Flashcard wishlist

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What I want for Christmas: Flashcards that learn Chinese for me, wash my clothes, clean the house, walk the dog, go to work in my stead, and write my blog entries.

i'm from China,I want to learn Englsih,Let's help each other,if you can help me,thank you. MSN:edcheng-yang@hotmail.com Yahoo ID:edcheng_yang@yahoo.cn Skepy ID:xinuoking QQ(OICQ):474360175

Christian, good to have you back! :-) I especially like your idea about sample sentences on the flashcards as I like to use my vocabulary lists to study the words in other contexts. As the vocabulary is working right now you get a list of other lesson where the word is included in the vocabulary and when you click on the link it takes you directly to the vocab section of the lesson in question. I find this a bit annoying as I want to go directly to the dialogue to see how the word is used. Sometimes I'm not able to find an example in the lesson, not even in the Expansion section because it's only listed as extra vocab. It would also be good if there was even more integration with the dictionary and the examples shown there. It would be nice just to click on the word in your list and be taken directly to the dictionary.

RJBerki The "don't show this card again" button seems to be working on my computer.

I especially like the first suggestion. When I get to know a character, I check the "don't show again" box, but I think you have suggested a better system. Using your suggestion, I'm envisioning characters that are new or problematic in heavy rotation. Meanwhile, those I get right consistently pop up only sporadically, which is useful for review (I couldn't remember gei3 just yesterday). I like it! RJBerki - it may be the browser you are using. I often need to switch to Explorer to fill our work related forms when Firefox or Netscape won't work. Incidentally, I use Firefox for Cpod, and it seems to work pretty well, although the exercises have become a little glitchy since the change.

tvan, scottyb, thanks. as it turns out it was me :-( I have re-investigated this function based on your comments and I did figure out what I was doing wrong. Works great now and will be very helpful. RJB

that reminds me - there is a check box on each flashcard that says something to the effect of "dont show this card again". It has always been my impression that this is to be used on cards you know very well and you can drop it out of the cycle leaving only those you dont know so you can more quickly concentrate on those until the list hits zero. Unfortunately the box doesnt work. Checking this box has no visible effect that I can find. I wouldnt want it to be permanent but specific to one falshcard session. This would be very helpful. Am I missing something here? RJ

Tvan, which one do you use to estimate total characters known? That sounds like a cool feature. Lunetta, thanks, it's nice to be back :)

Character Test - I think he is talking about http://www.clavisinica.com/Tools/chartest.html

I do have the Clavis Sinica softwre also. Before Cpod I had to find tools to learn on my own. This one is not free but I think it was around 50 dollars US. It has a really nice flashcard feature that contains the "most used" 800 characters and you can break it into the top 300 and the next 500. It automatically re-inserts the ones you miss later in the session and at the end you get a score. You can break the sessions into any number of characters you like (the first 25 of the top 300 for example) There is also a flashcard set for the radicals but their list only has 189. It does traditional or simplified characters. There is also a nice dictionary that lists all compounds for any give character or all characters for any give radical etc. There is also a translator for both trad and simplified into which you can paste text. It has been worth what I paid for it. I think this originated at Yale if I remember correctly. Oh - there is also pronouncation provided.

Another flash card feature I think would be helpful is if the "Expansion" section could be viewed as flash cards. There would be the same options for the regular flashcards (hanzi, english, or audio), but it would be sentences instead of single words. I've found it helps me a lot to generate sentences because I learn the words in context.

Christian, Sorry for not responding earlier. Holiday festivities and the traditional pre-Xmas camping trip. RJBerki is right, I use the flash card tool on Clavasinica website to estimate total characters. It differs from ChinesePod's in that it tests single characters only. However, for the test to have any validity you must follow one rule: No guessing!! Since it's multiple choice, if you have any knowledge of the pronunciation/meaning keys in a character, it's pretty easy to game. Still, I find it one more useful tool.

Personally, I like the algorithm and dictionary ideas.. less hot on the sample sentences. Something else to consider is that there are other flash card tools on the web. I use one that is integrated with my school's textbook, another to give me an estimate of total characters known and, of course, ChinesePod to reinforce the lessons here.