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The Bottom Line

EzPinYin software provides an excellent way to practice Mandarin Chinese pronunciation. The software allows you to build syllables by combining initials with finals and specifying one of the four Mandarin tones. Each element of the combination can be heard separately.

Unfortunately, the software seems to be unfinished. One of the major problems is the lack of an "exit" button. The only way to exit this software is to use CTL + ALT + DELETE.

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Pros

• Provides excellent pronunciation practice
• Illustrates the mechanics of pronunciation
• Free download

Cons

• Product seems to be unfinished
• No way to exit the program

Description

• Free software for Windows computers
• Sound files for pronunciation practice
• Illustrated descriptions of the mouth and tongue positions

Guide Review - EzPinYin Pronunciation Software for Windows

EzPinYin is a free Windows software package for Mandarin Chinese pronunciation practice.

The software screen is laid out in three main sections which correspond to the three elements of Chinese syllables. The initials are on the left, the finals are in the middle, and the tones are on the right.

Clicking on one of the initials does three things:

• a sound file is played
• a display box provides pronunciation information
• the choice of finals is reduced to match the possible combinations with the chosen initial.

The pronunciation information is a diagram and a description about how to position your tongue and mouth to produce the sound.

Combined with the sound file, this provides an excellent guide to proper Mandarin pronunciation.

All of the initials have a pronunciation guide, but only a few of the finals have this feature. It seems the software authors didn't get around to completing that section of the software.

And speaking of left-out features, one of the most glaring problems with EzPinYin is the lack of an "exit" button. There is no way to exit the program!

I had to use CTRL + ALT + DELETE to get out of the program. This combination of keys brings up the Windows Task Manager which allows you to shut down any program.

Despite this problem, EzPinYin is a very useful tool for practicing Mandarin pronunciation. Here's hoping the developers will put a bit more work into this product to realize its full potential.

Publisher's Site