Customer Reviews

Chinese Character Flashcards 888

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since I have both "Chinese in a Flash" and "Chinese Character Flashcards 888" flashcard sets, I wanted to offer a comparison between the two.

Flashcards 888 are organized in the order of frequency of use of characters; Chinese in a Flash are arranged in the order of frequency and complexity. Someone learning Chinese language is more likely to encounter characters in the order presented in Chinese in a Flash cards.

Flashcards 888 are of a sturdier quality than Chinese in a Flash cards.

Both are approximately the same size.

Both have radicals mentioned. On Flashcards 888, radicals are provided in the upper right corner on the front of the card; on Chinese in a Flash cards, beside the radical is also noted the name of the character as well as character components.

On Flashcards 888, you'll also find a stroke order, helpful to know when you practice writing characters; Chinese in a Flash cards, do not provide a stroke order.

Both sets also mention several character combinations, together with their pronounciation in pinyin and the meaning in English.

Chinese in a Flash also provide a sample sentence where the particular character / word is used; Flashcards 888 don't.

Flashcards come in one set of 888 cards; Chinese in Flash come in two sets of 448 cards.

I am very happy with both sets and enjoy using them both.

The approach is right, the type of information is right, and the cards are sturdy and sturdily packaged. There aren't a whole lot of flashcard sets on the market for learning Chinese, which sort of surprised me, but these are still pretty good in terms of the range of products I could anticipate.

My only real complaint about this edition is that they are simplified-character primary. I'm learning traditional, and I think it's a lot easier to go from traditional to simplified than the other way around. The traditional characters are available on the front only of the flashcards only (along with the standard simplified), so it's not a complete loss, but the traditional font size is about 1/5 that of the main simplified character (which just exacerbates the problem of learning complex traditional characters), and the backs and index cards don't have the traditional characters at all. I went through the first few chapters of my textbook so I could pull the right flashcards out, but it was extra tedious because I'd have to constantly double-check the textbook's index to be see if there were a simplified version that I should be looking for on the flashcard index.

These are an excellent way to learn/review characters. The 888 cards aim to include most of the commonest 1000 characters. The set also includes a handy index to the cards alphabetically (by pinyin) and by frequency. Each card shows both the simplified and the traditional form of the character, and it even includes stroke order for the simplified form.

A point of clarification: each card shows the character for only one syllable. But on the back of the card appears several two- or more-syllable words using the character. But there are no flashcards specifically for common two-syllable words.

This is an indispensable resource for learning Chinese characters. The flashcards are high quality and a perfect size that balances readability and portability. The front of the card contains the character in large font, and also the frequency of usage, character radical, traditional character equivalent (if different), and stroke order. The back of the card contains the pinyin pronunciation, the definition of the character, and a number of words that contain the character, along with each definition.

I have only one complaint with the flashcards. Because of a lack of space, the stroke orders are sometimes abbreviated, combining a few steps. It isnt always apparent which of the combined strokes should be written first. Stroke order aside, this is the best set of Chinese-language flashcards that I have come across.

These cards are a very nice tool for learning Chinese. I took 3 years of Mandarin Chinese in a local University to get fluent for trips to China. I have discovered that to truly learn the language, you MUST learn the characters. The best way to learn them is by repetition. I used to make my own flashcards until I discovered these.

These flashcards are very useful and decent quality. The printing is good and the size of the cards is convenient.

If you are serious about learning Mandarin, or taking a college-level course, I would recommend them.

I like how they're put in order of how common they occur in mandarin, very useful. However, I thought this set could be an even better quality had it been printed on an even thicker stock paper (or even cardboard like). That would probably last more wear and tear if I carry certain ones around with me. Its currently printed on a good quality glossy paper, thicker than normal paper.

I am taking Chinese in College and I got these to help out. The index is very helpful for pulling out the characters I am currently learning for each chapter. I wish the characters were a little bigger, but these are the best and most complete set that I could find anywhere.

The flash cards are a handy size that makes carrying them in your pocket or purse very easy. The card includes the character and stroke order as well as pin ying and three or four examples of the character in a compound word, words. Very handy to add to your vocabuary as well as understand the logic behind the use of the character. There is also a handy 4 card index of characters listed alpabetically using pin ying.

These flashcards are great. My only regret is that I didn't discover them sooner in my Chinese studies! I find that so far, 90% of the words I had to learn in Chinese 1 & 2 were in this box (usually you need 2 flashcards to make up a single word, i.e. xihuan = "xi" + "huan").

The stroke order issue others mention is true, but it is not bothersome because as long as you know yong you can write the word. If stroke order is your main concern, then you probably want to get something that focuses on that instead.

They're printed on cardstock and I agree that it'd be nice if they were laminated or something to keep them durable; however, I just put a couple chapters-worth in my purse inside of a small ziplock plastic bag and that keeps them from getting destroyed.

With 888 of them, it's a little overwhelming to begin when you're already a few chapters in. I'd make sure to get these at the beginning of the semester. There is a word key so it's easier to pull out the cards you need, but since, for example, there are about 15 characters for the word "shi" it can be time consuming & tedious (the key doesn't list tones).

What a great value for $30 though! Everyone in my Chinese class was incredibly jealous that I'd purchased these and immediately ordered them.

I am using Conversational Chinese 301 (ISBN 7561906560) as my study text, and the flashcards are a welcome addition.

Pros:
I can use the 10-page alphabetical index to search for characters/cards that I may have forgotten or confused.

The alphabetical index and the card with the card number, come in handy when mastering the characters for a word with four tones.

Cons:
I wish that the cards were more portable - it is not very easy to carry these around especially when one is on the move. It would be really nice if they came in a file.

The cards have been stacked horizontally making it very difficult to access cards at the bottom of the stack. Vertical stacking would make it easier to access.