 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
| Original author(s) | Tom Bishop |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Tom Bishop and others |
| Initial release | 1997 (1997) |
| Stable release | 4.3.2 / July 23, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-07-23) |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | (version 4.x)Mac OS X,Windows,Windows Mobile; (version 3.x)Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Windows; (version 2.x) Mac OS classic, Windows,DOS, (version 1.x) Mac OS classic, DOS |
| Available in | English |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www |
Wenlin Software for Learning Chinese (Chinese:文林;pinyin:Wénlín;lit. 'Literature forest') is asoftware application designed by Tom Bishop, who is also president of the Wenlin Institute. It is based on his experience of the needs of learners of theChinese language, predominantlyMandarin. It contains a dictionary function, a corpus of Chinese texts, a function for reading and creating Chinese text files, and aflashcard function. By pointing the cursor at a Chinese character the software looks up an English word, and vice versa, working like a dictionary. The software recognizes files inUnicode,GB 2312,Big5, andHZ format.
The dictionary contains an electronic version of theABC Chinese–English Dictionary byJohn DeFrancis and theShuowen Jiezi seal character dictionary. The current version (4.3.2) contains more than 300,000 Chinese-English entries and over 60,000 English-Chinese entries.[1][2] It allows users to search for Chinese characters or words by inputting either Chinese characters or pinyin using a variety of input options, including handwriting recognition. Users can update existing entries and add new entries to the dictionary. The program can also be extended with additional data modules, such as theABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese.
Unlike most electronic Chinese dictionaries, characters in Wenlin are defined in terms of theCharacter Description Language (CDL), an XML specification for describing complex glyphs in East Asian language, developed by the Wenlin Institute.[3] This allows the program to define characters and character variants that are not defined in existing character sets such asUnicode. Version 4.3.2 of Wenlin covers more than 80,000 Chinese characters, including many rare characters.
The software allows the user to display lists of Chinese characters ordered bypinyin, stroke count, frequency, components, or Unicode. It also displays lists of words by pinyin, frequency, and serial number. English words can be displayed alphabetically, as well as the214 radicals of the Chinese language.
The paid version of the software comes with a small corpus of largely Classical Chinese texts. The software also allows users to open text files in a variety ofChinese character encodings.
Wenlin Software for Learning Chinese is developed and sold by the Wenlin Institute, aSocial Purpose Corporation for Chinese and English language education, with Tom Bishop as President. The current paid version of the software, called the DELUXE Edition (Chinese:文林完整版;pinyin:Wénlín Wánzhěngbǎn), is 4.3.2. Wenlin Institute also offers a free 4.2.1 version, called the Free Edition (Chinese:文林免費版;pinyin:Wénlín Miǎnfèibǎn).
