Bamboo Helper Chinese Text Transliteration / Educational Software ================================================================= Electronic Text Tools Enhance Access to the Chinese Language What is Bamboo Helper? ====================== Bamboo Helper(TM) is a shareware program that helps make the Chinese language more accessible to students and others. It helps students read Chinese text files on their PC-compatible computers by showing the correct pronunciation, the location of word breaks, and other useful information. Bamboo Helper remembers a student's reading level and uses this knowledge to generate helpful output files, including vocabulary lists and flash cards that can be printed out for later use. Bamboo Helper works with popular Chinese display systems, supplementing their functionality. Although students are the primary users of Bamboo Helper, the program is also valuable to linguists, translators, teachers, librarians, and scholars working with the Chinese language: for example, East Asiatic librarians use Bamboo Helper to trans- literate Chinese online catalog data; Chinese language teachers use it to prepare teaching materials. An additional, more interactive program entitled Bamboo Tutor, also for students of Chinese, is currently under development. About the Name ============== Bamboo has long played a part in Chinese writing with its use as a writing media, as a base for paper making, and even as stock for handles of writing brushes. This transparent yet close connection between bamboo and Chinese writing inspired the Bamboo Helper name. Bamboo Helper aims to be just as transparent a tool for making Chinese text more accessible. Bamboo Helper Features ====================== * Transliterates Chinese text to Pinyin, Wade-Giles, Yale, or Zhuyinfuhao (Bopomofo) format * Identifies the correct pronunciation for po4yin1 zi4 (Chinese characters with more than one pronunciation) * Segments Chinese text to add breaks between words * Provides dictionary entry numbers for quick lookup of characters or words (used with the Far East Chinese-English Dictionary from the Far East Book Co. Ltd., Taipei) * Generates flashcards tailored for specific text files * Generates vocabulary lists for specific text files * Keeps track of your Chinese character vocabulary, to help you with characters you haven't yet learned * Generates lists of your Chinese character vocabulary * Extracts Chinese text strings from binary files * Extracts ASCII text strings from binary files * Automatically decodes UUENCODED files Bamboo Helper Requirements ========================== Bamboo Helper runs on IBM PC compatible machines running DOS versions 3.3 or higher. Bamboo Helper does not display Chinese characters and does not provide editing functions. The program is compatible with popular PC-based Chinese display systems such as ETen, Kuo Chiao, MS-Windows Chinese Edition, and TwinBridge Big5 edition. A Chinese display system is not required to run Bamboo Helper, but is required to see Chinese characters on the screen. Bamboo Helper Availability ========================== Bamboo Helper v1.0 is being made available as fully functional shareware (the only difference between the shareware version and the registered version is that the shareware version has very brief shareware reminder screens on startup and exit. There are also several positive incentives for registering). Bamboo Helper can be downloaded from BBSs that carry Chinese-language related software, and from the following Internet ftp sites as BH101.ZIP: ifcss.org chinese/software/pc/education ftp.wustl.edu mirrors/msdos/langtutor netcom.com pub/mcevilly/bamboo The World Data Exchange (WDE) BBS in Taipei, Taiwan carries beta test versions and updates of Bamboo Helper: 886-2-695-2326 (Node 3, for new users) Sysop: James Thomas Author contact information: Carlos McEvilly 232 Anita Place Santa Fe, NM 87501 USA mcevilly@netcom.com 72672.3462@compuserve.com