Boost your Chinese with freeware Pablo and Pingrid

Welcome -- what you will find on this site

2011-08-20T21:08:00.006+01:00

This is the home page to Pablo and Pingrid.

Pablo, a free Chinese-English dictionary for Windows. Probably the best for beginners.
current version of Pablo: 2.8b
Pingrid, a clever and effective game to train your Chinese vocabulary.
current version of Pingrid: 3.4
Tips on how to install Chinese speech synthesis in Windows.

Pablo experimental version - test the autocomplete feature

2011-08-20T21:07:00.001+01:00

Version 2.7x introduces an experimental feature (among other improvements): auto-complete. As text is entered in the search box, suggestions are displayed for quick access to most frequent words.

Please try it and comment on this blog or on the forum: does it work on your system? How useful is it? How would you like it to behave?

Have fun!

Pablo spricht Deutsch - Pablo parle français!

2011-02-04T22:47:00.003+01:00

Pablo version 2.5a introduces support for the HanDeDict Chinese-German dictionary and for the CFDICT Chinese-French dictionary. Both are great collective-effort dictionaries.

HanDeDict user guide
Download the dictionary from: www.chinaboard.de
Unzip and copy the dictionary file handedict.u8 or handedict_nb.u8 to Pablo's data directory.

CFDICT user guide
Download the dictionary from: www.chine-informations.com
Copy the dictionary file cfdict.u8 to Pablo's data directory.

The German or French dictionary will be recognized automatically and you get Pablo's great search features with HanDeDict or CFDICT contents!

Use Pablo on a tablet PC

2010-12-07T10:05:00.001+01:00

New version 2.4 introduces improvements when running Pablo on a tablet PC.

Double click in the Search box triggers the search (as pressing Enter)
The contextual menu has additional options:
- Copy current word
- Mark/unmark as favorite
And on tablet PCs, popup definitions are placed above the cursor position rather than below, so that they are not covered by the hand.

Useful tip: display Chinese characters on your blackberry

2010-06-11T12:40:00.001+01:00

If, like me, you saw black squares instead of Chinese characters on your blackberry, rejoice!
On his blog, Icey Cake explains how to solve that.
http://www.iceycake.com/2009/02/tutorial-viewing-chinese-with-t-mobiles-rim-blackberry-8xxx-series/

News from the lab: Popup definitions in Windows Messenger and QQ

2010-02-28T11:34:00.002+01:00

Following user suggestions, I implemented some support for popup definitions in Windows Live Messenger and in QQ.

Caveat: it does not work in all parts of the programs. So far, popup definitions are tuned to work in the conversations, where they are most useful!

In QQ, make sure that you close the small warning frames that may appear at the top of the conversation:

Discover PINGRID version 3, complete Chinese vocabulary game

2010-02-20T13:54:00.024+01:00

Make your learning time 100% useful

3 years ago, Pingrid was born as a clever game for learning Chinese vocabulary.

Later, Pingrid version 2 introduced a powerful spaced repetition model, to detect the words you need to train and therefore make your learning time 100% useful.

From the start, what makes Pingrid unique is that it is completely focused toward learning Chinese vocabulary.

Version 3 takes Pingrid to a new dimension, with handwriting traing! It combines two activities to memorize your Chinese vocabulary.

Picking words		Handwriting

Picking words in the grid is the original Pingrid training mode. It associates word, sound and meaning. Its power: super fast training. Priceless when you are serious about learning and have sizeable vocabulary to absorb.		Handwriting is new in Pingrid version 3: you have to draw characters with the mouse! Its power: active memorization. If you can write a word, then you are much more certain to recognize it.

And Pingrid's adaptive, spaced repetition model directs your effort to the words that do need repetition. No more cramming, your training time is 100% useful.

	Get the installer from the Download box on the left part of the page. This is a self-extracting file that installs or updates Pingrid automatically.
	Pingrid is a one-man effort. Please donate to support developments and updates. You can try out Pingrid for free, but if you like it and continue using it, it is only fair to contribute a small amount, don't you think? Suggested amount is $15, but any amount is welcome-- feedback from users is a treat!
	*How to get the Chinese voice* to work.** You need to install the voice engine with the Microsoft Chinese voice. For step-by-step instructions, look here.
	Finally, if you haven't yet, be sure to check out Pablo, a great Chinese-English dictionary for beginners.

