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Rating: Summary: Useful Tool for Memorizing Chinese Characters Review: Since I have both "Chinese in a Flash" and "Chinese Character Flashcards 888" flashcard sets, I wanted to offer a comparison between the two.
Flashcards 888 are organized in the order of frequency of use of characters; Chinese in a Flash are arranged in the order of frequency and complexity. Someone learning Chinese language is more likely to encounter characters in the order presented in Chinese in a Flash cards.
Flashcards 888 are of a sturdier quality than Chinese in a Flash cards.
Both are approximately the same size.
Both have radicals mentioned. On Flashcards 888, radicals are provided in the upper right corner on the front of the card; on Chinese in a Flash cards, beside the radical is also noted the name of the character as well as character components.
On Flashcards 888, you'll also find a stroke order, helpful to know when you practice writing characters; Chinese in a Flash cards, do not provide a stroke order.
Both sets also mention several character combinations, together with their pronounciation in pinyin and the meaning in English.
Chinese in a Flash also provide a sample sentence where the particular character / word is used; Flashcards 888 don't.
Flashcards come in one set of 888 cards; Chinese in Flash come in two sets of 448 cards.
I am very happy with both sets and enjoy using them both.
Rating: Summary: A nice set of Chinese character flash cards Review: This is a set of 448 flash cards for studying Chinese characters. Tuttle's set of Japanese character flash cards has been a favorite of Japanese learners, it looks like now they are trying to replicate the success for Chinese. The order of characters does not seem to follow that of any popular textbook, but the included index will help in reordering them. I am using Practical Chinese Reader and the order of the cards was only slightly off. The cards include both traditional and simplified versions and some compounds on one side, and meaning, radical and example sentences on the other. One drawback is the lack of stroke order information: Tuttle should have put the stroke order on one side of the cards, like they have with their Japanese cards. I really like these cards, but the lack of stroke order prevents me from giving 5 stars to this set.
Rating: Summary: a good tool for busy students Review: When I bought this set, I didn't know my level, but as it turns out, the flash cards would probably benefit all but the most advanced students of Chinese. I've been working with only one-quarter of the set so far, and I've found that I already knew all the characters from my college Chinese class. However, each card has up to four vocabulary words on it, each one including the character on the front of the card. This way, I have been learning the supplemental vocabulary rather than using the cards for their (presumably) intended use.
That's not to say that they wouldn't be useful for beginners. Even without a textbook or a tutor, these cards are a good start to learning Chinese. However, without instruction, these cards cannot teach you stroke order or pronunciation, unless you know pinyin. On the other hand, they're much easier to use in a bus or a waiting room than a textbook or a tutor.
I can also picture these cards being very useful for teaching fluent speakers of Chinese to read simplified characters. The main character of each card is depicted in both simplified and traditional form, but the example phrases and sentences are only written in simplified characters--probably my only real complaint about the set. In all, it's a useful, comprehensive tool for Chinese students of most levels.
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