Chinese Character Tutor version 5.0 for Microsoft Windows This file discusses the following topics: - Benefits - Version 5 - What's New? - Product Features - Software Requirements - Hardware Requirements - Demonstration Version - More Information - Ordering Information BENEFITS =========== The Chinese Character Tutor is an online dictionary and learning tool. Version 5 now offers traditional Chinese characters, folders, compatibility with Chinese font systems, annotations, an enhanced testing facility and much more! CCT5 is an educational tool that will increase one's productivity in learning the most common Chinese characters, speaking and listening to Mandarin Chinese. VERSION 5 - WHAT'S NEW? ======================= - Traditional Chinese characters (previously simplified characters only) - View both simplified and traditional characters at the same time - Over 6,300 characters (previously 1,750) - Alternatively view characters as a Chinese font. Select a font and a font size. This requires a 3rd party program such as TwinBridge, CStar, RichWin or Chinese Windows '95. - View radicals and retrieve all characters with a specific radical. - Drag and drop any word (or an entire group) to one of 16 folders for each dictionary. This is useful for organizing groups of words. - Drag and drop any word (from any dictionary) to the user-defined dictionary and assign a lesson number - A memo field where you can type in a note or sample sentence for each word in every dictionary. This annotation could be in Chinese if you have TwinBridge, CStar, etc. - Infinite delay ... use Space bar to toggle the Chinese word visible and invisible (like a true flashcard). - Access top 1000 most frequently used Chinese characters. Optionally display top 1000 frequency numbers above characters. - Improved printing options. Print current group of words as a list. If displaying Chinese characters as a font, print using the font. - If displaying Chinese characters as pictures ... zoom feature allows displaying character at 3X original size. - Six new testing methods (all require Chinese font system) - view English ... multiple choice selection of Chinese - view Pinyin ... multiple choice selection of Chinese - hear audio ... multiple choice selection of Chinese - view English ... type in Chinese - view Pinyin ... type in Chinese - hear audio ... type in Chinese - Display up to 10 Chinese characters per word/phrase (previously 6) - Sort option in the Find Chinese Character window. Sort by Pinyin or by the number of Chinese character strokes. - If viewing Chinese characters as a font, copy any Chinese word to the Clipboard and paste into other Windows applications such as Microsoft Word, etc. - Compatible with Audio Pack and Sentences Pack (add-ons to CCT version 4) - Open architecture allows for detecting add-on dictionaries - Expanded main dictionary ... now with over 8,000 Chinese words - Restore defaults - Sound effects for folder operations PRODUCT FEATURES ================ Dictionaries, Books, and Lessons -------------------------------- - 4 dictionaries to select from: - Main Dictionary (contains over 8,000 Chinese words) - Elementary Chinese Readers (books 1 - 4) - Practical Chinese Readers (books 1 and 2) - User-Defined Dictionary - Predefined lessons map directly to the vocabulary words in: - Elementary Chinese Readers Book 1: 1985 - 3rd printing Book 2: 1984 - 2nd printing Book 3: 1985 - 2nd printing Book 4: 1987 - 3rd printing - Practical Chinese Readers Book 1: 1988 Book 2: 1989 (These books can be purchased from: China Books & Periodicals in San Francisco. Their phone number is 415-282-2994) - 19 parts of speech - Create your own dictionary and lessons (requires Microsoft Access) - A total of 35 subject categories ... such as business, people, numbers, countries, health, home, school, travel, etc. Chinese Characters --------------------- - Over 6,300 characters (previously 1,750) - View both simplified and traditional characters at the same time - Includes all characters listed in the paper "A Study of the One Thousand Most Frequently Used Chinese Characters" (published in the October 1988 issue of the Journal for Chinese Language Teachers Association - JCLTA) - Up to 10 Chinese characters per word or phrase - Add your own characters as bitmap images. User manual and online help describe the process for doing this. - Retrieve all words in a dictionary containing a specific Chinese character. This is useful when you want to see how and when a specific character is used in related words. - Find a specific Chinese character (syllable). - Specify number of strokes (or a range) when searching for Chinese characters. For example, view characters with 5 strokes (and starts with Pinyin "d" ... and tone #2) AUDIO -------- - Audio is included for all vocabulary words found in: - Practical Chinese Reader Book #1 (564 words) All audio is a female voice by a native