Great app...
Great audio quality, and keeps your brain active.
Lazy Support?
Why can't you at least update this to IPhone 5? I used to really like this app and considering the price paid for it I thought the developers should at least update it to support newer devices...
Yes, it's really great...
I found this app to be very, very good. I hope this review does help in a decision for others to purchase (or not) this app. This app is quite frankly the best one I have found... so far, and meets it's intended target purpose. To give you a limited vocabulary and phrase list, making this limited words and phrase list "yours" (hearing and speaking up to normal speeds) and leave you wanting to learn more.
I read with interest Jaime Shuminski's well written piece a few reviews back (from Nov. of 2011). Jaime's review has glowing things to say about this app, all of which I agree wholeheartedly with. I do disagree however with Jaime's assessment of the differences in the tonal quality (or lack thereof) in the male playback of the pronunciations. If one listens to native speakers (both in country or in language tutorials), female chinese speakers simply DO enunciate more clearly the tonal inflections of Mandarin (which is so very important as Jaime points out).
This app addresses proper tonal listening and speaking techniques very cleverly in three ways. The first is when you are going down the word practice list or during the games, then you replay your desired word or phrase, the app alternates between the female and male speaker each replay. You can do it as many times as you want during word practice or even during some games without being penalized (unless it is one of the timed games). I found this to be very useful. Then there is the "slow down" feature (a small turtle icon). It reduces the playback speed of a word or phrase, but does not alter the pitch of the voice so it still sounds natural. This slowdown feature reveals the tones the untrained western ear will probably miss most of the time at native speaker spoken speeds. A nice touch. Then of course the pinyin spelling of all vocabulary is presented with each game or lesson objective, which shows the proper tones of words for you.
The speakers in this app are clearly native speakers so I don't think Jaime's negative critique on this one aspect of the otherwise glowing review was telling the whole picture. Clearly Jaime's ear correctly discerned the tonal differences of the spoken word between the genders. Kudos for that observation. Most would not notice. But it is what it is when listening to "real" Chinese.
My only complaint? Like all the others, the short list of lesson categories. But that is told up front before purchase. (to Eurotalk's credit, they do point out in it's description of the app that the list is short, focusing on a "less is more" aspect to increase ability in speed of use). So I guess that my real complaint is not with this app AT ALL. It's just that there is no more lessons to buy to add to the already excellent feature set. This is the only "wish list" I have. More "category modules".
The price of admission was well worth it and I'll pay more for "encores" to add to the nine categories (275 words and phrases) already there. I appreciate the continued "bug fixes" (of which I have never encountered, it appears very stable) and the little enhancement tweaks still continuing with this app. But I and others would really like to see more lessons than anything else. Eurotalk's uTalk Chinese (Mandarin) has hooked my kids and I enjoy using this with them.
I read with interest Jaime Shuminski's well written piece a few reviews back (from Nov. of 2011). Jaime's review has glowing things to say about this app, all of which I agree wholeheartedly with. I do disagree however with Jaime's assessment of the differences in the tonal quality (or lack thereof) in the male playback of the pronunciations. If one listens to native speakers (both in country or in language tutorials), female chinese speakers simply DO enunciate more clearly the tonal inflections of Mandarin (which is so very important as Jaime points out).
This app addresses proper tonal listening and speaking techniques very cleverly in three ways. The first is when you are going down the word practice list or during the games, then you replay your desired word or phrase, the app alternates between the female and male speaker each replay. You can do it as many times as you want during word practice or even during some games without being penalized (unless it is one of the timed games). I found this to be very useful. Then there is the "slow down" feature (a small turtle icon). It reduces the playback speed of a word or phrase, but does not alter the pitch of the voice so it still sounds natural. This slowdown feature reveals the tones the untrained western ear will probably miss most of the time at native speaker spoken speeds. A nice touch. Then of course the pinyin spelling of all vocabulary is presented with each game or lesson objective, which shows the proper tones of words for you.
The speakers in this app are clearly native speakers so I don't think Jaime's negative critique on this one aspect of the otherwise glowing review was telling the whole picture. Clearly Jaime's ear correctly discerned the tonal differences of the spoken word between the genders. Kudos for that observation. Most would not notice. But it is what it is when listening to "real" Chinese.
