Apps for Chinese

There are a million apps for Chinese out there for learning Chinese, but for the Chinese language teacher, the list below are amongst the most useful I have found and would recommend.

This one came via the Twitter feed and if you have been searching for a scanner or tablet that can convert Chinese characters to editable text, optical character recognition (OCR), then your search is over.

   1.      Pleco an excellent Chinese dictionary that has hand writing recognition and it is   
                                           FREE :)

2.  2.         Qingwen: an even better Chinese dictionary that has what Pleco has and more including; voice, create wordlists, but NOT FREE $6.49  :(

3. iBooks: to download Chinese books, although many are too difficult for the Continuers course.

4. Pages: to annotate downloaded texts.  Great app, but expensive @ $12.99

5. Goodreader: one of the best readers. You can annotate by using the speech bubble function, but for text annotation within the original, Pages has it over Goodreader. Good value @ $1.29

6. Keynote: good for presenting in slide format, also has the advantage of sending your work to open in Powerpoint.  Great app, but only if you really want it @ $12.99

7. Comic Apps - check out the list by Education Technology and Mobile Learning here 

8. Writer: a Chinese writing game, good for revision exercises and having fun at the same time. FREE :)

9. Chinese Writer for iPad: Chinese writing revision FREE :)

10. Pinyin: perfect your tones with this revision game app FREE :)

11.   Translate Photo Free   is a free app that you can use on your iPad.

1. Take a photo of the image or page of a book with Translate Photo Free.

2. Press "Next" in the top right hand corner.

3. Preview the text.

4. Choose your language at the bottom of the screen. 

5. Tick the box if ok.

6. Wait for the conversion and there is your text.  

7. There are various ways to send the text so you can edit it further, press the sharing icon at the top right of the screen.  I found that when I sent it via email it was very slow, so don't be in a hurry to work on it.  

Overall, I found this app very useful and easy to use, if they speed up the share function, it would be perfect.

There is also a speak and translation function available.  Just be aware, digital translations have some way to go yet, but at least it gives you the gist.

Also, check out the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK),  China Panorama series and Boston University Chinese courses  iTunesU Chinese resources.  
Google also has some great apps, more to come about Google apps later.  
See my recommendations for other great language tools in the other sections or my Pinterest boards. 
There are lots more out there, so let me know of anymore more that you think useful.