KTdict version 1.8 is available in the App-Store. This is mainly a maintenance release and has the following improvements and bug-fixes:
- Correct handling of ΓΌ in pinyin input
- Possibility to store pinyin in clipboard also on iPad
- Better compatibility with older (3.x) iOS versions
- Better organized flashcard list on iPad (paid versions)
- Improved stability of flashcard import (paid versions)
- Visual indication of progress during flashcard training (paid versions )
Thanks to everybody who provided feedback.
Categories: Chinese · KTdict
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A comment to my last post made me aware of the excellent vocabulary list available at www.chinesemadeeasier.com.
I converted the vocabulary list into .csv files which can be easily imported into KTdict. They are available at the following links:
Thanks to Martin Symonds – the author of Chinese Made Easier – for permission!
Categories: Flashcards · KTdict
The vocabulary lists for the HSK test are available for free at Lingomi. I converted the files into a format which can be read directly by KTdict.
Install on your device using the following steps:
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Download the file hsk_ktdict.csv and email it to an account you can access from your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.
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Open the Email and tap on the attachment. The content of the .csv file
will now be displayed as a preview. Tap first on the action-button in the upper right corner, then select “Open in KTdict”. If KTdict is not in the list, tap on “Open In…” first and then select KTdict.
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KTdict will open and the flashcard import dialog will appear. You can modify the group assignments to import only selected levels of the HSK (the file includes 5003 flashcards in total).
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Tap on “import” to load the flashcards into KTdict.
Conversion of the data was done with a small ruby script available here.
Categories: Flashcards · KTdict
Maybe some of you noticed: I moved this website to WordPress (hosted by DreamHost). After testing several web-publishing platforms, I settled onto this solution. It is very mature and offers for me the right balance between ease of setup and flexibility.
Right now, I am using one of the build-in themes – the only customization is the turtle (from Sipadan island / Malaysia) at the top.
Categories: Software
I am very happy to announce that KTdict 1.7 is available in the app-store. This is a major update including:
- Native support for iPad: KTdict is now a so-called universal application – one binary runs on both iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. If you purchased the paid version or the upgrade for the iPhone/iPod touch, you can use it on the iPad without additional purchase.
- Completely re-written and improved search engine: KTdict is now even faster and does not require anymore spaces between Pinyin syllables – you can search e. g. for “pengyou” or “zhongguo”.
- Possibility to import and export flashcards (paid version only): Both export/import via Email and via iTunes file sharing are supported.
I hope many of you will like the new features. Let me know if you encounter any problems or have suggestions for future versions.
Categories: KTdict
Version 1.6 of KTdict includes Apple’s iAd in the free versions (paid version are add-free, of course). The data from the iAd network provides one interesting insight: it is possible to see in which countries people are using KTdict: see chart below.
This pretty much lines up with the downloads. It is a pity that iAds are only available in US, as I am losing 88.9% of my potential ad-revenue this way… (overall “fill-rate” is ~2%: 25% in the US and 0% everywhere else).
Categories: KTdict
Version 1.6 of KTdict is out. It includes several important features:
- support for iPhone 4 and iOS 4.0 (multitasking, retina-display)
- Chinese characters and pinyin can be mixed in searches
- it is possible to search for individual characters of a word
What is not so nice: A critical bug made it into this version. The app crashes for certain English words. A fix was submitted to Apple on July 21st, so it should become available within a few days. My apologies for everybody affected by this issue – the Emails and comments I get on the app-store show that many people are relying on KTdict for day-by-day use. I’ll be definitely more careful in future when doing changes to the core search engine.
Categories: KTdict
It is a crazy undertaking: Driving with cars through all streets of the world, taking photographs and putting them on the Internet.
Since a few days, Google Street View covers most of Taiwan, so enjoy:
The apartment building we are living in
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The company I work for
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Our favorite breakfast place
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Germany (my native country) isn’t on Google Street View yet. Google is already taking pictures, but there are some issues with stricter German privacy laws which need to get resolved.
Categories: Taiwan
New versions of KTdict C-E and KTdict+ C-E are available (KTdict C-D will follow very soon).
Both free and paid version have a further enhanced search algorithm: speed is improved and the relevance of results is enhanced. Also, it is now possible to delete words from the search history. The dictionary database is updated to the newest version of CC-CEDICT. As the age-rating of KTdict is now set to 12, I could include an uncensored version of CC-CEDICT (some of the previous versions had few words removed).
The paid version has the following extra features:
- an integrated web-browser allows a quick lookup of words in internet sources (e. g. Wikipedia)
- flashcards can be exported via Email
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it is possible to search in flashcards (I realized that some users have quite a lot)
- the configuration of the daily lessons is much more flexible
KTdict requires now iPhone OS 3.0 – I assume most people did upgrade their iPhone or iPod touch in the meantime so this doesn’t cost me too many potential users.
Let me know what you like / don’t like about the upgrade.
Categories: KTdict
Below an updated download trend for KTdict C-E, the free version of my Chinese-English dictionary. Two interesting observations:
- after I changed the name of the app in the store to “KTdict C-E (chinese-english dictionary)” downloads increased quite drastically. I am sure this is due to people find it when searching for a Chinese-English dictionary.
- KTdict C-E is back in the “top 100″ in Hong-Kong and Malaysia. This gave downloads a further boost in these countries.
Total downloads of KTdict C-E are now over 160.000. From the updates I can estimate, that roughly half of people downloading KTdict keep it installed on their iPhone or iPod touch.
Categories: KTdict
