General Search tips Flashcard trainer Further info
General:
You can search using Chinese characters (traditional or simplified), German or Hanyu Pinyin. The type of input will be automatically detected.
KTdict C-D searches while you are typing, but only when at least two characters are entered. To search for a single character, press the search button in the keyboard.
Tapping on an item in the result list reveals a detailed view. The result list as well as the detailed view can be configured using the settings application.
If you tap on an German meaning or a Pinyin pronunciation in the detailed view, you start a new search using this result as input. This is helpful to find more words with the same German meaning or same pronunciation.
Tapping on a Chinese word in the detailed view displays the individual characters in a large view. Pressing the "lookup" button will search for this single character. This way, you can find all other usages of a certain character.
Search tips:
- Diacritic marks are ignored. For example, ä / a and é / e are considered the same. You can enter "Frederic Chopin" to find "Frédéric Chopin".
- German Umlaute (äöü) can be entered as such (by keeping the a/o/u-Keys pressed) or as a/o/u (simply omitting the dots). It is not allowed, to replace ä/ö/ü by ae/oe/ue.
- ß and ss are considered to be identical. A search for "dass" or "daß" will produce the same result. This makes the search function independent of variants of German spelling (old / new spelling rules, Switzerland).
- Use the settings application to setup keyboards for entering Chinese characters (Settings » General » International » Keyboards).
- Per default, KTdict C-D accepts both simplified and traditional Chinese characters in searches. This can be changed in the settings application.
- Pinyin tones can be entered as a number after the syllable ("ma3"). If the number is zero or omitted, the input will match any tone. To explicitly search for syllables in neutral tone enter a five ("ma5").
- Some input can be understood as German and Pinyin (for example "rang" is an German word as well as a Pinyin syllable). In this case, first all German results will be shown followed by Pinyin results. To search only for Pinyin, enter a tone number after the syllable (e. g. "you0").
- Pinyin "ü" can be entered as "ü" (by holding the u-key), "v" or "u:".
- Pinyin syllables must be separated by a space or tone marker ("peng you", "peng2 you" or "peng2you", but not "pengyou").
Flashcard trainer
The build-in flashcard trainer allows to practice and learn new vocabulary. It is an implementation of the simple and popular system described by Sebastian Leitner. Flashcards can be generated from any dictionary entry or entered and modified manually.
The flashcard file has six boxes:
- Box 0 contains stored cards, for which learning has not yet started. KTdict+ C-E tries to keep a constant, user-defined size of the daily learning set. As words are learned, cards are moved from box 0 into box 1.
- Box 1 contains cards to be repeated daily. These are cards just moved over from box 0 (new vocabulary) or cards which couldn't be answered successfully in the previous daily lesson.
- Box 2-4 contain cards for repetition on every second, every fourth and every eighth day. If a card in e. g. box 2 is successfully remembered, it is moved to box 3. If it is not remembered, it will be moved back to box 1.
- Has a card in box 4 been remembered successfully, it will be moved to box 5. Card in box 5 are considered to be completed. They will not be quizzed anymore.
Training is done based on daily sets. Each daily set contains a user defined amount of cards (default is 20) which are suggested for daily learning. The number of cards can be changed in the iPhone settings application. The daily set is generated by taking all cards from box 1, 50% of cards from box 2, 25% of cards from box 3 and 12.5% of cards from box 4. If there is still space in the daily set, further cards are taken from box 0. These cards are then moved to box 1.
Training takes place in three directions:
| Frontside | Backside |
|---|---|
| German | Pinyin, Chinese characters |
| Pinyin | Chinese characters, German meaning |
| Chinese | Pinyin/pronunciation, German meaning |
In the card editor, it is possible to disable some of these directions for individual cards.
During daily training, cards are shown sequentially. Each card will be shown in each direction. So if you have for example 20 cards in your daily set, you will be normally quizzed 60 times.
After the solution is shown, you have to enter if you knew the correct answer or not. If you select "Right", this card/direction will not be quizzed again during this daily set. If you select "Wrong" the card will be repeated until you remember. If you hit (for example) the "Show answer" button in accident, you can select "Cancel" to void this quiz. The card will be quizzed again, but not marked at fail.
A card is considered to be pass, if all directions have been answered right in the first attempt. If not, it is considered fail and kept / moved back to box 1.
It is possible to edit individual cards by selecting the edit tab at the bottom of the screen. By selecting the sort/delete tab, it is possible to move cards between boxes and delete cards.
There are two ways to add cards to the flashcard trainer:
- Selecting the button "+Trainer" in the detailed view of the dictionary. The word is then copied from the dictionary into the flashcard trainer.
- Selecting the "+"-button in the flashcard trainer. This allows manual entry of a flashcard.
Further info:
Developer webpage: http://www.klausthul.com.
Please send feedback, bug reports or suggestions to ktdict@me.com.