iLearn Chinese Characters Lite

Name: iLearn Chinese Characters Lite
Rating: 4.5 (40 reviews)
Author: YOYASOFT LLC

Read and Write Chinese

Free · Designed for iPad

40 Ratings
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Education
Developer

YOYASOFT LLC
Language

EN
English
Size

11.1
MB

This app introduces Chinese characters to non-native speakers or young kids in a fun and intuitive way: to understand their origins as pictures of the objects they represent. For example, the Chinese character for sun was originally a circle with a dot in its center. It has evolved over the history, but you can still find traces of its original shape. Besides explaining the picture meanings, this application also demonstrates the correct way of writing the characters and even let you practice on your iPhone side by side with the demonstration. You'll find that you will be able to read and write dozens of Chinese characters in no time! Please rate or write a comment of this free application. Your feedback is greatly appreciated! About the Full Version The full version covers hundreds more featured characters with history, pronunciation, stroke order demonstration and writing practices. It also includes a Progressive Study section that let users learn and test their understanding of characters with the most common ones first. In addition it has an index/search utility for quick lookup of characters.

Ratings & Reviews

4.5

out of 5

40 Ratings

The best, but room for improvement
05/14/2014

Discerning Metalhead
The organization is excellent. In 'progressive study' mode, you learn characters based on their frequency of use, and have to pass a quiz to move on to the next few (6-12) characters. Or you can look up characters based on category without taking quizzes. In either mode, you get both basic and advanced examples of how the character is used in a phrase. There's also an index organized 'alphabetically' by pronunciation. The app would be improved by placing the traditional character (and the ancient pictogram, when available) in an obvious and consistent spot on every page. It would also be cool if the quizzes gave you a definition/pronunciation and asked you to draw the character.
The best, but room for improvement
05/14/2014

Discerning Metalhead

The organization is excellent. In 'progressive study' mode, you learn characters based on their frequency of use, and have to pass a quiz to move on to the next few (6-12) characters. Or you can look up characters based on category without taking quizzes. In either mode, you get both basic and advanced examples of how the character is used in a phrase. There's also an index organized 'alphabetically' by pronunciation. The app would be improved by placing the traditional character (and the ancient pictogram, when available) in an obvious and consistent spot on every page. It would also be cool if the quizzes gave you a definition/pronunciation and asked you to draw the character.
Simple, understandable. Makes Chinese the rather easy language it really is.
07/25/2013

Circe-V
As a historian of ideas, I've had to learn to make my way through a number of languages, to date, I can read without over-dependence on a dictionary etc. around twelve. Like most Westerners, I was at first intimidated by Chinese because of the characters. However, I found that learning characters is no more difficult than learning any set of vocabulary and the manner this program teaches characters makes even that fairly straightforward, and it's etymological approach to explaining characters appeals to persons who see history as a wonderful type of storytelling. The fact that compared to Sanskrit and Classical Greek, Chinese grammar, such as it is could be described as either non-existent or a "cake walk" only serves to make things more easy and more enjoyable, is just an added benefit to the program's manner of treating the primary difficulty Chinese does present.
Simple, understandable. Makes Chinese the rather easy language it really is.
07/25/2013

Circe-V

As a historian of ideas, I've had to learn to make my way through a number of languages, to date, I can read without over-dependence on a dictionary etc. around twelve. Like most Westerners, I was at first intimidated by Chinese because of the characters. However, I found that learning characters is no more difficult than learning any set of vocabulary and the manner this program teaches characters makes even that fairly straightforward, and it's etymological approach to explaining characters appeals to persons who see history as a wonderful type of storytelling. The fact that compared to Sanskrit and Classical Greek, Chinese grammar, such as it is could be described as either non-existent or a "cake walk" only serves to make things more easy and more enjoyable, is just an added benefit to the program's manner of treating the primary difficulty Chinese does present.
Very informative, but ugly
08/01/2013

Air on street
The best information and detail I've seen so far to break down Chinese characters with their original meanings, and then contrasting simplified vs traditional. Understanding the history and reason for the pictograms makes everything much easier to remember. The downside is the app is very ugly and a face lift would really do this app justice! This should be one of the top Chinese apps.
Very informative, but ugly
08/01/2013

Air on street

The best information and detail I've seen so far to break down Chinese characters with their original meanings, and then contrasting simplified vs traditional. Understanding the history and reason for the pictograms makes everything much easier to remember. The downside is the app is very ugly and a face lift would really do this app justice! This should be one of the top Chinese apps.
Good app, room for improvement
12/22/2014

Is8l
I really love the way this app explains Chinese, and it's a really good app for learning the language. However, i do agree that the app is a little ugly and I do want there to be more advanced lessons and tests, and also tests that quiz your ability to write the characters as well as read and comprehend. Overall great app!
Good app, room for improvement
12/22/2014

Is8l

I really love the way this app explains Chinese, and it's a really good app for learning the language. However, i do agree that the app is a little ugly and I do want there to be more advanced lessons and tests, and also tests that quiz your ability to write the characters as well as read and comprehend. Overall great app!