Overview
The ZDT (Zhongwen Development Tool) is an easy to use, open-source Mandarin Chinese flashcard application that can help you learn Chinese. It is written in Java using the Eclipse RCP platform.
Check out the ZDT Blog for the latest news. I hope you find this program useful in your chinese learning. Please email me at fongcn@gmail.com if you have any feedback or suggestions.
Looking for a version of ZDT that works on your mobile phone? Then take a look at ZDT²go which was written by Achim Weimert.
Learning Chinese Features
- Three different flashcard modes - Learn chinese by memorizing those words!
- Create categories for your vocabulary - Organize your character lists however you like. Test yourself using any combination of categories.
- Built-in chinese word lists - Get started right away with the top 500 frequently used characters and the Kangxi Radicals character lists.
- Easily import and export character lists - Get new character lists. Contribute your own and help others out! You can also export your lists into other popular programs like VTrain, PlecoDict, and SuperMemo.
- Practice writing chinese characters - By generating custom practice writing sheets using your own categories. Learn proper writing technique by watching each character's stroke order animation.
- Simplified and Traditional character support - View characters in either mode.
- Searchable database - Lookup entries by character, pinyin or english definition.
- Chinese text annotation - Get mouseover popups with character definitions. Displays the corresponding pinyin as you type.
- Integrated web browser - Surf Chinese based sites and easily add new vocabulary.
- Sound support - We have a few available sound plugins for download. Hear a native mandarin speaker speak selected characters.
- Native CEDICT support and optional Adso support - The Cedict database contains approximately 27,000 entries. The Adso database contains more than 120,000 entries and now has traditional character support.
- Extensible - based on Eclipse RCP platform with its nice plugin architecture.
- Free and Open Source - EPL based license. Free is always good!
- Available for Windows, Linux and Mac platforms