Chinese speaker. She has been trained and worked as a TV and radio announcer in Beijing, China. - Auto-Play the audio while auto-advancing through a group of words - Add your own audio .WAV files to vocabulary words - An optional Audio Pack is available for CCT5 that includes the audio and updated dictionary files for the vocabulary words in the following books: - Practical Chinese Reader Book #2 (710 words) - Elementary Chinese Reader Book #1 (336 words) - Elementary Chinese Reader Book #2 (354 words) Testing Facility ------------------- - 19 different testing methods: - Multiple choice - Select Pinyin Given Characters - Select Pinyin Given English - Select Pinyin Tones - Select English Given Characters - Select English Given Pinyin - Select Characters Given English - Select Characters Given Pinyin - Typing test methods - Type in Pinyin Given Characters - Type in Pinyin Given English - Type in English Given Characters - Type in English Given Pinyin - Type in Chinese Given English - Type in Chinese Given Pinyin - Audio test methods - Listen to audio ... and select Pinyin - Listen to audio ... and select English - Listen to audio ... and select Chinese - Listen to audio ... and type Pinyin - Listen to audio ... and type English - Listen to audio ... and type Chinese - Test with or without a timer - View a hint (which freezes the timer, if used) - Option to repeat words during the testing cycle - For multiple choice, you can specify the incorrect entries to randomly come from the currently tested group or from the currently selected dictionary - Option to automatically remove words that are answered correctly on the first attempt. This allows one to test again only the words that were answered incorrectly, skipped, or timed-out (if the timer was used) - Auto-Play audio for each new word being tested - Preview the correct answer Testing Results ------------------ - Display the total elapsed testing time - Display the average time per word during elapsed time - Select a word that has been tested and view its Chinese characters and Pinyin with tones Finding / Grouping Words --------------------------- - Find a specific word given English or Pinyin. Use wildcard characters (? and *) in your search patterns. - Retrieve and view the words in a dictionary that meet the criteria you specify (for example, a range of lesson numbers, specific parts of speech, etc.) Display Features ------------------- - Auto-display feature ... display words in the current group automatically by advancing to the next word after a user-defined number of seconds. Can also specify continuously looping through the group of words. - Delay feature ... delays the display of the Pinyin and English fields after the Chinese character(s) have been displayed. Similarly, delay the display of the Chinese characters after the Pinyin and English fields have been displayed. The length of delay is user-defined. Can be used with the auto-display feature. - Change the background picture. Three pictures are supplied or add your own background picture. - Two parts of speech can be assigned to one word - Three English definitions ... up to 32 characters each - View current group in a table/grid - Sort words by English or Pinyin - Save application defaults (utilized the next time the program is run) such as screen coordinates, view options, testing options, etc. Miscellaneous Features ------------------------- - Remove words from the current group of words - Tag a word to be viewed/compared with another word (useful for comparing words with similar characters) - Move backwards and forwards through the 20 previously retrieved groups of words. - Print a Chinese word and its definitions on the same page - Dictionaries are in Microsoft Access 2.0 database format - A network edition of CCT5 is available (great for language labs) - Optionally purchase a "dictionary" of sentences with various sentence patterns. Audio is included for each sentence. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ======================== - Microsoft Windows 3.1 (with MS-DOS operating system version 5.0 or higher), Windows '95, Windows NT or Windows '95 Chinese edition - Chinese font system to display characters as a font (optional). Examples include Chinese Star 2.0+, Chinese Partner by TwinBridge, RichWin by Stone RichSight, etc. - Microsoft Access 2.0 (or higher) for editing dictionaries (optional). HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS ======================== - IBM-AT or compatible computer (a Pentium is recommended) - 6 Megabytes of RAM (the more the better) - VGA graphics adapter (or better) - Microsoft Windows supported printer (laser printer is recommended) - Microsoft Mouse (or compatible) - 18 Megabytes of hard disk space - Sound card for playing audio (optional) DEMONSTRATION VERSION ======================== The demonstration program is functional except that the dictionaries are limited to contain the following: - lessons 1 - 5 for the Elementary Chinese Readers (ECR) - lessons 1 - 5 for the Practical Chinese Readers (PCR) - the Subject category: Days of Week The file CCT5DEMO.EXE is a self-extracting file. That is, after copying this file to your hard disk (preferably to a new directory), simply type the word 'CCT5DEMO" from DOS ... or double-click it to expand. Example scenario: 1) Create a new directory to contain this program's files. 