Pioneering Chinese-English Online Learning Website Nciku Launches More Innovative Features

The momentum for revolutionary online education is still in full force as Chinese-English learning resource www.nciku.com adds yet another innovative tool to their host of other revolutionary features.

Called “Sentence Mode,” this freshly launched feature intuitively provides a series of useful results when a user searches for a Chinese word or sentence that doesn’t exist. Because Chinese characters are so complex, formulating words and sentences can be easily mis-matched and taken out of context for many learners. With Sentence Mode, the entered search term is automatically split up into its component words, with its corresponding pinyin displayed below each character. It essentially works as a smart spell-check and suggestion system for Chinese characters.

Furthermore, clicking on a character within the word will take you to an nciku search for that character, and hovering your mouse over the word will also give you a brief definition. And to take the feature one step further, if a definition for that character doesn’t exist, clicking on it will segment that character into its component characters. And as is the typical nciku format, there is also an audio icon provided at the end of the sentence or word that will play the entire phrase using the text-to-speech function.

Sentence Mode is just the latest in innovative features by nciku. Previously creating buzz was the handwriting recognition tool, which allows users to write strokes with a mouse and instantly bring up similar or related characters, along with the pinyin and definition of each character or word. Not just for those who are at the advanced level, the handwriting tool is ideal for even the most beginner level users struggling to learn characters.

Technologically, nciku has proven to be very savvy, as their website’s interface and functionality clearly show. Their nciku mini for mobile devices has also won over those who want to study Chinese on the go, and their flashcards for iPhones already have a steady user base. Even with all of these advanced features, nciku still remains completely free and open to all users with an internet connection.

Perhaps this is why nciku is fast becoming the place to go to for learning Chinese for a growing audience from all over the world.

Nciku was founded in April, 2007. Currently, Nciku is available in English, Mandarin and Taiwanese, but development is in process to add more languages in the future. The official website is www.nciku.com. For inquiries, please contact marketing@nciku.com.