Publisher: Flashware International
Distributor: Flashware International
Address: 816 W. Maple, Johnson City, TN 37604 USA; phone & fax (423) 975-0801; http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/fergab
System Requirements: IBM-AT or compatible computer (A Pentium is recommended), 4MB of RAM (or more); VGA graphics adapter (or better); Microsoft Windows supported printer (laser printer is recommended); Microsoft Mouse (or compatible); 15 Megabytes of hard disk space; Sound Card for playing audio (optional); MS-DOS operating system version 5.0 (or higher); Microsoft Window 3.1 or Window 95

Of all the software I have evaluated so far, by far the Chinese Language Learning software has the best documentation. With this most up-to-date Chinese Character Tutor 4 (CCT4) version, the producer clearly states all the included features and applications of the software. Thus the instructions are quite easy to follow even for the novice computer user.

According to the introductory literature "the Chinese Character tutor evolved as an idea from a frustrated student of the Chinese language." "All those strokes and tones!" he cried. In other words, the main purpose behind the development of this software is instruction in Chinese character and tone recognition. This software is based on the Chinese characters and words that are featured in two widely used text books: Elementary Chinese Reader (Books 1-4) and Practical Chinese Reader ( Books 1 & 2). It also contains an on-line main dictionary which includes over 7,000 commonly used Chinese words. Two additional add-on modules, the "Audio Pack" and the "Sentences Pack" can be purchased for use in conjunction with CCT4. The "Sentences Pack" includes 200 basic Chinese sentences.

This CCT4 software includes the following features:

1. Serves as an on-line dictionary and learning tool.
2. Main Dictionary contains over 7,000 commonly used Chinese words.
3. Predefined lessons map directly to the vocabulary words in: Elementary Chinese Reader (Books 1-4) Practical Chinese Reader (Books 1 & 2)
4. Create your own dictionary and lessons (requires Microsoft Access 2.0)
5. Stroke order numbers are visible on each character.
6. Find a specific word given English or Pinyin. Use wildcard characters (? and *) in your search patterns.
7. View words associated with 35 subjects (such as numbers, colors, people, nature, school, time, travel, weather, etc.)
8. Add your own characters as bitmap images
9. Testing facility:
   Given Chinese characters....multiple choice of Pinyin
   Given Chinese characters....multiple choice of English
   Given Chinese characters....type in Pinyin
   Given Chinese characters....test tone knowledge
   Given Chinese characters....type in Pinyin and test tone knowledge
   Given pinyin text.............type in English definition
   Given pinyin text.............multiple choice of English definition
   Given English definitions....type in Pinyin (and tone knowledge)
   Given English definitions....multiple choice of pinyin
   Listen to audio.................and type in Pinyin
   Listen to audio.................and multiple choice of English definition
   Listen to audio.................and test tone knowledge
   Test with or without a timer
   View a hint
10. Option to automatically remove words that are answered correctly on the first attempt. This allows you to test again only those words that were answered incorrectly, skipped, or timed-out.
11. Auto-Play audio for each new word being tested.
12. Preview the correct answer.
13. Auto-advance ( and -Rewind, -Randomize) feature...display words in the current group by automatically advancing to the next word after a user-defined number of seconds. Can also continuously loop through the group of words.
14. Delay feature...delays the display of the Pinyin and English fields after the Chinese character(s) have been displayed. Similarly, delays 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-Advance and Auto- Rewind features. .
15. Sort words by English or Pinyin.
16. Retrieve all words that contain a specific Chinese character.
17. History section shows a timeline of Chinese dynasties. Events during each time period are listed in chronological order.
18. Table of major world languages and the number of people that speak them. Also a table of major Chinese dialects.
19. Map of China
20. Over 320 book and magazine references on China
21. Information on the following: the basic strokes that comprise Chinese characters stroke order rules Chinese character architecture tone chart (now with audio) Pinyin pronunciation (now with audio)
22. Find a specific Chinese character type in Pinyin use wildcard character ? and/or* specify the tones of characters to view specify the number of strokes of characters to find retrieve all words in a dictionary that use a specific character
23. Retrieve and view the words in the dictionary that meet the criteria you specify, based on: a specific dictionary a specific number or range of lesson numbers words with a specific number of Chinese characters words that are a specific part of speech (e.g., only pronouns)
24. Copy Chinese characters to the Clipboard
25. Hide Pinyin and English definitions while reviewing Chinese words
26. Save your session settings.

