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English to Chinese Translation Offline???

S

scttysctt

Lurker
I am in China for the summer and would like to find a dictionary/translator that works between Mandarin and English. Here is the catch. It needs to work offline, if I allow roaming data I might as well sell a kidney to pay my bill. My phone is a Nexus 1 serviced by T-Mobile but I have a pay as you go SIM from China Mobile also. Catch #2 is that it appears that not all Apps show up in the marketplace when searching the app market from ouside the USA. Anyone got any good suggestions? I don't mind paying for it if it works and it can speak the Mandarin word. I can't pronounce a lot of Mandarin words to having that feature would be a huge plus. Thanks

Scott
 
Check out Hanping CE. It's a dictionary, not a translation app, but it works offline. The Pro version has audio also.

I doubt you will find a full translation tool that works offline - there's just a lot of data and processing that needs to be done to translate and then speak the audio, so most of those need an internet connection.

You might want to reconsider getting data service. I use China Mobile and it's not that expensive. You can get 90 MB per month for ~20 RMB (less than 4 USD). I'm sure they have other options too. Might be best to have a Chinese speaking friend help you to activate that service. Check your phone specs, but if it works on China Mobile you should be able to get EDGE - not 3G - data.


Edit: If you have a rooted phone, you can use Market Enabler to get access to paid apps and other apps not normally available in China.
 
Slightly off topic, but if you are there for a whole summer, you might as well learn to pronounce Pinyin and the tones. You can learn the proper pronunciation for all the sounds and tones in maybe a week or so (again, have a Chinese friend help you and just copy them). Then, you can rely less on needing your phone to speak for you.

If you know how to pronounce Pinyin, there are many good phrase books which will give you everything you need for daily life. I recommend this one:
Amazon.com: Immersion Guides' Mandarin Phrasebook (English and Chinese Edition) (9780977333424): Adam Pillsbury, Editor: Books

It also has Chinese characters for the phrases in case someone can't hear you clearly.
 
Thanks. Hanping is great. I am actually better than your average American about learning languages but Chinese has me by the balls. It is difficult without a latin alphabet. I am in a small city so there are no classes and the only person I know in town that speaks English works with me and I can't take him away from work to be my private Mandarin Teacher.

Is there any good audio translators or pronunciation guides? Every time I think I learn a new word I say it then people look at me like I am from Mars then eventually I tell it to someone who speaks English and they say I am pronouncing it wrong. I don't want something to speak for me just to tell me the correct pronunciation so I can be understood when I speak.

I am not looking to be fluent, grammatically correct, or know how to read. I just want to have the vocabulary of a 4 year old and be understood. If I get to that point I can move on.

I will look into the phone data thing again but last time they said that I had to sign a 12 month contract and had to have a residency in China.

Thanks.
 
Strange. I have no contract and am on prepaid plan.

Anyway, have you tried Chinese pod? Download the lessons as mp3 and listen from your phone.
 
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