KEY - an interactive multimedia tool for teaching and learning Chinese

(For a complete multimedia trial package, go to Downloads)

KEY, from the Canadian software developer Asia Communications Québec Inc., is more than a Chinese word processor, it is your key to any Chinese text in electronic form! Use the KEY software as an interactive multimedia learning tool for analyzing and understanding Chinese text, as follows:

1) Make sure you have the Microsoft Chinese Language Support installed (the Unicode font MS Song and MingLiU). If not, download it from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com (under "Product Updates", requires IE 5.0). These Microsoft Chinese fonts work with both Internet Explorer and Netscape, and they are the standard way for displaying CJK web pages. In IE they work automatically without setup, while in Netscape a one-time manual setup procedure is required (details at www.cjkware.com, "Instructions for Netscape users").

2) You should uninstall any so-called "Chinese Internet viewer" and associated programs you might have on your computer, to avoid potential interferences and conflicts. Such "Internet viewers" are being offered as a lure for free download in many locations on the Internet; while they seem to work superficially, they are "hacks" using non-standard techniques that are not supported by Windows, and they may wreak havoc with your system. You should only use the fonts MS Song and MingLiU (see above under (1)) in connection with your browser to view CJK web pages.

3) Having downloaded and installed the KEY 30-day PC trial version from this web site, open the KEY edit window by double-clicking the KEY icon on your desktop. On the KEY View menu, check the option "Always on top". Now you may go to a Chinese web page of your choice and Copy/Paste the Chinese text you want to read into the KEY edit window.

4) FIRST ANALYTIC STEP: ADDING A LINE OF PINYIN. To get a Pinyin (with tones) line along the Chinese character text, select (highlight) the entire text in KEY ("Select All" on the Edit menu). On the Format menu, click "Hanzi with Pinyin" and check the item "Hanzi with Pinyin". A line with the (still monosyllabic) Pinyin version of your Chinese text will appear.

5) SECOND ANALYTIC STEP: ADDING THE LINGUISTIC INFRASTRUCTURE. To get standard Pinyin with correct word boundaries: with the text still highlighted, click "Linguistic Reconstruction" (on the KEY Language menu). This automatically provides your Chinese text with the necessary linguistic infrastructure.

6) THIRD ANALYTIC STEP: CHINESE - ENGLISH DICTIONARY LOOKUP. (For this step, please download and install the C/E dictionary trial version from this web site.) To get the English meaning of the text, move the mouse pointer along the Chinese character text, which will display the English meaning in a tooltip window.

7) FOURTH ANALYTIC STEP: LISTEN TO THE TEXT IN SPOKEN MANDARIN. (For this step, please download and install the TTS trial version from this web site.) Highlight the text portions that you want to hear spoken in Mandarin and click on the "TTS" button on the toolbar.

Note that, if you want to use KEY with all its features permanently, you should register your downloaded KEY software through our online store, so that we can send you a CD-ROM with the professional version. (Due to download size restrictions, the voice articulation in the downloaded TTS module is not as clear as in the version on CD-ROM. For optimal quality, order the KEY configuration of your choice from the Price List and Order Form, and use the version from CD-ROM.)

Thus, for the student of Chinese, KEY is a powerful analytic tool for Internet-based language learning, and

For the teacher of Chinese, KEY is a powerful authoring system for creating multimedia lessons.

Click here for site license pricing for multimedia computer labs.

Join the ranks of these institutions (among many others) that have site licenses of 5 - 100 stations installed in their computer labs:

McGill University; The United Nations; Johns Hopkins University; US Foreign Service Institute; Canada Foreign Affairs and International Trade; the US Embassy in Beijing; SUNY; Middlebury College, etc.; the list is long and is waiting for your computer lab to join!

If you have questions, you are welcome to call Asia Communications Québec Inc. sinologist Peter Leimbigler (PhD) on his direct line 613-747-9018.