the percentage of characters in books and movie subtitles that you understand, and show graphs of your progress over time.
Media recommendation: Dong Chinese recommends things to watch that are comprehensible to you based on what words you know.
Explanations of character origins: When a new character is introduced to you, it explains how the character is formed and what its component parts are.
I’ve been playing with your site for a bit and I’ve done the placement test and done a few lessons. I really like what you’ve done with the reading and writing. The writing is very cool especially...
I’ve been playing with your site for a bit and I’ve done the placement test and done a few lessons. I really like what you’ve done with the reading and writing.
The writing is very cool especially the way that the it has you writing within a sentence. I wish that the writing was a bit more difficult. I think it overcorrects. This is something that a lot of the apps and sites I’ve used have done. They fix it to some digital character, but it would be great to see my writing not fixed to a character. I’m not sure how possible that is to do, but it would be really cool!
For the reading section, I like the way that you can tap once for the pinyin and twice for the meaning. I like matching the caption to the picture a lot as well. My level is quite low and I haven’t studied very formally, but doing that and piecing together what the scene is made me feel quite confident! However, I think some of the sentences are a bit off (although again, my level is quite low, I’m not quite sure). Also an option for typing the answers instead of multiple choice to make it a bit harder would be really great!
Someone else mentioned spaced repetition and I think this is an absolute must for your site. I also think a way to mark characters as not well known or well known would be an excellent feature as well and would help with the spaced repetition.
It would also be nice to see grammar explanations for certain words. There were a few characters that obviously changed the sentence in some way that I didn’t understand and having a good, proper explanation instead of just showing the definition would be really great!
I also liked the media section quite a lot. That’s a good idea and I like how it shows you the percentage you should be able to understand. However, I think that you should find a different way to show the videos than just linking to YouTube since it’s blocked in China and I needed a vpn to watch them. I know that this is a pretty small thing, but it would certainly help me to use that section more often.
I hope this helps! I’m planning on using the site more and practicing more with it. I like it quite a lot so far. Also an iOS app would be much appreciated haha!
Wow, thanks so much for all you feedback! It would be interesting to see the difference between the strokes you make and the font strokes. For the writing part I'm using a nifty open source...
Wow, thanks so much for all you feedback!
It would be interesting to see the difference between the strokes you make and the font strokes. For the writing part I'm using a nifty open source library for matching the user's strokes to the characters. I've suggested a few improvements there in the past that they've made. I'll think about suggesting an option to see the user's strokes.
It is true that some of the sentences are off, sometimes the translation doesn't quite match or the Chinese or English isn't completely grammatical. The sentences come from a variety of sources varying in quality. For example, the sentences that come from UN documents are usually accurate, but not very interesting, whereas sentences that come from movie subtitles are more interesting but often not very accurate. I've used some tools to try to filter out the worst matches, but in such a large corpus it's hard to capture everything. I hope to gradually improve it through feedback though - you can flag bad sentences, and I will periodically review them and edit or delete them.
Yes, the spaced repetition is a good point, I'll mention more details about that in response to the other comment.
I also thought about adding grammar explanations, and introducing them to the user as they encountered new patterns. I was starting to work on a tool to analyze sentences and try to automatically identify what grammar concepts it uses, and keep track of what the user has seen before, but it was a rather ambitious project that I set aside so I could focus on the media section more. Hopefully I can get back to it sometime in the future. My favorite resource for Chinese grammar is the Chinese Grammar Wiki on AllSet Learning - they might have explanations for some of the words you saw.
I also lived in China for a while and am familiar with the VPN issues. I wanted to find a different way to embed videos without having to host them all on my server and create my own video player, but unfortunately I couldn't find any good options other than YouTube. I am curious though, other than the videos, does the rest of the app function correctly without turning on the VPN? I made the decision to not use Google products in a few instances precisely for this reason, for example I the Microsoft text-to-speech API instead of Google's, and I doesn't use any scripts hosted by Google (except for YouTube :( )
I would love to also release it on iOS, but Apple app store is a bit trickier and costly, and I'll need an Apple computer and an Apple developer license in order to publish there. In the meantime, hopefully the web version is usable enough.
Thanks again for all your feedback! I really appreciate it.
No problem and I’m happy to help. Besides the YouTube issue, most everything works well, but some things are a little slow. It takes a little while to load the definitions for characters when they...
