Being able to directly get Hanzi using pinyin keyboard with Typist?
This does what it is described to do, but having the ability to see the suggested Hanzi would be so awesome! When I type in this app using the iOS pinyin keyboard I am able to get the tone marks but it replaces the entire pinyin word with just the tonal character. Is there any way to force it to just replace the single character ?
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Brilliant
This app is a godsend for making notes in pinyin on my phone. Not only can I easily choose the tone I want, it automatically places it in the right place.
The only think that would be nice would be a clear / delete option so you can quickly erase what you’ve just typed.
The only think that would be nice would be a clear / delete option so you can quickly erase what you’ve just typed.
Useless
Doesn’t scroll on an iPad. Totally useless for writing more than 3 lines. Don’t waste your time on it.
Very helpful!!
We are new to Chinese and this is an absolutely fantastic tool. Thank you so much for all the hard work and thought that went into this to make it so useful!
Response from developer
I’m glad you found it useful! Happy Pīnyīn typing!
Excellent Tool!
I have used this app for many years. In spite of being able to read many characters I still find this to be a needed tool now and then. But especially in the beginning of studying Chinese it was invaluable.
Cheated
Bad app. I thought it will translate into Chinese characters once you type in pinyin, but no, it merely puts intonation on your pinyin. Useless. Feels cheated!
Response from developer
I’m sorry you felt cheated, but I did not cheat you! The app description starts out by saying that “Pīnyīn Typist lets you quickly and easily type Pīnyīn with tone marks”. Later, it even says in capital letters, “THIS APP IS NOT AN ALTERNATIVE WAY TO TYPE CHINESE CHARACTERS—it supports the standard iOS ways of typing characters.” Actually, it could be said that the world in general has cheated you by influencing you to believe that characters are the only useful way to write Mandarin Chinese. The truth is that Pīnyīn works just fine as a full writing system for Modern Standard Mandarin—anything that is understandable in Modern Standard Mandarin speech is understandable when written in Pīnyīn. Pīnyīn even has some advantages over characters, one of the most obvious being that it is much quicker and easier to learn and remember. Thus, while even experienced ones regularly encounter unfamiliar characters that can only be guessed at, with Pīnyīn, you can easily be confident that you will be able to correctly pronounce *everything*, *all the time*. While Pīnyīn is not the traditional way to write Mandarin Chinese, if we only ever did traditional things, we would still be drawing pictures on cave walls and carving characters onto stone tablets, rather than enjoying using apps on our iPhone and iPad devices! 📲 Of course, you may contact Apple for a refund if you wish, but if you give yourself a chance to get used to it, you may find, like many others have, that Pīnyīn is actually quite useful in many situations, and that Pīnyīn Typist is a good app for quickly and easily typing exactly the Pīnyīn you want, when you want it.
Please add multitasking feature
Please add multitasking feature, otherwise this app is awesome
Excellent
This is a very useful app for anyone learning Chinese, partly because the Apple keyboard does not include vowels with the 3rd tone marker, but also because the app automatically places the tone marker on the correct letter.
There is another solution
This app is good for writing out long chunks of pinyin on your apple device, but isn't really good if you are just after the third tone in applications such as quizlet. Whilst there isn't a third tone on the English keyboard, if you install the Chinese pinyin➡️character keyboard, you can access all four tones by pressing and holding the letter until they appear.
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Nicely done!
Great application for typing PinYin. A very useful tool for those learning Chinese. It would be better if, when using an external keyboard, a person could choose the diacritical mark from the keyboard's number pad instead of from the device's screen.
Great job
Looks better than ever on iOS 7! Would highly recommend to others interested in Chinese language.
Hǎo jíle
I started learning Chinese a few months ago and this little app makes my life so much Easier. It's not to hard to find a keyboard that will help you to write Chinese characters but to find a app that you can write pinyin with the tonal marks is impossible, in-till now. I am very happy with this app.
Keep up the good work
10/10.
Keep up the good work
10/10.
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Does exactly what I need it to do
I use this app to type out Mandarin speeches in pinyin. Works perfectly for my needs.
Excellent app, but no iPad retina support
This app is hands down the best way to type in Pinyin. I am taking a beginner mandarin class and this app has helped immensely; and makes taking notes very fast an easy.
