October 2024 Update

By Felipe / Last updated October 29, 2024

Just wanna try out the new features?
Go straight to the app.

What a month! This was the second month since the Chill Chinese app went live as a web app and we kept the momentum going. There is a whole bunch of cool new features and improvements to talk about, so let's dive right in.

Note: You might need to reload the web app in your browser to see the latest changes, as the browser might have cached the old version.

Full-text translation

After introducing multi-word search and the interactive reader mode, the next logical step was to add full-text translation. No more switching between the dictionary and Google Translate, just tap a button and see the translation right in the app.

Example sentences

This is a big one! We have added over 2,000 example sentences for over 400 words and we will continue to add more in the future. This is a great way to see how words are used in context.

Our focus is on providing straight-forward sentences that highlight different meanings of a word. So if a word has multiple meanings, you will see example sentences for each of them. Curating all these sentences is a big undertaking, but we believe that reaching really good coverage with actually useful sentences is going to make our app stand out.

Dictionary entries show example sentences for different definitions of the word

Zhuyin/Bopomofo support

We have added support for Zhuyin/Bopomofo, which is widely used in Taiwan.

It is now possible to search for words using Bopomofo and to see the pronunciation in Bopomofo in the search results. So next time you go to KTV in Taiwan and the machine only has a Bopomofo keyboard, you can simply look up the characters in our app and see how to write them with Bopomofo.

The dictionary supports searching for words using Bopomofo and shows the pronunciation in Bopomofo

Character decompositions

There are a lot of Chinese characters to learn. Luckily, many of them are made up of smaller parts that can help you remember them.

We have added character decomposition diagrams for over 13,000 characters! This means that when you look up a character, you will see a diagram showing how it is composed of smaller parts. You can even tap/click on the smaller parts to see their definitions.

Over 90% of the characters from HSK 1 - 6 are already covered and we will continue to add more decompositions in the future.

A character decomposition diagram shows how a character is composed of smaller parts

Fonts

We now comply with the latest GB 18030-2022 character set standard. That means we have font support for over 88,000 characters, meeting the requirements for products used in government and public services. Previously the app would show an empty space for characters that were not supported, but now you will see the character itself. No matter how obscure the character, the Chill Chinese app can now at least display it (even if there are no definitions available for it).

Uncommon characters are now displayed correctly

What's next?

With full-text translation, example sentences, Bopomofo support, and character decompositions, the Chill Chinese app is really growing into the powerful tool we envisioned.

Now it's time to bring it to Android, which is the only goal we commit to for November. However, we might be able to squeeze in some cool new stuff if time permits, like:

Full-text translation from English to Chinese
Multi-level character decomposition diagrams
Example audio for words in the dictionary

Stay tuned for more updates!