Chineasy
{{Short description|Internet startup}}
{{Infobox website
|name = Chineasy
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|logo_alt = Chineasy logo,
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|screenshot =Basic Chineasy Building Blocks.png
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|location = London
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|country = UK
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|founder = ShaoLan Hsueh
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|CEO = ShaoLan Hsueh
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|industry = Online education, Chinese Language, Graphic Design, Education
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|services = Second language acquisition (Chinese)
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|url = {{URL|http://Chineasy.com}}
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|launched = {{start date and age|2013|02|14|df=yes}}
|current_status = Online and publications
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Chineasy is an internet startup founded with the mission of teaching Chinese. It was created by entrepreneur Shaolan Hsueh,{{Cite news|url=http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/13/how-chineasy-inventor-shaolan-hsueh-used-beautiful-design-to-decode-mandarin-and-cantonese-4544739/|title=Want to speak Chinese? It's Chineasy, says ShaoLan Hsueh|date=2014-03-13|work=Metro|access-date=2017-10-05|language=en-GB}} and the teams operate from the UK and Taiwan. The approach is to learn Chinese characters with the help of illustrations to help memorize Chinese characters better. The 2014 book Chineasy: The New Way to Read Chinese contains about 400 characters.{{cite book|title=Chineasy: The New Way to Read Chinese|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=978-0062332097|edition=Flexibound|url=https://www.amazon.com/Chineasy-The-Easy-Learn-Chinese-ebook/dp/B00IMHU7KQ}} It was based on her 2013 TED talk{{cite web|url= https://www.ted.com/talks/shaolan_learn_to_read_chinese_with_ease?language=en |title=Learn to read Chinese...with ease |publisher=TED.com |date=May 5, 2013}} and funded via a crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter.{{cite web|url= https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shaolanchineasy/chineasy-begins-0 |title=Chineasy: The easiest way to learn Chinese |publisher=Kickstarter.com |date=July 23, 2013}}
While the book introduces common Chinese characters, it does not teach pronunciation or grammar, and thus does not teach how to read or use the language, although it does use voice recordings for the users to mimic.{{cite web | title=Chineasy? Not | url=http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=11109 | author=Victor Mair | author-link=Victor Mair | work=Language Log |date=March 19, 2014 | accessdate=April 14, 2017}}
Chineasy's first app, Chineasy, launched in 2018, provides an accessible and engaging approach to learning Chinese through interactive flashcards and quizzes. Recognized as an Apple App Store Editor's Choice, the app achieved top rankings, reaching #2 in the UK and #6 in the US in the education category. Chineasy was also featured during the keynote address at Apple’s 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, highlighting its debut on the new Apple Watch App Store. In 2022, the app was a finalist in the Apple Design Awards for its emphasis on Delight & Fun.{{cite web |title=2022 winners and finalists - Apple Design Awards - Apple Developer |url=https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/2022/ |website=developer.apple.com |access-date=July 18, 2024}}
In 2024, Chineasy released the Talk Chineasy app.
Set of characters
Chineasy teaches sometimes traditional and sometimes simplified forms. Hsueh argued that traditional and simplified forms of Chinese still share a great number of characters, and in real life – just as in the case of British English and American English – you will come across both forms. Where they differ, she shows the other version as well.{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Siobhan |url= http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/13/how-chineasy-inventor-shaolan-hsueh-used-beautiful-design-to-decode-mandarin-and-cantonese-4544739/ |title= How Chineasy inventor ShaoLan Hsueh used beautiful design to decode Mandarin and Cantonese |publisher= Metro.co.uk |date= March 13, 2014}}
Reception
Chineasy has been widely featured in the press, including the Financial Times,{{cite news|last= Berwick |first=Isabel |url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/71f0838a-ffba-11e2-b990-00144feab7de.html |title=Learn Mandarin the Chineasy way |publisher=FT.com |date=August 9, 2013}} the Wall Street Journal,{{cite news|last=Wolfe |first=Alexandra |url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304250204579433662242458326 |title=A New Way to Learn Chinese |publisher=WSJ.com |date=March 14, 2014}} Time magazine,{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/22306/chineasy-a-new-way-to-learn-chinese-characters/|title=Chineasy: A New Way to Learn Chinese Characters|website=Time|access-date=2017-02-19}} and National Public Radio.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/03/11/288986143/these-cute-images-make-reading-chinese-characters-chineasy|title=These Cute Images Make Reading Chinese Characters 'Chineasy'|newspaper=NPR.org|access-date=2017-02-19|language=en}} It won Wallpaper’s 2014 Design Award.{{cite news|last=Wallpaper* Design Awards |url=http://www.wallpaper.com/design-awards/2014#7883 |title=Wallpaper* Design Awards Life Enhancer of the Year – Wallpaper* |publisher=Wallpaper.com |date=January 15, 2014 }} Hsueh's book uses illustrations and storytelling.{{Cite web|title = Chineasy illustrated characters designed to make learning Chinese easy|url = http://www.dezeen.com/2014/04/12/chineasy-illustrated-characters-learning-chinese-noma-bar/|website = Dezeen|accessdate = 2015-10-23}} Characters are illustrated by various illustrators including Noma Bar.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/mar/26/chineasy-learn-chinese-characters-book-design|title=Chineasy peasy: Noma Bar brings fun and colour to Chinese characters|last=Wainwright|first=Oliver|date=2014-03-26|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-10-05|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}
According to sinologist and linguist Victor H. Mair, "anyone who deceives him/herself into thinking that using Chineasy is a magic bullet for learning Chinese will simply be wasting his/her time." He wrote:
:"First of all, if you employ Ms. Hsueh’s methods, you won’t learn any real Chinese language. You won’t know the sound of a single Chinese word. You won’t even know the sound of a single Chinese character. You won’t learn anything about Chinese grammar or syntax. You won’t be able to speak or write a single Chinese sentence. If you doggedly persist, you might learn to recognize a hundred or so individual characters, but you wouldn’t know how to pronounce them or use them in any meaningful context.
:What is worse, you will be subjected to a lot of assertions that are wrong."Victor Mair: [https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=11109 Chineasy? Not] 19 March 2014, Language log, Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania.
References
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