Flashcard Woes

Rick31

举人
I am having two separate flashcard problems. First, like a previous poster, the free flashcards are a mess after I import. There are repeats and I am pretty sure some of the words are not a part of HSK. I installed the GB converter (tried it on the handheld and memory stick) and it is still the same. Any tips anyone!

The second problem is with the free text file for importing the Practical Audio-Visual flashcards. I am completely lost with how to turn text into flascards. I have read the manual, but I must be missing something?!? I just finished studying these books at ShiDa and I am bummed that I can't seem to get the on my Palm for review.

I am creating my own flashcards with no problem and have to say this is the best investment I have made in my Chinese studies. You guys rule, can't wait for 2.0!
 

Rick31

举人
50% fixed....

I decided to try the HSK flashcards one more time, and it finally worked...I don't know what had changed, I didn't do anything differently, but I'm glad its working! :D

I'm still clueless about adding the Practical Audio-Visual text flashcards, though :(
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Glad to hear you eventually got the HSK cards working.

For the Practical A-V Chinese cards, the conversion process is a little trickier - the best way to get those onto a Palm is by converting them to PalmDoc format first. Go to http://www.pierce.de/makedocw.html and download their free MakeDocW software. Run it, press the Browse button, select the text file you wish to convert, check the "Title" box and enter an easy-to-remember title for the file. Uncheck "Auto-Install" and press the Convert button to convert the file. After that, you can install / import the file just like you did with the HSK ones.
 

Rick31

举人
getting there...

Thanks for the instructions. I followed them to the letter. There is still a problem after import. Book one loads, but most of the words are missing and chapter headings become flashcards. I checked to make sure the text was as it was supposed to be per the instruction manual, it all seemed good.
Book2a allows in one chapter, most of which is missing or 20 cards show up under one. Book2b doesn't load at all. I'm not sure what the next step is. Thanks for your help!
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Are you sure you set the text encoding correctly? For the Practical A-V flashcards the encoding should actually be "UTF-8" and not "GB-2312" - I think the download page for them mentions that somewhere.
 

Rick31

举人
I tried again to make sure. I used emeditor to make sure it was saved in UTF-8. I have tried it with and without a BOM signature. In the "return method" field, I have tried "no change" and "windows."

I am only working with the PAV book 2 b now...just trying to focus on one and get it right. Interestingly, when I deleted the space between // and lesson 15, it read some of the information, but came in a mess. When I make no changes it reads nothing. I'm not sure what is going on :?
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Well this is baffling me as well - you might e-mail the lists' creator and see if he has any suggestions, or you could try using EmEditor to change the encoding to GB-2312 (and while you're at it, delete the blank lines between lists, the importer might be having some sort of issue with those).
 

Rick31

举人
I tried to change the coding and delete the lines, which also produced strange results. I even tried to delete all of the chapter headings and just imput each character line by line, but that didn't work either.
I think I'll just review my books (which is what I was planning to do b4 I bought pleco) and input the words I still have trouble with manually. This will be a better chance for me to review, anyway. The point is learning and I guess I don't need to get caught up in the technology too much. I have already input a lot of cards myself and the interface is really easy, so I will give up on importing. Thanks for your help!
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
OK. Sorry about that - the Import function really needs a serious overhaul, if nothing else there should be some sort of a "preview" screen so you can check that the encoding is being read correctly before you have to sit through a long import. Glad to hear you've got an interim solution you're happy with.
 

Rick31

举人
The preview screen would be great. There are so many steps to go through to see if the import worked...and then so many steps to go through to delete it if it didn't work. I am happy with adding them manually...I already started and its been a great review...I also don't need to add the characters/phrases I already know well, so I'm still a happy customer. :)
 
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