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As we mentioned earlier, Anki is a

great tool to create Chinese Flash Cards

Here’s another example using Anki.

The deck of these Chinese flash cards was generated with the Anki Pinyin Toolkit and a word list from another open source Java program: Flashcard for Chinese Characters.

The pinyin, English definitions and sounds were all automatically generated from Pinyin Toolkit. Send me a list of Chinese words, and we can created a new deck for you to download.

Files You Can Download:
1)Anki Chinese Flash cards: Grade1 (323) ( You need to download and install Anki first if you haven’t)
2)Anki - the Best Flashcard tool (2146)

Although Windows comes with Chinese fonts and IME (input method) that you may optionally install from your Windows CD, we still prefer online Chinese input like the one we have here at Chinesebay.com.

How to Input Chinese in Windows XP using Pinyin

Youtube has a great video to show you how to set up the Chinese input from Microsoft Windows XP by geekannex.

Microsoft Pinyin is great if you use Windows a lot. I love it myself before Google Pinyin and Soguo Pinyin came out.

We also have a good video tutorial on how to use our online typing without the trouble of installing anything. And it is compatible on most OS system.

How to type Chinese Online

Today, we want to talk about some best sites to learn Chinese words besides ChineseBay.com

#1 Nciku.com: The best website in English and Chinese to learn Chinese characters and words. ciku or ci3 ku4 词库, means the word warehouse. This site is “more than a dictionary”, you can lots of tools to learn the Chinese language with sound and animation to master the Chinese words character by character or in sentence examples. You can learn to write the characters stroke by stroke.
They have “Chinese Conversation of the Day”. For example, today they have:

Shanghai World Expo – home / expo

*A-Mei o 我有几个问题，我打算去参加上海世博会了。
o I have some questions because I am going to Expo in Shanghai….

They have “video notes” to illustrate the Chinese words too.

e.g. 摘[zhāi]Description:
摘 means to pick or to take fruit off a tree or plant. It is emphasized by separating the fruit from it’s original place.

If you take HSK ( the Chinese standard exame), you must find their Popular Vocab Lists such as HSK level 1 to level 4 very useful.

#2 Chinese-tools.com: A great collection of useful tools to learn Chinese.
Among the most useful and popular, you can find “Character of the Day”
Speaking Chinese
* Mandarin audio lessons
* Chinese vocabulary
* Online exercises
* Mandarin phrasebook
Writing Chinese
* Chinese characters
* Chinese writing lessons
* Visual recognition
…. so much more that you must visit it to see for yourself.
#3 MDBG Chinese-English Dictionary: Learn Chinese characters by writing, pronunciation and meaning. Take the Chinese quizzes and learn. You can also get portable dictionary on your cellphone.
You may get Cantonese pronunciation there too. Its alexa ranking is even higher than Chinese-tools.com, meaning more traffic and popular. It is another “must-have” for Chinese learners. Check it out: http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

With these three great web sites and Chinesebay.com , your study on Chinese words would be very easy and efficient.

New Articles On Chinese Words

Please find our first of the new series “Chinese words” at

• Chinese Words (1)

Learning Chinese words is very important for you to master Chinese. Many people may just start to speak Chinese only. For better understand and efficiency, learning to write or type Chinese characters is the way to go.

At Chinesebay.com, we can making more and more useful tools for you to master Chinese. Chinese words are not just for tattoos, and you will find much more fun with more Chinese words you master.

To be or not to be?  簡體還是繁體 （简体还是繁体）

Let’s put it this way.  If you hear or use  “What hast thou?” more than “What do you have?”, or if you have to live in Taiwan without the need to go to Mainland China or communicate with people in Mainland China, you should use traditional Chinese.  Most of the Chinese people （in Mainland China, Singapore and even Japan) use simplified Chinese of some forms.

Some people try to keep traditional Chinese for political reason or personal preference ( more artistic? Old habits die hard? ) Or they may be just some archaists.  Some may not even have a choice — everyone around them is using traditional Chinese, like people in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

If you do have a choice, why not start with simplified Chinese? Then with the pleasure of using this beautiful Chinese language, you may want to spend more time to master the traditional Chinese characters with ease and some simple rules. I learned simplified Chinese at 7 and easily mastered traditional at 8.

Don’t take me wrong. I do not want to praise the communist for its achievement with simplified Chinese characters. I was not born in Mainland China and have lived in the US for over 17 years.  Simplified Chinese characters still have lots of merits, I must say.

When I taught the kids Chinese at Laney College in Oakland, California, I showed them both simplified and traditional Chinese, most of them hate to write or even read the traditional ones, even I kept telling them they need to know traditional ones are useful in the US.  TV and newspapers in the US are using traditional Chinese for historical reasons.

Before you want to start the arguments with me, please review the article in Wiki. And this: Debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters

How to Say and Write “I Love You” in Mandarin

wo3 ai4 ni3 = I love you

You can see our learning video posted on Youtube

Learning to write Chinese helps you master the language faster and remember the character better when you see them.

Flash Animation On this Site (open in New Window)
Related articles:

A Great Video to Show You How to Write ‘Love’ in Chinese Simplified and Traditional

It is a great video to learn how to write this ‘difficult’ but meaningful Chinese character ‘love’.
In simplified Chinese 爱, there is another word inside the word ‘Love’ . It means ‘friend’.
In traditional Chinese 愛, there is another word inside the word ‘Love’. It means ‘heart’. Of course, love is always from your heart, right?

Related article:

How do you write “Love” in Mandarin & Cantonese?
The good news is it will be the same in both. 

There are two forms to write “Love” in Chinese:

1) Simplified ( Official form used in Mainland China and Singapore) 爱
2)Traditional (used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc.) 愛

Here’s how we write I love you in Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese):
for great images of Chinese calligraphy of these words click this: Read the rest of this entry »