No problem and I’m happy to help. Besides the YouTube issue, most everything works well, but some things are a little slow. It takes a little while to load the definitions for characters when they first appear and also for the writing parts. However, this may be on my end. Other than that everything works really well here
I'm building an app called 懂中文 Dong Chinese. If you have an Android phone you can join the beta on Google play, otherwise you can use the web version in your browser at...
The app keeps track of your vocabulary and how well you understand each character, and will automatically search for practice sentences and songs that use vocabulary that you can understand. If you already know some Chinese, you can take a test to adjust it to your level of proficiency. You can use it to practice handwriting characters, and it has explanations of the etymologies of about 800 of the most common characters.
Currently it's free and has no ads. At some point in the future I'll probably try to monetize it, but I plan to let the people who help me test it out use it for free forever.
Congratulations with the release! Could you tell us, what does the “dong” in the name mean? I am asking, because the word “dong” has a certain meaning in informal English, which may or may not be...
Congratulations with the release! Could you tell us, what does the “dong” in the name mean? I am asking, because the word “dong” has a certain meaning in informal English, which may or may not be a problem for you.
I've been looking to brush up on my Chinese and this seems like a decent way to do it, especially since handwriting has never been my strength. I especially appreciate that you've included...
I've been looking to brush up on my Chinese and this seems like a decent way to do it, especially since handwriting has never been my strength. I especially appreciate that you've included traditional characters.
One thing I've noticed, "著" when used as a particle (zhe) seems to be translated as something like to touch (can't remember exactly now, but pronounced zhù)
Hey, I havent used the system all that much but i noticed that in beginner writing questions, when you are practicing writing the letters(?) it sometimes shows the wrong letter/number on the top....
Hey, I havent used the system all that much but i noticed that in beginner writing questions, when you are practicing writing the letters(?) it sometimes shows the wrong letter/number on the top. For example, if you have to write ten (shi) it showed thirteen (13) on the upper pane.
Edit: Usually it shows the correct number/letter though.
I've used the web-app a couple times now Though, I do have an Android device, I do not have access to the Google play store. It would be nice if there was just an APK download. For now, I have one...
I've used the web-app a couple times now
Though, I do have an Android device, I do not have access to the Google play store. It would be nice if there was just an APK download.
For now, I have one feature request for the writing practice.
When a sentence comes up with two of the same character, e.g. 是不是, if the first character is failed or skipped, it shouldn't reveal that character if another exists in the same sentence. That way the second 是 can't be copied from the revealed 是 if the first one is skipped.
Also, I would definitely prefer (to reiterate another poster), for the reading, an ability to type the Chinese text that I want, instead of having to select from a group. As I find I learn better when I have to type it, and it's more fulfilling.
Are there any plans for a listening section? Even something as basic as TTS where the learner then has to either fill in the blank(s) or write what they heard?
Anyway, thanks for the app! I've been looking for something that focuses more on frequency and sentences.
Hey, thanks for the suggestions! Good point. I'll consider adding a raw APK link to the home page at some point, but in the meantime you can try this:...
Hey, thanks for the suggestions!
Though, I do have an Android device, I do not have access to the Google play store. It would be nice if there was just an APK download.
Good point. I'll consider adding a raw APK link to the home page at some point, but in the meantime you can try this:
I just uploaded it now, so I haven't actually verified yet whether or not it will function correctly. I think everything should work normally, except that I'm pretty sure that the log-in with Google function will not work since this APK file isn't signed with the Google play key.
That way the second 是 can't be copied from the revealed 是 if the first one is skipped.
If the user writes the first 是 incorrectly, it will be already be marked as incorrect for that sentence and they won't get any credit for writing the second one correctly. Given that, I don't see any harm in letting them copy from the revealed character.
As I find I learn better when I have to type it, and it's more fulfilling.
That's something I'll consider, the only thing I'm worried about is people who don't have a Chinese keyboard installed and don't know how to input characters in a text field. By default I'll probably leave it as it is now, but maybe I'll add an option in the settings to enable something like that.
Are there any plans for a listening section?
I have thought about it a number of times, but there are a few details that make me unsure of how to design it properly.
How to make a listening exercise where you can't "cheat" by reading. If I have a fill-in-the-blank exercise with visible characters, the user can just read them without having to listen. The only thing I've thought of is multiple-choice where you have to listen to each option, but I suspect that it would be rather tedious for the user.
How will listening progress interact with reading/writing progress. Right now, if you only write characters, it will also increase your reading scores because you can probably read a character if you can write it. The reverse is not true - doing reading exercises will not increase writing scores. I'm not sure whether or not listening should be treated as a completely separate skill.
Thanks again for the feedback, I really appreciate it!