2) Copy the file CCT5DEMO.EXE to this new directory. 3) Type the command 'CCT5DEMO' to expand this self-expanding 4) From within Windows, run the program file CCT5.EXE To take a sample tour through this useful program, follow these instructions: 1) By default, lesson #1 of the Practical Chinese Readers is displayed. Use the horizontal scrollbar to view this lesson's words. 2) Select lesson #5 from the drop-down list in the toolbar to retrieve the words associated with this book's lesson. Notice that some Chinese characters have a gray horizontal bar underneath them. This means that both simplified and traditional forms exist for this character. Click this horizontal bar to view and hide the alternative form of this Chinese character. 3) Click on the first toolbar button (the funnel) to define a grouping of words. In this example, let us retrieve the first 5 lessons of the Practical Chinese Readers. To do this, select Practical Chinese Readers as the 'Source' dictionary. Since this dictionary has lessons, the 'Lessons' section will appear. Select 'Less than or equal to...' and use the horizontal scroll bar to specify 5. Click the Retrieve button. Your current group should now contain 26 words. 4) After viewing the words on the screen, select the stopwatch toolbar button to test your knowledge of the current group of words. By default, you are presented with one of the multiple choice method of testing. Also by default, the timer is turned off (these default values can be changed and saved). Press the first toolbar button to 'play' or begin testing. Give responses for several words ... and then press the third toolbar button to 'stop'. Change the testing method from the Method menu to "Type in Pinyin Given Characters". Answer a few if you can ... and then 'stop'. To hear audio during your testing, select the menu option Audio -> Auto-Play. Begin testing ... and this time you will hear the Chinese word for each newly displayed word. This demonstration version of CCT5 is fully functional except that the dictionaries are very small. Try out all of the testing methods, use a timer, view testing results, etc. 5) Select the menu option Group -> Auto-Play Audio (if your computer has a sound card). Select the auto-advance toolbar button (the 4th button on the toolbar) to automatically advance to the next word after 5 seconds. This length of time can be changed from the "Group" menu. This feature allows you to sit back and watch/listen/learn Chinese words. Press the Escape key on your keyboard to stop the auto-advance feature. 6) The use of folders is new in CCT5. Drag the current word to Folder 1 in order to move this word to your own folder. You can rename these default folder names and add/delete your own folders. You have other folder options by pressing the right-mouse button on top of a folder. 7) Drag the current word to the User-Defined dictionary (book graphic on the screen). When you drop a word on this book, you will be prompted to specify the lesson number you want to assign this word. Dragging and dropping a word to the User-Defined dictionary is a copy operation. You can then open the User-Defined dictionary by double- clicking on the book. Then select the lesson number as you have done before. Please refer to the online help (file CCT5.HLP) for more detailed information on features while using the Chinese Character Tutor. MORE INFORMATION =================== If you would like to receive more information, please contact us at the address, phone number, fax number, or e-mail address listed below. If you would like to receive our 4-page brochure via fax that shows sample screen images, then please include your fax number. ORDERING INFORMATION ======================= The price of CCT5 is $69 plus $5 shipping The upgrade price is $35 plus $5 shipping The Audio Pack add-on is $29 (requires CCT5) The Sentences Pack add-on is $29 (requires CCT5) International orders please include $12 for air mail shipping No credit cards accepted ... sorry! Please make checks payable to FlashWare International Orders within the U.S. are shipped via Priority Mail unless you prefer otherwise. Thank you for your interest! FlashWare International 6440 Weidner Road Franklin, OH 45005 USA phone/fax: (513) 748-8182 e-mail: 71045.3475@compuserve.com ** ** Visit our Web site which includes sample audio ** and sample screen images: ** ** http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/fergab **