IMO this is an easier system for typing then those offered on hardware keyboards ( like on my MacBook Air ) and an iPad is much easier to carry to class.
The app has about as much integration with iOS as possible, other reviews that ask for the keyboard in other applications ( restricted by apple ) or undo support ( already built in ) are misinformed.
Where I believe this app can truly improve in a way which is relatively friendly to the developer, add a basic file system to allow me to store all my pinyin notes in the application ( and something like syncing the txt files with Dropbox would be amazing ) right now I have 1 gigantic area where all my notes are kept.
Lastly, the new iPad has been on the market for several months, there is no good excuse for not adding retina support; especially given the small amount of UI elements requiring retina graphics. These details are what create professional looking applications.
Overall an excellent app, I am recommending Pinyin typist to all my classmates.
IMO this is an easier system for typing then those offered on hardware keyboards ( like on my MacBook Air ) and an iPad is much easier to carry to class.
The app has about as much integration with iOS as possible, other reviews that ask for the keyboard in other applications ( restricted by apple ) or undo support ( already built in ) are misinformed.
Where I believe this app can truly improve in a way which is relatively friendly to the developer, add a basic file system to allow me to store all my pinyin notes in the application ( and something like syncing the txt files with Dropbox would be amazing ) right now I have 1 gigantic area where all my notes are kept.
Lastly, the new iPad has been on the market for several months, there is no good excuse for not adding retina support; especially given the small amount of UI elements requiring retina graphics. These details are what create professional looking applications.
Overall an excellent app, I am recommending Pinyin typist to all my classmates.
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like it, but ...
There is some value in this product considering Apple's curious omission of the Mandarin Third tone. Nonetheless, this is a product with needed features ...
> no undo while typing. You have to select any text you want to delete, and backspace.
> no warning you'll overwrite current text when loading a snippet. You could lose everything you've just been typing!
> the default name for a snippet is the entire text!
> can't save and replace a snippet. Every time you save, even if saving with the same name as an existing snippet, you get a new snippet. Now you have two or more snippets with the same name. This is confusing.
> the most common Chinese character font (Heiti SC) is not available in settings.
Having said that, this is a very fast way of creating Pinyin text. And the font size slider is actually a nice feature. Worth the price.
> no undo while typing. You have to select any text you want to delete, and backspace.
> no warning you'll overwrite current text when loading a snippet. You could lose everything you've just been typing!
> the default name for a snippet is the entire text!
> can't save and replace a snippet. Every time you save, even if saving with the same name as an existing snippet, you get a new snippet. Now you have two or more snippets with the same name. This is confusing.
> the most common Chinese character font (Heiti SC) is not available in settings.
Having said that, this is a very fast way of creating Pinyin text. And the font size slider is actually a nice feature. Worth the price.
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At last!
This is what I have been searching for! It is a fantastic app that makes it easy to type pinyin notes for the study articles, and then copy and paste directly into the notes on the PDF pinyin downloads....thanks a lot, and I'll be spreading the word to all my friends! Daphne Butler
Indispensable
I'm currently learning Mandarin and this app is really helpful. It makes it *so* much easier to type in Pinyin on the iPad/iPhone. Its especially useful in creating quizzes for myself.
Really great app. No problems and *really* easy to use. Fantastic work.
Highly Recommended.
Really great app. No problems and *really* easy to use. Fantastic work.
Highly Recommended.
great app, just what I needed
learning to read some characters, but way ahead with pinyin, so this app makes it possible to write with mixed methods all on one page, then copy anywhere I want. I mostly use it right now for questions for my tutor, but plan on connecting with penpals at some point. I don't like using numbers at all, so this app is very welcome.
I would like to suggest a 'clear all' button be implemented at some point. Right now you have to backspace through your whole document.
And I agree Apple should allow pinyin input directly in the iOS.
I would like to suggest a 'clear all' button be implemented at some point. Right now you have to backspace through your whole document.
And I agree Apple should allow pinyin input directly in the iOS.
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Very useful
I wish iOS had a keyboard with the tone marks built in, however this is the next best thing.
Pinyin Typist
Great app, easy to use. What would make it even better is to have it incorporated as an international keyboard( IOS keyboard) so that it can be selected and used in other apps such as Notes among others. Currently, one has to copy and paste to other apps which is somewhat cumbersome.
