Designing machines that can read handwriting like human beings has been an ambitious goal for more than half a century, driving talented researchers to explore diverse approaches. Obstacles have often been encountered that at first appeared insurmountable but were indeed overcome before long. Yet some open issues remain to be solved. As an indispensable branch, Chinese handwriting recognition has been termed as one of the most difficult Pattern Recognition tasks. Chinese handwriting recognition poses its own unique challenges, such as huge variations in strokes, diversity of writing styles, and a large set of confusable categories. With ever-increasing training data, researchers have pursued elaborate algorithms to discern characters from different categories and compensate for the sample variations within the same category. As a result, Chinese handwriting recognition has evolved substantially and amazing achievements can be seen. This book introduces integral algorithms used in Chinese handwriting recognition and the applications of Chinese handwriting recogniers. The first part of the book covers both widespread canonical algorithms to a reliable recognizer and newly developed scalable methods in Chinese handwriting recognition. The recognition of Chinese handwritten text is presented systematically, including instructive guidelines for collecting samples, novel recognition paradigms, distributed discriminative learning of appearance models and distributed estimation of contextual models for large categories, in addition to celebrated methods, e.g. Gradient features, MQDF and HMMs. In the second part of this book, endeavors are made to create a friendlier human-machine interface through application of Chinese handwriting recognition. Four scenarios are exemplified: grid-assisted input, shortest moving input, handwritten micro-blog, and instant handwriting messenger. All the while, the book moves from basic to more complex approaches, also providing a list for further reading with literature comments.

A trip to China is magical, especially when you can speak the language. So before you visit the Great Wall, take the first step here. This book with its new digital download is a complete and fun, hands-on language learning experience. Useful study tools, fun interactive computer games and easy-to-use English phonetics make learning Chinese effortless and enjoyable. And with a focus on practical words and phrases, you'll be able to order a meal, shop for those incredible bargains and find your way around town, with absolute ease. Spend just "10 minutes a day" with this program and you'll be speaking Chinese in no time

A trip to China is magical, especially when you can speak the language. So, before you visit the Great Wall or stroll the streets of Beijing and Shanghai, take the first step with CHINESE in 10 minutes a day with CD-ROM. This book and interactive CD-ROM combo is a complete, and fun, hands-on language learning experience. Useful study tools, fun interactive games and easy-to-use English phonetics make learning Chinese effortless and enjoyable. And with a focus on practical words and phrases, you'll be able to order a meal, shop for those incredible bargains and find your way around town, with absolute ease Spend just in 10 minutes a day with this program and you'll be speaking Chinese in no time

Next time someone asks if you know how to speak Chinese, you can say Wo zhidao (Waw jr-dow).*

With Chinese in Plain English, you can speak Chinese in no time Its easy-to-use pronunciation system and straightforward presentation of the basics of the language--with plenty of useful sentences--help you break the language barrier quickly and confidently. How? All the words and phrases in this book are written in Roman script--in plain English--in a form you can use immediately and in the right context. Instantly you'll know the basics of Chinese, from polite pleasantries to the latest technological jargon.

Start on the right foot and speak Chinese with ease:

Good morning Zaoshang hao (Zow-shahng how)

Thank you Xiexie (She-eh-she-eh)

Please call the doctor. Qing jiao yiwei yisheng. (Cheeng jee-ow ee-way ee-shuung)

Another round, please. Qing zai lai yi-ge. (Cheeng zigh lie ee-guh)

Is Beijing hot during the summertime? Beijing-de xiatian re ma? (Bay-jeeng-duh shee-ah-tee-in run mah)

I will be here for about two weeks. Wo meiyou yao baoguan-de dongxi. (Waw may-yoe yow bow-gwahn-duh doong-she)

*I know

Speak Chinese - instantly

Traveling to China but don't know Chinese? Taking Chinese at school but need to kick up your conversation skills? Don't worry This handy little phrasebook will have you speaking Chinese in no time.

Discover how to

• Get directions, shop, and eat out
• Talk numbers, dates, time, and money
• Chat about family and work
• Discuss sports and the weather
• Deal with problems and emergencies

Your one-stop guide to mastering the basics of Chinese

Can one book have all you need to communicate confidently in a new language? Yes--and that book is Chinese Verbs & Essentials of Grammar. It offers a solid foundation of major verbal and grammatical concepts of the language.

Each unit is devoted to a single topic, so you can find what you need and get concentrated instruction immediately. Concise yet thorough, the explanations are supported by numerous examples to help you master each concept. Topics range from tones to verb suffixes, from dictionaries to proverbs, from measure words to onomatopoeia, and include a list of common verbs organized by semantic area.

This book gives you:

• An excellent introduction to the basics of Chinese (if you are a beginner) or a quick, thorough refresher (if you already have experience with the language)
• Essential information on the Chinese language--its history, varieties, tonal features, character writing system, and lean grammatical structure
• Numerous examples presented in Chinese characters, Pinyin transcription, word-for-word and idiomatic translations

& INTERNATIONAL TRADE.

The essential Mandarin Chinese resource

This bestselling bilingual Chinese dictionary features over 14,000 word-for-word entries that cover essential vocabulary for study, business, and travel.

This comprehensive two-part resource is perfect for students learning Chinese or for Chinese speakers learning English.

The dictionary includes:

• 14,000 dictionary entries
• word-for-word equivalents for each entry in Chinese and English
• simplified Chinese characters and the internationally standard pinyin Romanization for all entries
• a character index to make finding Chinese entries easy