HanyuGuide: Learning Pinyin Actively and Other Chinese Learning Tools

[HanyuGuide]

Hi,

 

I have been working on a site, www.HanyuGuide.com for some time. The core functionality is for memorizing the pinyin of Chinese characters in an active manner as opposed to selecting correct or incorrect as is often done with traditional flashcards.

 

I wanted to reach out to this community to see what others thought and if there are any thoughts, feedback, or additional tools desired. 

 

Current tools include:

 - Chinese to Pinyin

 - Pinyin Keyboard (easily, without the need for any additional keyboard or software)

 - HSK Quizzes for both old and new HSK

 

Tools in the making:

 - Flashcard creation

 

Functionality in the making:

 - Lists

 - Classroom/centralized management

 

The site is currently completely free, and in full disclosure I am working on monetizing the site. However, there will always be parts of the site that are free to access. 

 

[Moshen]

Welcome to the forum.

 

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memorizing ... in an active manner

 

I suggest you come up with a clearer summary of your method.  I have no idea what the above means or why it is a good thing.

 

Also it would be helpful if you specified what level(s) this method is suitable for.

[HanyuGuide]

Hi Moshen,

Thanks for the welcome!

 

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I suggest you come up with a clearer summary of your method.  I have no idea what the above means or why it is a good thing.

I appreciate the feedback. 

 

Instead of traditional flashcard systems, where cards as marked as correct or incorrect, users are instead actively creating output and checking that output against the correct answer. This creates a trade-off where inputs are slightly slower, but it forces correctness.

 

I believe that this is a great benefit to beginners, many of which may neglect tones or struggle to remember them. This learning style would be useful until upper-intermediate when learners begin to get a stronger grasp of the pinyin and reading of characters. However, some learners may prefer this style of study and continue.

 

As learners become more advanced, the time spent on active output no longer outweighs the benefit of breadth of study which is reached by more passive methods, such as traditional flashcards.