For tips and support, visit the online forum at: http://pablopingrid.freeforums.org

Introducing Pablo and Pingrid's support forum

2009-11-22T19:14:00.001+01:00

Hello Pablo and Pingrid users

Your feedback is important to make Pablo and Pingrid always better. In order to give more space for your comments and make reading them easier, I am pleased to introduce the support forum.

Check it out at:
http://pablopingrid.freeforums.org/

A special category is dedicated to receiving your suggestions for future evolutions of Pablo and Pingrid.

Thanks for your loyalty.

Novelties in Pablo version 2.0

2009-08-23T20:42:00.004+01:00

Hello, the new version 2.0 of Pablo is out!

More features for even easier and more powerful searches:

- Improved popup definitions, working in many other programs!

- Highlight your own "favorite" words

- Easily get updates of Pablo and the CEDICT database

and more!

New! Popup definitions in Pablo

2009-02-01T18:19:00.009+01:00

Discover an exciting new feature in Pablo:

Popup definitions when you move the mouse over Chinese text in other programs!
Just run the mouse over text in Word or Explorer and you get the translation right away!

Also, click in the popup window to bring up the full Pablo window!

Requirements
The popup definition feature is designed for Windows XP, Windows NT. It does not work under Windows 95 or Vista.

Caution: Popup definitions may interfere with other software. The reason is that, in order to display popups, Pablo needs to constantly monitor your system and detect Chinese text.

You can configure in which programs you want popup definitions.

You can also toggle popups on/off by clicking the small 'Pablo' icon located in the taskbar.
##version 1.99b

Installing Chinese voice synthesis in Windows

2008-12-08T11:52:00.003+01:00

A frequently asked question on this blog is: how to install Chinese voice in Windows? Voice synthesis is a great enhancement to Pablo and Pingrid.

Here are some step-by-step instructions. This is mostly a repost of a comment made by Benjamin Lim on this blog (thanks, Benjamin).

1. Follow the Lingoes link http://www.lingoes.net/en/translator/speech.htm
(Lingoes is a very good freeware translation tool).

2. At the Lingoes webpage look for the following paragraph:

Recommended Excellent TTS Engine
Microsoft Simplified Chinese Voice
PackageFile Size: 1.55 MB
Download: Mirror 1, Mirror 2

3. Download that and it will appear as "Microsoft_TTS_51_chs.msi"

4. Double click on the msi file once it is downloaded

5. Go to Windows Control Panel and click on the Speech icon. Change the Voice Selection from default to the newly installed one. In my case Microsoft Simplified Chinese.
** Before you close that window, click on the Audio Output button and direct the voice to the correct audio driver which might come with your sound card.

6. That's it and I hope it is helpful for some.

Learning Chinese -- PABLO, my personal Chinese dictionary

2007-02-24T15:32:00.083+01:00

Introducing Pablo

A treat for Chinese learning beginners: a compact, nifty, featured-packed and free Chinese-English dictionary for Windows.

Pablo is probably the best Chinese-English dictionary alternative for beginners.

Unrivaled search features

English, Chinese and pinyin
Search a character from its radical
(exclusive!) Find a character from its various elements
Simplified and traditional characters
Quick navigation (no java, no long downloads!)

Popup definitions in other programs

All graphical interface

Handwritten character recognition
The best collection of character animations (over 4,000!)

Navigate through search results with one click

Based on the acclaimed CEDICT database, over 90,000 entries.

Click for screenshot:

>> For tips and support, visit the online forum at: http://pablopingrid.freeforums.org/

	Get the installer from the Download box in the left part of the page. This is a self-extracting file that installs or updates Pablo automatically.
	Pablo is a one man effort. Please donate to support developments and updates. You can try out Pablo for free, but if you like it and continue using it, it is only fair to contribute a small amount, don't you think? Suggested amount is $15, any amount is welcome-- feedback from users is a treat!
	*How to get the Chinese voice* to work.** You need to install the voice engine with the Microsoft Chinese voice. For step-by-step instructions, look here.
	Finally, if you haven't yet, be sure to check out Pingrid, a fun and effective game to train your Chinese vocabulary.