Frequently Asked Questions

1. For whom was this application created?

The application was developed for the beginning and intermediate levels of English learners of Chinese.

2. What are the requirements for this application?

WindowsME, or MicrosoftXP is needed, together with Chinese (Simplified) Language Support, which can be downloaded from Microsoft. Also, RealOne Player is required to play audio and video tapes.

3. What are Chinese materials used for this application?

Practical Chinese Reader (PCR) Book 1, Integrated Chinese (IC) Level I Part 1 are used as materials.

4. What is the purpose of this application?

The application was designed to provide learners with an interactive opportunity to learn Chinese. Namely students have a chance to get actively involved in the Chinese-learning process by inputting characters, inputting pinyin with a right tone label, and inputting English.

5. What is the uniqueness of this application?

The application was designed with a clear goal to target at English-speaking learners' problems with Chinese learning, and to make their learning easier and enjoyable.

6. How to use the application to input Chinese?

Click EN on the Taskbar, and select Chinese (PRC). Key in pinyin, and select the character from the list of characters. 

7. How to use the application to input English?

Simply click the radio button for English. Make sure to switch from Chinese to English before inputting anything.

8. How to use the application to input Pinyin?

Click the radio button for Pinyin, and make sure that the system is in the English mode. Then start keying in pinyin.

9. How to mark tones?

Simply use a numeral to indicate a tone. For example, the pinyin form for "person" is ren, which is read with a first tone, so you should put in ren1.

10. How to input ü for the characters like nü3 "女" and lü4 "绿"?

Use v for ü. So for nü3 "女", please key in nv3,  and  lv4 for lü4 "绿".

For any questions or comments, please write to Dr. Dongdong Chen at chendong@shu.edu.

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