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.
Looking to put NTU on the map for Chinese studies, the university teamed up with L Labs, which footed most of the design costs, and recruited three teachers from the International Chinese Language Program (ICLP) at NTU, to oversee the program's pedagogical details, said ICLP instructor and My Chinese Tutor collaborator, Ann Chen (
"What this program teaches," she said, "are phrases that were carefully selected according to past research on what beginners need to focus on to effectively express themselves in everyday situations."
The software, available at 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.
L Labs president Lin Yi-jing (
L Labs and the university will "share revenue," Lin said.
After a free trial period, users can purchase My Chinese Tutor services for NT$1,000 a month.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition