Eight Brains Chinese Dictionary
Detailed App Info:
Application Description
This is the dictionary app I wish I had when I came to China. It has a robust dictionary, flashcards, grammar, and translation aid. Words can be searched by English, pinyin, hanzi, and numbers, and are sorted by frequency usage to help decide which word you really want. Definitions unique to Eight Brains Chinese Dictionary answer many questions you have as a language learner:
• what is the difference between this word and another word with a similar meaning?
• is this word used with special grammar? (For example, 想 is a verb that means four different things depending on what follows it)
• What is the opposite of this word? (Many Chinese language textbooks do not pair opposites together)
• What are related words? (If I am looking for the word for “computer,” I might also be interested in “mouse” and “printer”)
• Is this hanzi actually a word by itself?
There are Eight Brains entries for over 2250 of the most common words, vetted by native Chinese speakers. For the other words that you may encounter, there are 100,000 community-sourced definitions from CC-CEDICT.
Flashcards are integrated with the dictionary and provide an easy way to learn words and characters. Flashcards for HSK levels 1, 2, and 3 are provided, and additional flashcards can be added. (The HSK is China's official language ability test)
A summary of Chinese grammar to about the HSK 3 level is provided, organized the way English speakers expect. Chinese language textbooks usually teach each grammatical element as unique structure unrelated to anything else, which I find confusing. The Eight Brains grammar summary clusters grammatical structures together to match with concepts that English speakers have. For example, future tense in Mandarin is communicated with several grammatical structures, all of which are organized together to help you compare and remember.
There is also a translation aid: it is hard to know where the words start and stop if you are unfamiliar with the characters. Simply copy/paste or write hanzi into the text entry at the top, and the characters will be grouped into words, along with pronunciation; tap on a word to display the definition. So if you get an SMS all in Chinese, simply copy and paste into the translation aid to get definitions for the words.
This dictionary will be especially helpful for people who are relatively new to Chinese, as you will be able to take advantage of the Eight Brains definitions. Additionally, if you enable the Chinese handwriting recognition built-in to iOS, you can draw the characters that you do not know in order to look them up. This is very handy and I use it daily.
If you are a native Chinese speaker learning English, please note that the definitions are all in English.
• what is the difference between this word and another word with a similar meaning?
• is this word used with special grammar? (For example, 想 is a verb that means four different things depending on what follows it)
• What is the opposite of this word? (Many Chinese language textbooks do not pair opposites together)
• What are related words? (If I am looking for the word for “computer,” I might also be interested in “mouse” and “printer”)
• Is this hanzi actually a word by itself?
There are Eight Brains entries for over 2250 of the most common words, vetted by native Chinese speakers. For the other words that you may encounter, there are 100,000 community-sourced definitions from CC-CEDICT.
Flashcards are integrated with the dictionary and provide an easy way to learn words and characters. Flashcards for HSK levels 1, 2, and 3 are provided, and additional flashcards can be added. (The HSK is China's official language ability test)
A summary of Chinese grammar to about the HSK 3 level is provided, organized the way English speakers expect. Chinese language textbooks usually teach each grammatical element as unique structure unrelated to anything else, which I find confusing. The Eight Brains grammar summary clusters grammatical structures together to match with concepts that English speakers have. For example, future tense in Mandarin is communicated with several grammatical structures, all of which are organized together to help you compare and remember.
There is also a translation aid: it is hard to know where the words start and stop if you are unfamiliar with the characters. Simply copy/paste or write hanzi into the text entry at the top, and the characters will be grouped into words, along with pronunciation; tap on a word to display the definition. So if you get an SMS all in Chinese, simply copy and paste into the translation aid to get definitions for the words.
This dictionary will be especially helpful for people who are relatively new to Chinese, as you will be able to take advantage of the Eight Brains definitions. Additionally, if you enable the Chinese handwriting recognition built-in to iOS, you can draw the characters that you do not know in order to look them up. This is very handy and I use it daily.
If you are a native Chinese speaker learning English, please note that the definitions are all in English.
Requirements
Your mobile device must have at least 6.33 MB of space to download and install Eight Brains Chinese Dictionary app. Eight Brains Chinese Dictionary is available on iTunes for $5.99
If you have any problems with installation or in-app purchase, found bugs, questions, comments about this application, you can visit the official website of Eight Brains Studios, LLC at http://eight-brains.com/cdict.
Copyright © 2013 Eight Brains Studios, LLC
