Hanzi Lamp: an intelligent guide interface for Chinese character learning

Abstract

In recent years, an increasing number of people want to understand Chinese culture and Hanzi (Chinese characters) is a key to that. Learning Chinese characters as a second language can be quite challenging. What confuses learners is not only the meaning of Hanzi, but also the complicated writing rules since they are very different from the alphabetic ways English uses. Although many mobile applications and online learning systems provide Hanzi teaching interfaces, they are restricted to the two-dimensional screens and thus they offer little flexibility for practicing while learning. In this paper, we propose Hanzi Lamp, an intelligent guide interface which allows users to practice writing under real-time and adaptive projected guidance. Information captured by sensors has been utilized to perceive learners' behaviors and make appropriate response. We explore how we can enhance Chinese characters learning by improving the system's understanding of physical learning environment.