Customer Reviews

Isync Chinese: Learn in Your Car for the iGeneration (iLearn Anywhere)

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I love this, I love this, I LOVE THIS!

Finally, a way to hear the English word, hear the Chinese word, see the pinyin spelled out AND see the Chinese characters ALL AT ONCE!! Everything you could ask for, all in an instant! Plus, in a format I can take with me anywhere...this is so awesome it gives me chills!

OK, details, details. The disc includes two files of tracks you load into the Audiobook section of your iPod, plus three PDF reference files with all the words and the Chinese on them to print or save to your computer. When you play it, where you would normally see an album cover on your iPod, you see the image of the English word, then the pinyin/Chinese characters on alternating color fields (it is actually maroon, not bright red like the package shows, which is easier on the eyes). The people speaking on the audio have very clear, pleasant voices.

Some technical stuff: To watch the graphics, you must switch your iPod backlight to "Always On" (although you can learn with the audio only if you want). I have a Nano, so when it shows me the images they are in that angled, mirrored position that makes album covers look so cool, but is really not ideal for this product. However, this only took me ten seconds to get used to and now doesn't bother me much. I think a regular iPod would display the images correctly. Also, my iPod doesn't seem to like letters with the first and third tone marks on them (if you know pinyin, you know what I'm talking about) so they are all missing from the chapter titles on my iPod. This doesn't matter because you really only need the information off the graphics. Here's another thing I discovered - you can use this product without an iPod by playing it in iTunes with the "Show Artwork" View feature on. Not the best way to experience it, but functional nonetheless.

One negative I would change - the Chinese characters are in a kind of "brushstroke" font. I would have preferred a more straightforward font for clarity since I'm looking at something so small.

But the last, best thing is that there is TONS of material on this one little disc, and I mean TONS. This product includes lists of nouns, verbs, etc. and abstract words that I have never heard on any other audio Chinese language product (admittedly, I don't have "Learn in Your Car," - maybe this is the same stuff). But for this small price, this is absolutely the best value I have gotten on a Chinese learning product, ever. Love it!