CLAVIS SINICA SOFTWARE - A NEW CHINESE LANGUAGE LEARNING PACKAGE

We are pleased to announce the availability of a new Chinese language learning package called Clavis Sinica.. The idea behind the software, which was developed at the University of Michigan, is to help intermediate and advanced students of written Chinese overcome the two most frustrating obstacles to improving their literacy skills: reading unfamiliar texts and memorizing new characters. While the program has many features in common with Wenlin, it is priced much more affordably and designed more specifically with the needs of student learners in mind. The program provides an interactive text reader that displays Chinese texts in simplified or traditional characters. Clicking on a character reveals the pronunciation and meaning of the character and the compound in which it is used, enabling students to read through any digitized Chinese document--including textbook selections, stories, poetry, news articles,  etc.--without the use of a dictionary or vocabularly list.

Double-clicking on an unfamiliar character in the text reader window brings up a separate window that shows a breakdown of the character into its "radical" and "phonetic" parts. From here, it is possible to view a list of all the other characters that share the same radical or phonetic, as well as the most commonly used compound words and idioms that use the character in any position. These features encourage students to explore the connections among related words and characters, enbabling them to master new vocabulary much more quickly and enjoyably.

The final stages of the program's development were funded by the University of Michigan, and it is currently being used in second- and third-year Chinese language courses there. The software can be used as a supplementary learning tool along with any Chinese textbook, whether in the context of a course or independent study . Clavis Sinica's 15,000-word dictionary includes the complete vocabulary from the most commonly used college-level textbooks, including Integrated Chinese, Beyond the Basics, Practical Chinese Reader, Speaking Chinese about China, and Intermediate Reader of Modern Chinese.

The program can also be used to read any of the thousands of Chinese documents available for download on the web, including news articles, literary works, and historical documents. A sample collection of over 50 well-known Chinese texts for students to read using Clavis Sinica can be found at http://www.umich.edu/~dporter/sampler/sampler.html. For more detailed information about the Clavis Sinica software, including a complete list of program features, sample screen views, and user comments, please visit the Clavis webpage at http://www.clavisinica.com.

Order enquiries to:  Stephen Say , Filmo Communications Pte Ltd, email: filmo@filmo.com url http://www.filmo.com/clavis_sinica.htm

Introduction

For students of any foreign language, reading is the key to building vocabulary, mastering idioms and nuances, and feeling at home with a foreign culture's distinctive patterns of thought and expression. Students of Chinese, however, face unique obstacles to their progress towards true literacy because of the difficulty of recognizing and learning new characters. The two integrated parts of the Clavis Sinica program are specially designed to help you overcome these obstacles and to read any Chinese text with greater pleasure and understanding.

As anyone who has tried to learn Chinese soon discovers, looking up unfamiliar words in a Chinese dictionary can be a tedious and frustrating process. The Clavis Sinica Text Reader reduces the need for a dictionary by providing one-click access to the pronunciation and meaning of any unfamiliar word—whether a character or compound—in the Chinese text being read. Another click and you can hear the word pronounced in the natural voice of a native speaker. Users of the program are no longer limited in their reading practice to the narrow world of textbook selections. With Clavis Sinica, you can readily work your way through any digitized Chinese text, including course readings and the vast collection of literary and news documents freely available on the Internet. A sampling of the kinds of texts available can be found on the Chinese Text Sampler webpage.

The task of memorizing the several thousand Chinese characters needed for basic literacy presents a second considerable hurdle to anyone setting out to learn the language. Clavis Sinica's Analytical Dictionary makes this task more efficient and rational, by helping you understand why characters are written the way they are, and how they relate to each other as part of a consistent, logical system. With Clavis Sinica, a new character is no longer an arbitrary arrangement of strokes, but rather a largely predictable combination of basic elements that re-appear in other related words. By clicking on an unfamiliar character and pursuing a series of links within the program's fully cross-referenced lexical database, you can learn how to analyze the character into its constituent parts, what each of those parts contributes to either the sound or the meaning of the whole, what other characters incorporate these same parts, or how the whole character, in turn, is incorporated into commonly used compounds, phrases, and idioms.

Program Features

Text Reader Window - Clavis Sinica's integrated Text Reader Window allows you to:

• Display and read ANY Chinese text file stored in the commonly used GB or Big5 formats, including web documents and Chinese word processor files
• Instantly access pinyin pronunciation and concise English glosses for any unfamiliar Chinese word or character
• Recognize multi-character compounds, phrases, and idioms in context
• Hear characters and compounds pronounced in a native Mandarin Chinese voice
• View any Chinese text in either simplified or traditional characters
• Edit and create Chinese texts using basic word processing features
• Search for individual characters within lengthy Chinese documents
• Print out Chinese documents in a clear, easy-to-read format

Dictionary Windows - Clavis Sinica's integrated dictionary database offers the following features:

• Comprehensive analytic dictionary of more than 15,200 entries includes over 4000 characters, 10,000 multi-character compounds and phrases, and 1200 commonly used four-character proverbs and idioms
• Dictionary records for all entries include pinyin romanization(s) and concise English definition(s). For characters they also include stroke count, wuhua stroke order, radical and phonetic parts, frequency indicator, and (for 500 of the most common characters) etymological explanations.
• Powerful search functions permits searching by character or compound pinyin, radical number, number and/or order of strokes, or English word or phrase
• Character Information Window provides helpful lexical and usage frequency information for each character, and breaks characters into radical and phonetic parts for ease in learning
• Radical Information Window provides definition and etymology for each radical, along with a complete, frequency-ordered list of all characters using that radical
• Shared Phonetic Window shows all characters using any given phonetic part
• Compound Window lists all compounds and phrases using any given character in any position
• Customization features allow user to add any number of new characters and compounds to the program dictionary

Additional Program Features:

• Comprehensive on-line help available from anywhere within the program
• Clickable characters in every program window create unlimited possibilities for exploring the database and discovering relationships among related words
• Multiple windows can be opened, sized, and repositioned independently for a customizable program interface and appearance
• Intelligent, context-based translation from simplified to traditional font
• Multiple traditional equivalents are provided for "ambivalent" simplified characters
• Reads and saves files in either GB or Big5 character coding format

Textbook Compatibility

Clavis Sinica can be used with any textbook, or, for that matter, with any Chinese text that is available in electronic form. The program's lexicon of over 15,200 words and phrases will enable you to make your way easily through passages taken from literary works, newspapers, business documents, or other sources. In order to make the program as useful as possible to students in Chinese language courses, the Clavis Sinica dictionary has been carefully checked against the vocabulary lists from the most commonly used textbooks to ensure that the database contains all of the words and phrases they introduce. With the exception of some rarely used proper nouns, the entire vocabulary from the following textbooks is included in the Clavis dictionary:

• Beyond the Basics (Cheng & Tsui)
• Integrated Chinese, Levels 1 and 2 (Cheng & Tsui)
• Intermediate Reader of Modern Chinese (Princeton University Press)
• A New Text for a Modern China (Cheng & Tsui)
• Practical Chinese Reader, Volumes 1 and 2 (Cheng & Tsui)
• Speaking Chinese About China, Volumes 1 and 2 (China Books & Periodicals)

System Requirements:

• Windows 95 or higher operating system (Macintosh & Linux versions are forthcoming)
• 45 MB free hard drive space
• 50 MB available RAM (128 MB recommended on system)
• CD-ROM drive, mouse, sound card, and speakers
• No additional Chinese software, fonts, or operating system are required

Order enquiries to:  Stephen Say , Filmo Communications Pte Ltd, email: filmo@filmo.com url http://www.filmo.com/clavis_sinica.htm