Pleco Chinese Dictionary

Pleco Chinese Dictionary Software


Company Name:

About: Pleco Software was founded in May of 2000 by Michael Love. The company has been growing steadily
since the
Headquarters: New York, New York, United States.

 
  2024-01-05

Pleco Chinese Dictionary Overview


What is Pleco Chinese Dictionary? Pleco is a comprehensive Chinese learning app that includes an integrated dictionary, document reader, and flashcard system. It offers amazing dictionaries, powerful merged search, links and cross-references, gorgeous typography, and audio support. The app is PRC/HK/Taiwan-friendly and supports both traditional and simplified characters. It also includes OCR, fullscreen handwriting, stroke order diagrams, and user dictionaries. The app has no ads and offers excellent customer support.



Features


- Two free built-in dictionaries: CC-CEDICT and PLC dictionary

- More than two dozen other dictionaries available as free and paid add-ons

- Powerful merged search with support for wildcards and full-text search

- Links and cross-references for character components and lists of words

- Gorgeous typography with alternate Kai/Song/Xing-style Chinese fonts available as paid add-ons

- PRC/HK/Taiwan-friendly with support for traditional and simplified characters, Pinyin, Zhuyin, and Cantonese

- Audio support with Mandarin and Cantonese using iOS' built-in text-to-speech system

- Document Reader with support for text, HTML, DOC, DOCX, PDF, and EPUB files as paid add-ons

- OCR for looking up words by pointing the device's camera at them or tapping on them in a still image as a paid add-on

- Fullscreen handwriting with highly accurate and tolerant of stroke order mistakes as a paid add-on

- Flashcards with advanced memorization techniques like SRS and study modes including fill-in-the-blanks handwriting and tone drills as a paid add-on

- Stroke Order Diagrams with animations showing how to draw each character; 500 characters for free and 28,000 in paid version

- User dictionaries for creating new dictionary entries on the device as new words are encountered as a paid add-on

- No ads

- Excellent customer support and active user community

- Paid add-ons can be transferred to other devices linked to the iTunes account



Official Screenshots


         


Product Details and Description of



Pleco is the ultimate Chinese learning companion: an integrated dictionary / document reader / flashcard system with fullscreen handwriting input and live OCR, from a company that's been making the world's best mobile Chinese learning apps since 2001. Major features: ($ = paid add-on) • Amazing dictionaries. We offer two free built-in dictionaries: the popular open-source CC-CEDICT, with over 110,000 frequently-updated entries, and our own PLC dictionary, with 125,000 entries, parts of speech, and over 25,000 example sentences (with Pinyin). More than two dozen other dictionaries are available as free and paid ($) add-ons, including licensed titles from well-known publishers like Oxford, Longman, FLTRP, Tuttle, SLPH, and Commercial Press. • Powerful merged search: look up words by Chinese characters, Pinyin (spaces / tones optional), or English, with support for wildcards and full-text search. And no need to tediously flip between all of those dictionaries to find a word - just type in your search term and instantly get a combined, frequency-sorted result list. • Links and cross-references: easily look up character components, break down words into individual characters, look up lists of words containing a particular character, and search across all dictionaries for example sentences containing a word. • Gorgeous typography: see it for yourself in our screenshots - we think we're one of the best-looking Chinese dictionaries around. Alternate Kai/Song/Xing-style Chinese fonts are also available ($). • PRC/HK/Taiwan-friendly: every part of Pleco supports both traditional and simplified, headword readings can be shown in Pinyin and Zhuyin, and some dictionaries even support Cantonese. (note: stroke order diagrams do support traditional characters, but use PRC order) • Audio: Hear Mandarin and Cantonese for words and example sentences using iOS' free built-in text-to-speech system. We also offer add-ons ($) with native-speaker Mandarin recordings and higher-quality Mandarin TTS. • Document Reader: bring in text from the clipboard and tap on words in it to instantly look them up. Upgrade ($) adds support for tap-lookups in text, HTML, DOC, DOCX, PDF, and EPUB files. We also offer graded readings ($). • OCR: look up words simply by pointing your device's camera at them, or by tapping on them in a still image. ($) • Fullscreen handwriting: use your device's whole screen instead of just a little box. Extremely accurate and highly tolerant of stroke order mistakes. (enhanced $) • Flashcards: create a card from any dictionary entry with a single button tap, import premade word lists, use advanced memorization techniques like SRS, and study in a variety of modes including fill-in-the-blanks handwriting and tone drills. ($) • Stroke Order Diagrams: animations showing you how to draw each character; 500 characters for free, 28,000 in paid ($) version. • User dictionaries: create new dictionary entries right on your device as you encounter new words. ($) • No ads. We also offer famously excellent customer support and an active user community at http://www.plecoforums.com. And we're constantly working to make our products better; our sales and customer base have been growing for two decades across 4 different platforms. You can be confident that we'll still be fixing bugs and adding features for years to come. Paid add-ons can be transferred to other devices that link to your iTunes account just like any other paid iTunes content; simply install our free app, open up the "Add-ons" screen, and tap on the "Restore Purchases" button to activate your purchase on each device. Please contact us at [email protected], via the form at http://www.pleco.com/contact.html, or using the in-app "Contact Support" command with any questions - we'll be delighted to hear from you.