Great, thanks. It seems to work just fine, and I'm not to worried about the Google log-in anyway. Ah, I was afraid I would get points from writing the second instance of the character correctly....
I just uploaded it now, so I haven't actually verified yet whether or not it will function correctly. I think everything should work normally, except that I'm pretty sure that the log-in with Google function will not work since this APK file isn't signed with the Google play key.
Great, thanks. It seems to work just fine, and I'm not to worried about the Google log-in anyway.
If the user writes the first 是 incorrectly, it will be already be marked as incorrect for that sentence and they won't get any credit for writing the second one correctly. Given that, I don't see any harm in letting them copy from the revealed character.
Ah, I was afraid I would get points from writing the second instance of the character correctly. Perhaps, either skipping the second instance or having something like a label or banner saying "for practice only, no proficiency points awarded" on the second one, would be helpful.
... the only thing I'm worried about is people who don't have a Chinese keyboard installed and don't know how to input characters in a text field. By default I'll probably leave it as it is now, but maybe I'll add an option in the settings to enable something like that.
While I find it odd that someone would learn a language without using the appropriate input method, I do not doubt that it happens. Anyway, I'm all for an option, as that's one of the few things I like about similar apps.
How to make a listening exercise where you can't "cheat" by reading ..
There could be some ways to get around this:
dictation: where the listener has to write exactly what they heard (no reading involved)
writing half the sentence: the listener has to write either the front half or the back half of the sentence they just heard
every time the listener has to press the listen button, listening proficiency reduces
if the listening is still playing, then the reading part is invisible
How will listening progress interact with reading/writing progress?
Usually listening is more tied to speaking, as such I would consider it a completely separate skill that's only tangentially related to reading and writing.
Unless you wanted to do some combined tasks like:
write this character you just heard
in this reading, listen for the words that do not match
Then it might be wise to tie those specific tasks to the other skills.
Thanks again for the feedback, I really appreciate it!
You're welcome! There's more where that came from, I assure you.
So I've been studying Chinese for a while now, although not super consistently, and I'm at about the HSK 3 reading and speaking level, I believe. When I first logged in, I took just the reading test, and it pegged me at 583 characters memorized. This is unsurprising, considering the cumulative words and characters up to HSK 3 are about 600. Next, I chose the "study reading" option on the website. For context, I primarily use Anki and personally made decks to study, so this is somewhat of a departure from that.
One of the first things I noticed right off the bat was that the site presented the same word many times in a row. This probably isn't that efficient, memory wise. If possible, I would recommend trying to implement something like spaced repetition, as it's proven to be very effective at helping memorization. Another thing I noticed was that when it would provide the definition for characters, they would often be incorrect for the context. For example it had the character "月", and it provided the definition "moon" which is somewhat accurate, but in context it meant month. Also, some of the concepts where too low level for someone with ~HSK 3 knowledge. For example one test it gave me was just asking how to write different numbers, which is probably HSK 1 - HSK 2 level content, if that. Some interface decisions were weird, for example when you leave a test it says "Don't cancel", and "Cancel", which should probably be something like "Stay", "Leave", or "Leave? Yes, No".
Otherwise it seemed interesting, I haven't tried out the writing section yet, and the concept of seeing characters within sentences seemed cool as well.
I tried to implement some spaced repetition concepts. It does remember the history of when you last saw a character, and whether or not you got it right or wrong, and makes decisions based on that. One challenge that makes it more complicated than Anki flashcards is that I show full sentences instead of individual words, and the user will have a different "readiness" for each of the words in the sentence. Also, when I introduce a new word, I want the user to see it in more than one sentence so they can see how it's used in different contexts, but at the same time I don't want it to be too repetitive. Anyways I'll see if I can tweak my sentence selection algorithm some to add more variety.
When you tap on a character twice it will show a gloss (short definition), which might or might not match the context of the sentence. If you tap it again it will show the dictionary entry with more details and all the different meanings.
I'm writing down a note about the "Don't cancel"/"Cancel" - that's an easy change I can make quickly. Did you notice anything else like that?
Had you done a writing proficiency test? Writing and reading are treated as separate skills (for example you can be a beginner in writing and advanced in reading). If you are a beginner, numbers are the first thing it will introduce to you, so it sounds like it started you from the beginning in writing.
If you only do writing it will actually increase your reading score, since it assumes that you are able to read a character if you can write it, but it doesn't work the other way around - being able to read a character doesn't mean you can write it.
And thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate it - it's very useful to me.
