[quote]
NTU unveils My Chinese tutor service
ONLINE LEARNING: The Internet-based software is designed to help National Taiwan University become a world center for learning Chinese, its developer said
National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday unveiled a Chinese-teaching software to capitalize on the Mandarin-learning “craze” worldwide.
Combining voice-analyzing technology and Chinese teaching expertise, the Internet-based software will help the university become “a world center for learning Chinese,” said NTU electrical engineering professor Lee Lin-shan (李琳山), who oversaw the technological aspects of the software’s design.
“It certainly won’t replace teachers,” Lee said, referring to the “My Chinese Tutor” software, which the university and a local software company, L Labs Inc, jointly created at the cost of US$2 million over
two years.
“But,” Lee joked, “unlike teachers in the flesh, My Chinese Tutor will never become impatient or angry, and it won’t go on vacations.”
Hosting a press conference on the software, NTU president Lee Si-chen (李嗣涔) said the program, which users can access free of charge until September, “improves on pedagogical platforms for Chinese Mandarin” – a language that “30 million people worldwide currently study,” he said.
The software’s “uniqueness,” designers said, is its ability to “diagnose pronunciation,” or instantly record and analyze users’ voices, as a means to help them effectively emulate native speakers.
“That’s something that no other teaching program out there can do,” said Lee Lin-shan, who has researched voice-related technologies for two decades…
The software, available at http://chinese.ntu.edu.tw/, “can supplement any teaching material [for beginners],” said Lee Lin-shan, while demonstrating the program’s user-friendly interface, voice analysis features and 3-D animation that teaches users how to shape their mouths to enunciate words…
After a free trial period, users can purchase My Chinese Tutor services for NT$1,000 a month.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/06/14/2003365178[/quote]
Looks interesting…anyone used it?