1. NCIKU online Tool

  Need to look up a Chinese word by pinyin, English, or in Chinese?  want to hear  it’s pronunciation  ? Check out this tool with the funny name, nciku-www.nciku.com.

In my first  several  months of learning Chinese in Beijing ,  it’s the best tool I have used so far. Why?

1. Search Chinese words by pinyin, English, or Chinese;
2. If you don’t know the pinyin of the Chinese word or the English translation of a character, but you know how to write it ? you can use your mouse to write the character, and thedictionarywill suggest matches and look it up for you;
3. Instant pronunciation of a Chinese word or phrase;
4. There are example Chinese sentences,  so you know how to use the word , with pinyin and English meanings  right underneath;
5. Looping flash animations show you how to write the character, stroke by stroke;
6. Active Q&A forum  so you can ask questions thata dictionary doesn’t have a answer for ;
7. Build your own vocabulary lists for later use ;
8. iPhone app available for both iPhone and iTouch users ; 

This tool is still in beta but has certainly come a long waysince its inception. Wondering what other features are coming in the near future  ?

2. MDGB Online Tool

  Honestly, I haven’t used this one that much . But this tool still has some impressive features-www.mdbg.net.

1. Including specialized and advanced words ;
2. Chinese <-> English translation (no pinyin support but copy&paste is supported)
3. Radical/stroke lookup
4. Flash cards and character quizzes (under ç»ƒä¹  Practice)
5. Options to denote tones with numbers, marks, or different colors. 

They also have an offline reader available. Ever find it annoying to read a Chinese texts  on the computer, find a word you don’t know, open up a web browser, then copy&paste the word into a search engine to find out the meaning? With this reader tool , just hover over the word and the definition will pop up. However, it’s only free for 15 days.

What tools are you using  for learning Chinese ? Share your findings in the comment.