Just started playing with it, but during the initial assessment test, the writing portion has some issues:
你 and 妳 can be interchanged
That's it from me. The logging in requirement is hindering my ability to jump back between the app and writing my findings. (This isn't an issue for the actual usage as I assume people won't bounce in and out like I am).
Hi, thanks for the comments. Just a few things I'm having trouble reproducing or confused about:
I just tried taking a test and canceled it midway. When I started it again it started afresh from the beginning.
Were you expecting it to start in the middle from where you canceled it before?
I'm not sure I envision what this would look like. You would write the characters small enough to write the whole sentence in the box?
Are you talking about the test? If you tap skip during the writing test it only skips one character (and marks it as wrong).
In the feedback form there's an "other reason" text field where you can write anything. Did you have something else in mind?
I might be interested. May I ask what's different about your app from other ones?
There are a number of differences that I think set apart my app from other apps for learning Chinese:
I’ve been playing with your site for a bit and I’ve done the placement test and done a few lessons. I really like what you’ve done with the reading and writing.
The writing is very cool especially the way that the it has you writing within a sentence. I wish that the writing was a bit more difficult. I think it overcorrects. This is something that a lot of the apps and sites I’ve used have done. They fix it to some digital character, but it would be great to see my writing not fixed to a character. I’m not sure how possible that is to do, but it would be really cool!
For the reading section, I like the way that you can tap once for the pinyin and twice for the meaning. I like matching the caption to the picture a lot as well. My level is quite low and I haven’t studied very formally, but doing that and piecing together what the scene is made me feel quite confident! However, I think some of the sentences are a bit off (although again, my level is quite low, I’m not quite sure). Also an option for typing the answers instead of multiple choice to make it a bit harder would be really great!
Someone else mentioned spaced repetition and I think this is an absolute must for your site. I also think a way to mark characters as not well known or well known would be an excellent feature as well and would help with the spaced repetition.
It would also be nice to see grammar explanations for certain words. There were a few characters that obviously changed the sentence in some way that I didn’t understand and having a good, proper explanation instead of just showing the definition would be really great!
I also liked the media section quite a lot. That’s a good idea and I like how it shows you the percentage you should be able to understand. However, I think that you should find a different way to show the videos than just linking to YouTube since it’s blocked in China and I needed a vpn to watch them. I know that this is a pretty small thing, but it would certainly help me to use that section more often.
I hope this helps! I’m planning on using the site more and practicing more with it. I like it quite a lot so far. Also an iOS app would be much appreciated haha!
Edit: added a bit more
Wow, thanks so much for all you feedback!
It would be interesting to see the difference between the strokes you make and the font strokes. For the writing part I'm using a nifty open source library for matching the user's strokes to the characters. I've suggested a few improvements there in the past that they've made. I'll think about suggesting an option to see the user's strokes.
It is true that some of the sentences are off, sometimes the translation doesn't quite match or the Chinese or English isn't completely grammatical. The sentences come from a variety of sources varying in quality. For example, the sentences that come from UN documents are usually accurate, but not very interesting, whereas sentences that come from movie subtitles are more interesting but often not very accurate. I've used some tools to try to filter out the worst matches, but in such a large corpus it's hard to capture everything. I hope to gradually improve it through feedback though - you can flag bad sentences, and I will periodically review them and edit or delete them.
Yes, the spaced repetition is a good point, I'll mention more details about that in response to the other comment.
I also thought about adding grammar explanations, and introducing them to the user as they encountered new patterns. I was starting to work on a tool to analyze sentences and try to automatically identify what grammar concepts it uses, and keep track of what the user has seen before, but it was a rather ambitious project that I set aside so I could focus on the media section more. Hopefully I can get back to it sometime in the future. My favorite resource for Chinese grammar is the Chinese Grammar Wiki on AllSet Learning - they might have explanations for some of the words you saw.
I also lived in China for a while and am familiar with the VPN issues. I wanted to find a different way to embed videos without having to host them all on my server and create my own video player, but unfortunately I couldn't find any good options other than YouTube. I am curious though, other than the videos, does the rest of the app function correctly without turning on the VPN? I made the decision to not use Google products in a few instances precisely for this reason, for example I the Microsoft text-to-speech API instead of Google's, and I doesn't use any scripts hosted by Google (except for YouTube :( )
I would love to also release it on iOS, but Apple app store is a bit trickier and costly, and I'll need an Apple computer and an Apple developer license in order to publish there. In the meantime, hopefully the web version is usable enough.
Thanks again for all your feedback! I really appreciate it.
No problem and I’m happy to help. Besides the YouTube issue, most everything works well, but some things are a little slow. It takes a little while to load the definitions for characters when they first appear and also for the writing parts. However, this may be on my end. Other than that everything works really well here
Good to know, thanks!
I'm building an app called 懂中文 Dong Chinese. If you have an Android phone you can join the beta on Google play, otherwise you can use the web version in your browser at https://www.dong-chinese.com
The app keeps track of your vocabulary and how well you understand each character, and will automatically search for practice sentences and songs that use vocabulary that you can understand. If you already know some Chinese, you can take a test to adjust it to your level of proficiency. You can use it to practice handwriting characters, and it has explanations of the etymologies of about 800 of the most common characters.
Currently it's free and has no ads. At some point in the future I'll probably try to monetize it, but I plan to let the people who help me test it out use it for free forever.
I'll be grateful for any feedback anyone has!
Congratulations with the release! Could you tell us, what does the “dong” in the name mean? I am asking, because the word “dong” has a certain meaning in informal English, which may or may not be a problem for you.
It means “understand” in Chinese, so the name of the website is “Understand Chinese.” It seems like quite a good name to me knowing that now.
As Fierre said, the simple answer is that it means "understand" in Chinese, but actually I wrote a blog post about this topic.
Very interesting story, thanks for answering!
I've been looking to brush up on my Chinese and this seems like a decent way to do it, especially since handwriting has never been my strength. I especially appreciate that you've included traditional characters.
One thing I've noticed, "著" when used as a particle (zhe) seems to be translated as something like to touch (can't remember exactly now, but pronounced zhù)
Hey, I havent used the system all that much but i noticed that in beginner writing questions, when you are practicing writing the letters(?) it sometimes shows the wrong letter/number on the top. For example, if you have to write ten (shi) it showed thirteen (13) on the upper pane.
Edit: Usually it shows the correct number/letter though.
Oh, yes that's an issue. I know why it's happening, it should be a fairly simple fix
I think I've fixed this now, but if you see it again let me know. Thanks again!
I've used the web-app a couple times now
Though, I do have an Android device, I do not have access to the Google play store. It would be nice if there was just an APK download.
For now, I have one feature request for the writing practice.
When a sentence comes up with two of the same character, e.g. 是不是, if the first character is failed or skipped, it shouldn't reveal that character if another exists in the same sentence. That way the second 是 can't be copied from the revealed 是 if the first one is skipped.
Also, I would definitely prefer (to reiterate another poster), for the reading, an ability to type the Chinese text that I want, instead of having to select from a group. As I find I learn better when I have to type it, and it's more fulfilling.
Are there any plans for a listening section? Even something as basic as TTS where the learner then has to either fill in the blank(s) or write what they heard?
Anyway, thanks for the app! I've been looking for something that focuses more on frequency and sentences.
Hey, thanks for the suggestions!
Good point. I'll consider adding a raw APK link to the home page at some point, but in the meantime you can try this:
http://data.dong-chinese.com/apk/dong-chinese.apk
I just uploaded it now, so I haven't actually verified yet whether or not it will function correctly. I think everything should work normally, except that I'm pretty sure that the log-in with Google function will not work since this APK file isn't signed with the Google play key.
If the user writes the first 是 incorrectly, it will be already be marked as incorrect for that sentence and they won't get any credit for writing the second one correctly. Given that, I don't see any harm in letting them copy from the revealed character.
That's something I'll consider, the only thing I'm worried about is people who don't have a Chinese keyboard installed and don't know how to input characters in a text field. By default I'll probably leave it as it is now, but maybe I'll add an option in the settings to enable something like that.
I have thought about it a number of times, but there are a few details that make me unsure of how to design it properly.
Thanks again for the feedback, I really appreciate it!
Great, thanks. It seems to work just fine, and I'm not to worried about the Google log-in anyway.
Ah, I was afraid I would get points from writing the second instance of the character correctly. Perhaps, either skipping the second instance or having something like a label or banner saying "for practice only, no proficiency points awarded" on the second one, would be helpful.
While I find it odd that someone would learn a language without using the appropriate input method, I do not doubt that it happens. Anyway, I'm all for an option, as that's one of the few things I like about similar apps.
There could be some ways to get around this:
Usually listening is more tied to speaking, as such I would consider it a completely separate skill that's only tangentially related to reading and writing.
Unless you wanted to do some combined tasks like:
Then it might be wise to tie those specific tasks to the other skills.
You're welcome! There's more where that came from, I assure you.