Chinagram - Chinese Writing

Education | Reference

iOS

With Chinagram you can approach Chinese by discovering the meaning and origin of 300 of this language's most representative characters. Chinagram also includes a historical and a linguistic overview, which help you understand how Chinese writing has changed over the centuries and what its basic rules are today. With these pointers and the range of characters selected for the application, you can start building your vocabulary on solid grounds and really begin to discover Chinese and China.



Based on the book La scrittura cinese by Professor Yuan Huaqing, published in Italy by leading publishing house for languages, Vallardi, Chinagram offers you scrupulous content through an innovative graphic approach and the instant usability of the iPad.
With Chinagram you can:
- Get an overview of the fascinating history of Chinese writing, from its origins 3,600 years ago to modern day
- Understand the logic behind the way Chinese characters are pronounced, written, composed and classified.
- Learn to recognize and read 300 characters.
- Practice writing each character by tracing it on the screen of your iPad.
- Discover the ideas that gave rise to the original characters and see their evolution over the centuries, through six successive historical periods.
- Listen to the correct pronunciation of each character.
- See each character's phonetic Pinyin transcription.
- Easily save and recall your favorite characters.
- Switch from one character to another, with suggestions based on related concepts, shapes or meanings.
- Learn more about Chinese culture and language, with examples of how each word in used in idioms and everyday conversation.

As the new millennium sees China as one of the fastest-changing countries in the world, an understanding of Chinese writing can give you deep insight into the roots of this emerging power. In fact, each ideogram is not only an example of calligraphic art, but also a distillation of the country's ancient values and traditional culture.

The application tells the story of Chinese writing, explaining its rationale and showing its beauty, sign after sign. Try your hand at ideograms and learn more about one of the great cultures of the Orient.