Top Reviews

By JimothyTwoTeeth, MD

Best app I’ve ever purchased

I bought the Basic Add-on Bundle about 3 years ago. I bought it while in China purely for the OCR reader, and didn’t give much thought to the other add-one. Since then, I’ve continued learning Mandarin in my free time and I’ve come to realize one thing; when I’m studying, this app is absolutely irreplaceable. Even when I’m studying using a completely different resource, I always have this app pulled up. Even when I’m not studying, I find myself pulling up the app at least a couple times per day. I have got so much use out of it that I have no doubt in mind that it was money well spent. I’ve used it for hours upon hours, for years, and for what? For a ONE TIME payment of like $30 or w/e? Wish I didn’t buy it just so I could go buy it again lol (jk, to be clear) I could go on and on about the numerous sweet functions, but I don’t want to write a novel. I do have to give the flash card add-on a special shout out, though. It’s much better than ANY dedicated flash card app (yes, including anki!) If you’re even remotely considering buying the full version of this, DO IT. I 100% guarantee you won’t regret it.

By Frederick Twigg

Top notch dictionary for the aspiring Chinese learner

This dictionary is easily the best dictionary to have in hand when studying Chinese. I used the basic free version for 2 years as my constant reference for both summers in spent traveling in China and for language studies while on the bus, in a coffee shop, or listening to podcasts in Chinese. After adding the basic paid features package, I get even more out of Pleco. Particularly the document reader and flash card system are my most frequently used add-ons. It's great to just snap a picture and have instant access to just tap on a character and see the translation. Great for help with restaurant menus, short articles, and signage. It made 上海博物館 much more enjoyable. Finally, I'll add that I love that the Pleco team is constantly improving their app. The singular complaint that had sent me to other sources in the past was the lack of parts of speech, and the occasional lack of example sentences for some less common words; making it hard to understand without the sufficient context. With the newest update of the freely provided dictionary, parts of speech are being added with further example sentences! Pleco is easily the first choice of Chinese -English dictionary for any user at any price point. About me: Intermediate Chinese Level Primarily a self-studied learner with the great help of podcasts and apps like Pleco! Pleco user for more than 3 years (I think?)

By Codyfox117

Best Chinese Dictionary App

I have searched through dozens of apps to aid me in learning Mandarin. I have ended up using this app more than any other. In my opinion, it is the most comprehensive and well designed dictionary app I’ve been able to find. Three of my favorite features are, 1: The multiple explanations and definitions for each word, 2: The clipboard reader, where I can easily look up words in a long paragraph, 3: The add-on for character stroke order. Keep it up Pleco! Note to developer: For the most part I really like the design of the app. However, one thought I’d like to mention is that sometimes all the definitions for a word start to run together. Myself and others have noted that it could be helpful to have a graphical design hierarchy that makes it easier to differentiate the various definitions, especially when there are many. Thanks for the app!





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