My only complaint? Like all the others, the short list of lesson categories. But that is told up front before purchase. (to Eurotalk's credit, they do point out in it's description of the app that the list is short, focusing on a "less is more" aspect to increase ability in speed of use). So I guess that my real complaint is not with this app AT ALL. It's just that there is no more lessons to buy to add to the already excellent feature set. This is the only "wish list" I have. More "category modules".
The price of admission was well worth it and I'll pay more for "encores" to add to the nine categories (275 words and phrases) already there. I appreciate the continued "bug fixes" (of which I have never encountered, it appears very stable) and the little enhancement tweaks still continuing with this app. But I and others would really like to see more lessons than anything else. Eurotalk's uTalk Chinese (Mandarin) has hooked my kids and I enjoy using this with them.
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Excellant
Excellent app for learning Chinese. However NEEDS MORE WORDS PLEASE!!!! Or some type of upgrade/add-on.
Great App
I purchased this app for my kids as a basic introduction into Mandarin Chinese. They love it and enjoy it! It's also great for adults who want to learn Chinese.
Ueurope
It freezes quite often. Not enough content for the price.
Amazing App! Worth every penny.
Update: February 2012
Still waiting for new words and categories... I love this app, but please add more.
Update: April 12, 2010
Please add more words and phrases. The learning method behind this app is amazing, and there were plenty of words to start with...but I've learned everything included in the app up to this point and am hungry for more. Please add a many more words and phrases asap. Thanks!!
Original Review:
This is an amazing app to learn mandarin. I own 5 of the other top 5 apps and unlike many of the other apps, this one is makes leaning even more fun. Many of the other apps are great, but flashcards can only take you so far. This app creates a game out of learning, and is very interactive. It also keeps my attention, and doesn't get boring.
I hope the developer continues to add even more words and phrases. There's plenty to learn in the app, but even more categories and perhaps different difficulty levels would make this a 5+ star app. Please keep expanding this app!
Still waiting for new words and categories... I love this app, but please add more.
Update: April 12, 2010
Please add more words and phrases. The learning method behind this app is amazing, and there were plenty of words to start with...but I've learned everything included in the app up to this point and am hungry for more. Please add a many more words and phrases asap. Thanks!!
Original Review:
This is an amazing app to learn mandarin. I own 5 of the other top 5 apps and unlike many of the other apps, this one is makes leaning even more fun. Many of the other apps are great, but flashcards can only take you so far. This app creates a game out of learning, and is very interactive. It also keeps my attention, and doesn't get boring.
I hope the developer continues to add even more words and phrases. There's plenty to learn in the app, but even more categories and perhaps different difficulty levels would make this a 5+ star app. Please keep expanding this app!
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Great starter app!
Love the games, wish there were more modules. :)
Hooked after I opened the first lesson.
Great language program, interactive games, and terrific sound. Vocabulary is limited, but presents enough words and phrases to accommodate the casual traveler. Words and phrases are presented by two different voices, male and female. Added feature is the ability to record one's own voice right on the iPad and hear the play back.
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Can Cause Confusion...
The good:
-The audio is very good quality. When they say HD, they mean it.
-The games are good for memorizing vocabulary.
The bad:
-There are variations in tone when the male and female voice say some of the vocabulary. Since Mandarin is highly tonal, this can cause some serious confusion! Because of this problem, I'm left wondering what the correct tone is.
-It would be nice if the games weren't as similar.
-There isn't enough vocabulary to be worth the $9.99 price.
So is this app worth it? I'd recommend it if the tone problems were fixed and more vocab was added.
-The audio is very good quality. When they say HD, they mean it.
-The games are good for memorizing vocabulary.
The bad:
-There are variations in tone when the male and female voice say some of the vocabulary. Since Mandarin is highly tonal, this can cause some serious confusion! Because of this problem, I'm left wondering what the correct tone is.
-It would be nice if the games weren't as similar.
-There isn't enough vocabulary to be worth the $9.99 price.
So is this app worth it? I'd recommend it if the tone problems were fixed and more vocab was added.
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