If you want to learn a language, what is it that you do? Read through books, do exercises, or watch a target language movie to understand, remember and recollect quicker, don’t you? But, the major thing you are missing out on is learning vocabulary, which is as important as others.
Do you know Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world, with 995 million global native speakers? Being one of the various Chinese dialect groups, Mandarin is difficult to learn as it contains more than 2500 characters.
Hence the easiest way to learn Mandarin vocabulary is through educational apps. If you are an Apple user, River of Chinese Words by David Richmond comes to your rescue by helping you Learn Mandarin Vocabulary Fast. Keep reading to know how this groundbreaking app aids you in uniquely learning thousands of Chinese words.
Once you click on the installed app icon, you will be given the option to choose from topics such as People, Casual Conversation, Shapes & Colors, HSK 1 (2012), and few others. On selecting a topic, you will notice that it is further sub-divided into sub-topics with an option to review words across all subs.
Now, all you have to do is scroll down and start your journey. The first thing to appear is the Hanzi characters in a large, easy-to-read font. With a small scroll, the corresponding Pinyin pronunciation and the English translation follow. The app also provides you the option to listen, re-listen to a word’s pronunciation aloud, copy it to your clipboard, along with displaying the number of words read so far.
With the sequence of appearance planned strategically, Mandarin words slide up from the bottom. You see the word first, try to guess its pronunciation correctly, scroll up a little to listen to the pronunciation, and confirm, followed by the written Pinyin and English meaning.
When in doubt, you can download and connect to the Pleco dictionary app, the best Chinese-English dictionary available, to see the translation of a word.
Toggle between “s” or “t” and view characters in simplified and traditional forms. Once you are ready for a test, you just have to mute the sound, shuffle the words and recall what you have read.
Known as Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi in Chinese, HSK rates non-native’s language proficiency. In the hierarchy, HSK 1 is at the bottom and tests your written proficiency of 150+ words. It is available for free on the River of Chinese Words app. However, for a small amount, you will be able to purchase and learn HSK 2, 3, 4, and 5, Food & Drink, Cooking & Eating, and a few more topics.
Immerse yourself in the world of Chinese vocabulary and learn words while you wait for your order at a restaurant or for your cab to show up with the River of Chinese Words app. Once you are done with the free topics, you will be more than ready to pay for the in-app purchases.
Rating: 9/ 10
Price: Free
