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Feasibility report

Web based Chinese tutoring

Sigurður Samik Davidsen


Hrafn Jóhannesson
Liang Sun
Index
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 2
Problem ............................................................................................................................... 4
Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 4
Methods............................................................................................................................... 6
Feasibility analysis.............................................................................................................. 7
Summary............................................................................................................................. 7
References........................................................................................................................... 8

Feasibility Report 1
Introduction
This report seeks to evaluate the overall importance and relevancy of a website that
coherently presents the Chinese language to Icelanders. The website’s target audience
would be Icelanders planning trips to China or Icelanders simply interested in learning
the language.
Given the combination of airfares constantly lowering and modern technology in
communication the distance between the two countries has been reduced dramatically. As
a result we would like to make learning Chinese as accessible for Icelanders as possible.
It is important to recall that China has one of the oldest civilizations and there is an
approximately 1.052.000.000 people that speak Chinese. Table one shows the most
widely spoken languages in the world.
Language ISO 639-2 Population total all countries Including second
first language speakers language speakers
Chinese, chi/zho 874.000.000 1.052.00.000
(Mandarin)
Hindi hin 366.000.000 487.000.000
Language of
northern India.
English, spoken eng 341.000.000 508.000.000
105 other
Spanish, spoken in spa/esp 322.200.000 to 358.000.000 417.000.000
44 countries.
Arabic, (in various ara 280.000.000 N/A
dialects)
Official language (figures: UNHCR)
in 26 countries.
Russian, spoken in rus 167.000.000 277.000.000
31 countries.
French, spoken in fra 77.000.000 128.000.000
54 countries.

Table 1, from http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/most_spoken_languages.htm, created in 1999

China offers one of the greatest markets in the world which scope is e.g. from studies,
business, science to fashion.
Considering the relationship between Iceland and China there has been a drastic change
from 1972.

Feasibility Report 2
“China and Iceland established diplomatic relations on 8th December 1971. In May
1972, China assigned the first resident ambassador to Iceland.” (Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the People's Republic of China. (August 26, 2003). China and Iceland Retrieved
September 23, 2005, from
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zzjg/xos/gjlb/3306/t16952.htm)
To continue with further quotations from the same reference we see that there is a drastic
change in trade between the two countries, see table two for figures.
“According to statistics of Chinese customs, the total volume of trade between the two
countries in 2003 was US$68.3 million, an increase of 107.5% compared with 2002”.
“…The main exports from China to Iceland are coal, garments, textiles, footwear and
ships, and the main imports from Iceland are fish products and mechanical and electrical
products”.
Year Trades in US dollars
2002 32.920.000
2003 68.300.000
2004 73.290.000
2005 January - July 128.000.000
Table 2 from http://www.statice.is/?pageid=1260&src=/temp_en/utanrikisverslun/voruskipti.asp

With this web site we will open new doors for those who want to get to know Chinese
and explore the endless treasure that the Chinese can offer as well as providing Icelanders
opportunity to a great job market in all of the countries where Chinese is the language of
commerce and instruction.
The project is to teach people Chinese. So the study will be divided into lessons, each
lesson will teach Chinese characters, basic sentences, pronunciations, dialogs and it ends
with exercises and a basic test.

Feasibility Report 3
Problem
It is not trouble-free to access material that teaches Icelanders Chinese. One of few ways
to learn Chinese in Iceland is to sign up for expensive and time costly course. This is for
example available at Mímir-símenntun. The course that is available there has 18 hours of
lessons and is taught in a period of nine weeks. A course of that type most certainly does
not apply to everyone. Let us assume that a family is going for a vacation for two weeks
in China, it is definitely not suitable for a family member to go on a nine weeks course to
pickup the basics in Chinese.
Chinese is also taught in some colleges for example in the University of Iceland, it has
similar structure as the course mentioned above except it involves the history of China
and gives some insight about the culture.
In order to conquer our problem we will create a web based application, so every person
interested in studying Chinese can go to a web site and study via the Internet. This makes
the study flexible and the person interested in Chinese can study at any time and place.

Objectives
The main aim of this project is to develop a web based system which introduces and
teaches the Icelandic population Chinese and to encourage Icelanders to learn the
essential day to day dialogues. This website will entail that Icelanders should be capable
of interacting in Chinese with basic understanding of the language. In order to achieve
our aims the following objectives will be accomplished:

1. To conduct a research on web based projects that are similar to our project to get a
clear overview on our project.
2. To design a web site that will have features such as.
a) Instructions, the user can quickly refer to them if he needs assistance with a
given problem.
b) Audio files, video clips and still images, where users can watch the dialogues
in action and observe to pronunciations. This will support learning flexibility
since the apprentice can repeat his practice. Audio and video files will be used
to teach how to pronounce and speak Chinese, and to simulate a real dialog.

