Flash Cards for iPhone
rarefruit
October 10, 2008, 05:46 AM posted in General DiscussionI am looking for a nice set of beginner flash cards that is compatible with the iPhone. Anybody use any programs they would recommend. I know of a program that you can make your own but that is time consuming, however I might try it if I can't find something premade. If I do make something myself does anyone know of a list of the most popular Chinese Characters listed in order of frequency that I could copy into a text file. I was hoping for maybe 250-500 words to start with.
sinologia
May 11, 2011, 07:16 AMPleco is excellent. I bought the character recognition software and this has been a great help: Just switch on Pleco, start the character recognition software and point the build-in camera to a chinese character. works super!
in an instant the software finds the character, shows you its pinyin and its meaning in english.
Another 2 apps that I have been using is called wcc character and wcc bigram. you have to pay for them but they are worth the money.
And one more: its called HanZi Reader. This app is amazing and very useful for beginners: It lets you input texts and after processing you can click on each character of the text and it shows pinyin and translation.
andrew75
October 26, 2008, 04:18 AMWow, someone must have been listening! There's an app called "Chinese Flashcards" that came out on October 14. It tests the most common characters in simplified and traditional form, in order of frequency, just like you asked for!
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=293741332&mt=8
punter888
November 23, 2008, 03:07 AMI use LearnChinese from Flash My Brain on the iphone. It certainly isn't the end all of flash card programs, but as far as the iphone is concerned, they appear to be all very similar. Main drawback is that the online libary is mostly user generated cards. So little in the way of consistency. Also, no audio and not flexible in terms of say, presenting definition first, or presenting character first. But still worth the $10 or so it costs and not a bad way to kill time in the back of a taxi.
craigthebrit
October 30, 2009, 12:05 PMYou might be interested in an app called trainchinese. There's a website (of the same name), where you can choose flashcards from a big database and transfer them to phones and iPhone/iPod for offline viewing and training.
oakleysteve
October 15, 2008, 01:01 AMI've been using iflipr for the last 2 weeks and am very happy with it. It's easy to use excel (or any spreadsheet) to create your own cards. I just put the Chinese character in column A and the pinyin and english in column B. When I have them all listed, I just copy the two columns and paste them in the import box on the iflipr website. Then download them into the iflipr program on the iPhone or Touch. It's actually easier to do than I've described it. There are many cardsets available on the website available for download, including lots that correspond to commonly used Chinese textbooks, and lists such as frequently used characters. If you're not sure it's what you're looking for, there's an iflipr lite that let's you explore the website and make your own cards, but you can't download sets with more than 10 cards.
The website has links to YouTube videos explaining how to use the program.
I hope this helps.
dporter1465
May 10, 2011, 09:39 PMClavis Sinica has just released a new Chinese flashcards app for iPhone. It is unlike many of the others out there in that it asks you, for each character card, to choose the correct pinyin and English definition from a series of options. There are details at clavisinica.com/zika-iphone.html or you can search the iTunes store for CS Zika.
chris
May 10, 2011, 11:34 PMI recently finally upgraded from my 10 year old Nokia to a smartphone (always late to the party!). I went for HTC Android and use Anki which was surprisingly easy to import all my CPod flashcards. And they can be viewed offline which is very important to me. In response to dporter's comment above, I often find myself thinking that it would be nice to have a multiple-choice aspect rather than just having to grade yourself each time, so I may try the Clavis Sinica app (assuming there is an Android version).
One final comment - this Spaced Repetition learning really does work! I've amazed myself at how many characters I've picked up in the last few weeks since owning the new phone. In combination with the transcription work on Cpod (plug for the "Transcripts with Tal" group if you're not already a member), my character recognition ability has taken leaps and bounds.
podster
May 11, 2011, 04:10 AMI'm surprised that nobody in this thread mentioned Pleco. Is there anyone that thinks that Pleco is not the best dictionary / flashcard /browser / reader program? www.pleco.com
I started using it on a Palm Pilot, then a Palm Treo, and am now using the current verison on iPod and iPhone.
For reference, I have not tried any of the other programs mentioned here. I am also surprised at the lack of mention of Anki, which I always see mentioned as a useful flashcard program for studying Chinese, although I don't have experience with it myself.
I guess the original question was related to finding ready made cards. Pleco has an "exchange" where you can do this.
I quite like the flashcards in the Chinese Pod mobile app for iPhone / iPod. I just wish it had a spaced repetition system functionality.
chris
Hi Podster. My other half has Pleco on her iPad and I agree it is a fantastic tool and probably the best in this market. However, there is no version available for Android hence why I am using Anki. If the Pleco person ever brings out an Android version (surely inevitable at some point!), then I will use it.
Hennie
May 11, 2011, 06:04 AMI am using Pleco on my iPhone and together, CPod and Pleco on my phone account for > 85% of my Chinese studies. Pleco is brilliant. For startups like me, download the free app and then buy the basic bundle add-on ($49 in-app purchase) plus the free CC-CEDIT dictionary. Advanced users might want the complete bundle.
Pleco.com also has the full HSK vocab list for you to import and can also import the vocab from your CPod lessons.
simonpettersson
October 30, 2009, 12:13 PMThis question is a year old, you know ...
However, if someone is still looking, I recommend StudyArcade, since it has spaced repetition and syncronizes with ChinesePod's Vocabulary tool.
billglover
October 11, 2008, 09:59 AM@rarefruit: I've found nothing yet, but I'm keeping an eye on the development of iFlash for the iPhone (http://www.davidmcgavern.com/category/loopware/).
Secretly I'm hoping that the focus on the iPhone by the ChinesePod team will start to allow us to use things like flashcards on the phone (even when there is no signal).
Would be interested to hear if you've found anything.