Chinese database for Lexi for Palm OS
-------------------------------------

This database is for the excellent "flash cards" application
Lexi (http://lexi.agrino.org/). It contains over 4200 chinese words and
expressions, and can be used to learn Pin Yin as well as Han Zi (chinese signs).
It is also regularly (though not very often ;-) updated with new lessons.

It is largely, but not exclusively inspired by the courses of the
Tang Ren chinese school (http://www.tangren.ch/) in Zurich, Switzerland

In order to see the chinese signs, you need a chinese add-on for the Palm
operating system able to recognize simplified characters.
I recommend CJKOS (http://www.dyts.com/en/cjkos.html).

With the Lexi database creator, you can also decompile the database and save
it as a CSV text file, which can be imported, for example, in Excel.

*************************************
Current Version: V1.333.2, 13.08.2006
*************************************

Versioning information:
----------------------

First number: Reflects major changes in the structure of the database.
Second number: Reflects the last lesson entered in the database.
Last number: Reflects minor changes, for example corrections to existing entries.

Lesson numbers:
--------------

I split the lessons in chapters to avoid having too many entries in one single
lesson. As a rule, one full lesson has always less than 40 entries.
For example, Lesson 225 means the 5th chapter of the lesson number 22.
This also means that some numbers are unused, for example there are
no lessons 226, 227, 228 or 229.

Special notation for tones:
--------------------------

In order to render the 4 tones used in Pin Yin, I use accentuations or
special signs. I prefer this way to the usual way of writing tones with
the digits 1 to 4.

The tones I use are:
Tone 1: -
Tone 2: ´
Tone 3: ~
Tone 4: `

When the accentuated letter exists in the Palm OS, I use it as is. When
the letter doesn't exist, I use the letter followed by the sign I want
to use to render the tone

For example: a-, á, ã, à, e-, é, e~, è, o-, ó, õ, ò, etc...

Sometimes the "Umlaut" (¨) is used in Pin Yin on the letter ü. This is also
rendered in conjunction with the desired tone. Example: ü~

Whitespaces:
-----------

There is no standard in Pin Yin as to how to link or not link words.
For example: Zho-ng guó rén ("chinese person") can sometimes be found
as Zho-ngguó rén, and could even be written as Zho-ngguórén.

However, in the present database, I always follow this simple rule: One
chinese sign is one word, and between each word I place a whitespace. The
only exception is for the special word "èr" which is used as an intonation
and doesn't have a specific meaning.
For example: "Where" = "Nãr", "Here" = "Zhèr"

Additional information:
----------------------

Each entry has an additional information field (button "More" in Lexi).
I use this field to sort the database, to search for words, etc...

The first line of the information field is the lesson and entry number,
for example "L225-011".
The second line is the Pin Yin word without any accentuation. This
allows to look for a word ("Find") even when you don't remember which
tone is used to accentuate the word you look for.

Finally, the first record of the database carries the database's version,
the database's date and the number of entries. The same information is also
entered in the database's properties. It is however handy to have it as
a part of the database itself, in case the entries are exported to a CSV file.

Installation information:
------------------------

Before installing a new version of this database, I recommend deleting the
old file ChineseLexi prior to installation. These files contain statistical
information about the quiz. If you simply replace the existing ChineseLexi with
the new version, compiling a new quiz takes a long time (about 20 minutes
on Sony Clié NR70V, about 5 minutes on PalmOne LifeDrive).
Deleting the file prior to installation speeds the process considerably
(compiling takes only a few seconds).

Contact information:
-------------------

For queries regarding Lexi or LexiCreator, please refer to http://lexi.agrino.org/
For queries regarding CJKOS, please refer to http://www.dyts.com/en/cjkos.html

For queries regarding this database, please contact me at laurent@galasoft.ch

This file was last reviewed on the 12th of September 2005.

History:
-------

V1.333.2, 13.08.2006:
Number of entries: 4227
Number of chapters: 165

V1.263.5, 12.09.2005:
Number of entries: 3217
Number of chapters: 119

V1.242.1, 12.06.2005:
Number of entries: 2755
Number of chapters: 94

V1.235.2, 06.06.2005:
Number of entries: 2651
Number of chapters: 91

V1.231.5, 28.05.2005:
Number of entries: 2507
Number of chapters: 87

V0.221.8, 17.05.2005:
First public release, number of entries: 2320.
Number of chapters: 81