Feasibility Report 4
Still pictures and animations will be used to show how to write the Chinese
characters. Figure one displays an example of how the web site might look like.

Picture Audio files Java script

Figure 1, from http://www.icelandic.hi.is/coursetest.php

c) Categorization, the website will be broken down into a few categorizes such as
pronunciation, vocabulary, possibly some grammar, and topics such as getting
around, shopping and other activities.

II. Pronunciations will be based on what to emphasize on when speaking


Chinese.
III. Vocabulary will include how to use the Chinese alphabet and word
constructions.
IV. Grammar will be kept at minimum, perhaps we will include what is
definitely wrong and what pitfalls the user can avoid.

d) General conversations, for example taking a taxi, asking for directions,


shopping etc.
Feasibility Report 5
e) Exercises will be used for the user to see how adequate he has become after a
few lessons. When the user will be getting high scores from the exercises and
practice his pronunciation he should be able to express himself in common
every day situations

3. To find and use the right development tools for the implementation, tools such as
Java applets/scripts and HTML.
4. To find techniques to evaluate the results of our product.

Methods
In order to achieve our objectives the following actions will be taken to consideration:

1. Web design techniques such as storyboarding.


2. Iterative development. We will be using the Evolutionary prototyping technique,
see figure two for details.

Develop abstract Build prototype Use prototype


specification system system

NO

Deliver YES System


system adequate?

Figure 2 from www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/resources/IanS/SE6/Slides/PPT/ch8.ppt

3. Programming, the web site will use static HTML files and Java scripts/applets and
Flash for some functions to make the web pages dynamic and make the study
interactive and interesting.

Feasibility Report 6
Feasibility analysis
Java scripts/applets are programs that can be executed by web browser. The statements in
the programs can be made part of an HTML source file to enable some interactive
features such as mouse clicks and input to forms.
Flash is a graphics animation program, it can be viewed in a web browser, or user may
"play" them. Flash files occur most commonly in animated web pages and rich-media
web sites.

Summary
The importance and prospective benefits of this website are undeniably profound.
First there exists a definite lack of self teaching language websites directed at Icelanders.
Secondly there is a growing interaction between Iceland and China, appearing in both
business and tourism. Lastly the overall costs will be minimal as the development and
maintenance requires few staff members. Therefore this website’s feasibility resides in
both the growing demand and relatively simple structure efforts. This project is
undeniably interesting from all points of view, it is highly interesting and challenging at
the same time.
We as a group are perfectly adequate to satisfy a project of this kind. Our group of four
consists of programmers, website designers and last but not least our native Chinese
speaker.

Feasibility Report 7
References
Intercultural centre Akureyri. Interview with Anna available at,
http://nemar.unak.is/not/ha040025/Download.htm
Barr, P., Clegg, J. & Wallace, C. (1981). Advanced reading skills. London: Longman.
Dix, Finlay, Abowd, Beale. (2004). Human-Computer Interaction (3rd ed.). Essex:
Pearson.
Mark, Allen, Weiss. (2002). Data structures & Problem Solving using Java (2nd ed).
Boston: Addison Wesley.
Deitel, H.M., Deitel, P.J., Goldberg, A.B. (2004) Internet & World Wide Web How to
program (3rd ed.). Essex: Pearson

Mímir-símenntun ehf.(n.d).Tungumál - Kínverska I, Retrieved September 22, 2005


from
http://www.mimir.is/asp1/mynd_namskeid.asp?nid=102&l=1&f=8

Author N/A. (n.d). Retrieved September 22, 2005, from


http://www.chisa.edu.cn/chisa/article/20050113/20050113001374_1.xml

Statistics Iceland. (n.d.).Balance of trade, Retrieved September 22, 2005, from


http://www.statice.is/?pageid=1260&src=/temp_en/utanrikisverslun/voruskipti.asp

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China. (August 26 2004 ). China
and Iceland, Retrieved September 23, 2005, from
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zzjg/xos/gjlb/3306/t16952.htm

Icelandic Online. (n.d.).Retrieved September 23, 2005, from


http://www.icelandic.hi.is/coursetest.php

One World - Nations Online. (n.d.). Most widely spoken Languages in the World,
Retrieved September 22, 2005 from
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/most_spoken_languages.htm

Feasibility Report 8

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