Best Features:

• This software program is coordinated with two of the most commonly used beginning Chinese language text books. This allows the program to be used in conjunction with a particular lesson for reinforcement of vocabulary words and character recognition.
• The manual that accompanies the software is detailed and easy to follow.
• The testing functions for the various lessons are well designed. All the different types of testing are possible per lesson or otherwise designated group of words. The user can adjust the time limit for responding to each question or can respond to the questions without a time restriction. The user can also retrieve a complete record of the results of all the questions tested including an overall percentage for correct responses. Users who score above 69% on the testing function will be encouraged by the applause sound track.
• Under the Group menu delay options are provided whereby the user can choose to postpone any one of a number of variables related to each character or phrase -- pinyin and English equivalent, character graph, or audio voice-over. This allows the potential for self-testing against the machine text displays or audio features. The time for the delay can be set by the user.

Suggestions for Improvement:

While the software is eminently usable in its present format, in the interest of encouraging ever more effective computer language teaching-aids, I offer the following design and linguistic critiques of the current version. In general, this CD-ROM software is linguistically sound, but it does not take full advantage of the possibilities for interactive teaching and learning via the computer. The images and layout designs are too static, and there is insufficient visual and audio reinforcement in the practice and testing features.

Design Problems:

Since learning Chinese characters is one of the main concerns of this software, providing only the simplified form of Chinese characters and not the traditional characters may not be sufficient for users who intend to learn both forms. This is a significant drawback. The producers are currently planning an updated version of the software that will address this oversight.

• The producers claim that the strokes of the Chinese characters are one of their main concerns. However, the current method used in the program to indicate stroke order is not very effective. Presently, each character is depicted with a number over each of the strokes of which it is comprised. The numbers are tiny, and especially in characters with many strokes, hard to identify in relation to their corresponding stroke. In addition, the numbers give no indication of the direction in which the stroke is to be drawn. For this information the user must refer to the panels on stroke order rules and Chinese character architecture provided under the View menu. In future, this feature could be enhanced by incorporating more multi-media functions such as stroke order animation drawings.
• The audio feature disappears when the program is run under the Dictionary menu and the various Subject menus. This renders the audio testing features useless in these modes of operation.
• When running the lesson programs on auto-play audio, every time a new variable for viewing is selected, the user must go back and re-choose auto-play audio or the lesson under review. This is cumbersome. There should be a feature that allows the program to resume the previous mode of operation without having to re-select from the menus.
• Under the Culture menu, the Map feature is overly simplified. Only a small map of China is provided, and no interactive options for clicking on names or places are incorporated into the map panel.

Linguistic Problems:

• The Chinese sentences practice that accompanies this software is not very useful in its current form. The sentences are not grouped in such a way as to simulate conversational practice, nor is their order of presentation linguistically relevant. The sentences are simply listed in alphabetical order based on the first letter of the first pinyin word in the sentence. In addition, many of the selections under the "Sentences" feature do not constitute full sentences, but are rather phrases such as the following: (ba dian guo ershi fen) ¤KÂI¹L¤G¤Q¤À (8:20). There is also no attempt to arrange the phrases or sentences in terms of gradually increasing complexity or sophistication. The producers claim that they are working on ways to enhance the effectiveness of the sentences practice in future versions of the software.
• The definitions of the vocabulary words follow the text books too closely, and as a result, out of context the definitions are sometimes unclear or misleading. For instance, §B¤÷ bofu is rendered in one of its definitions as "(a polite form of address)." Without further explanation, the user would be hard-pressed to understand the context in which bofu becomes a polite form of address (as for instance, when used to refer to a man of one’s father’s generational age group).
• When searching for words with a common pinyin representation, the same character is often given many times. For instance, a search for characters with the sound equivalent "bao" recalls twelve characters. Of those twelve, four of them are the character, ¥], (with the definitions wrap, to wrap/to make [dumplings], parcel, bundle/packet/package) and two of them are the character, Á¡ (with the definitions thin and flimsy). Each of these characters is listed as corresponding to either one English definition or a particular part of speech (noun, measure word, etc.). These same characters with multiple meanings are also not necessarily presented in consecutive sequence. Thus, instead of clustering multi-meaning characters in one display with several definitions, each definition is treated as though it were a different character. This makes for unnecessary redundancy and could be confusing to a beginning language learner.
• Review of this software found a few instances of incorrect characters and misplaced tone marks. For instance, °®¬~ ganxi (dry clean) was rendered as ·§¬~ gaixi. The software should re-check for other similar glitches.