----------------------- Page 1----------------------Feasibility report Web based Chinese tutoring Sigurur Samik Davidsen Hrafn Jhannesson Liang Sun

----------------------- Page 2----------------------Index Introduction.................................................................... ..................................................... 2 Problem......................................................................... ...................................................... 4 Objectives ..................................................................... ...................................................... 4 Methods......................................................................... ...................................................... 6 Feasibility analysis............................................................ .................................................. 7 Summary......................................................................... .................................................... 7 References...................................................................... ..................................................... 8 Feasibility Report 1 ----------------------- Page 3----------------------Introduction This report seeks to evaluate the overall importance and relevancy of a website that coherently presents the Chinese language to Icelanders. The websites target audie nce would be Icelanders planning trips to China or Icelanders simply interested in l earning the language. Given the combination of airfares constantly lowering and modern technology in communication the distance between the two countries has been reduced dramatical ly. 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 the re is an approximately 1.052.000.000 people that speak Chinese. Table one shows the most widely spoken languages in the world.

Language ing second ge speakers Chinese, 2.00.000 (Mandarin) Hindi .000.000 Language of northern India. English, spoken .000.000 105 other Spanish, spoken in .000.000 44 countries. Arabic, (in various N/A dialects) Official language in 26 countries. Russian, spoken in .000.000 31 countries. French, spoken in .000.000 54 countries.

ISO 639-2

Population total all countries first language speakers

Includ langua 1.05 487

chi/zho hin

874.000.000 366.000.000

eng spa/esp ara

341.000.000 322.200.000 to 358.000.000 280.000.000 (figures: UNHCR)

508 417

rus fra

167.000.000 77.000.000

277 128

Table 1, from http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/most_spoken_languages.htm, c reated in 1999 China offers one of the greatest markets in the world which scope is e.g. from s tudies, business, science to fashion. Considering the relationship between Iceland and China there has been a drastic change from 1972. Feasibility Report 2 ----------------------- Page 4----------------------China and Iceland established diplomatic relations on 8th December 1971. In May 1972, China assigned the first resident ambassador to Iceland. (Ministry of Forei gn 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 el ectrical 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/vo ruskipti.asp With this web site we will open new doors for those who want to get to know Chin ese 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 l anguage of commerce and instruction. The project is to teach people Chinese. So the study will be divided into lesson s, each lesson will teach Chinese characters, basic sentences, pronunciations, dialogs a nd it ends with exercises and a basic test. Feasibility Report 3 ----------------------- Page 5----------------------Problem It is not trouble-free to access material that teaches Icelanders Chinese. One o f few ways to learn Chinese in Iceland is to sign up for expensive and time costly course. This is for example available at Mmir-smenntun. The course that is available there has 18 hour s of lessons and is taught in a period of nine weeks. A course of that type most cert

ainly does not apply to everyone. Let us assume that a family is going for a vacation for t wo weeks in China, it is definitely not suitable for a family member to go on a nine week s 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 o f 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 an d place. Objectives The main aim of this project is to develop a web based system which introduces a nd teaches the Icelandic population Chinese and to encourage Icelanders to learn th e 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 projec t 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 assistanc e with a given problem. b) Audio files, video clips and still images, where users can watch the d ialogues in action and observe to pronunciations. This will support learning fl exibility

since the apprentice can repeat his practice. Audio and video files wi ll be used to teach how to pronounce and speak Chinese, and to simulate a real di alog. Feasibility Report 4 ----------------------- Page 6----------------------Still pictures and animations will be used to show how to write the C hinese characters. Figure one displays an example of how the web site might look like. Picture script Figure 1, from http://www.icelandic.hi.is/coursetest.php c) Categorization, the website will be broken down into a few categorize s such as pronunciation, vocabulary, possibly some grammar, and topics such as g etting around, shopping and other activities. II. Pronunciations will be based on what to emphasize on when speak ing Chinese. III. Vocabulary will include how to use the Chinese alphabet and wor d constructions. IV. s definitely wrong and what pitfalls the user can avoid. d) ns, shopping etc. Feasibility Report 5 ----------------------- Page 7----------------------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 exerci ses and General conversations, for example taking a taxi, asking for directio Grammar will be kept at minimum, perhaps we will include what i Audio files Java

practice his pronunciation he should be able to express himself in com mon 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 consid eration: 1. Web design techniques such as storyboarding. 2. Iterative development. We will be using the Evolutionary prototyping techn ique, see figure two for details. Develop ab stract e specification system NO Deliver system YE S Sy stem adequate? system Build prototype Use prototyp

Figure 2 from www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/resources/IanS/SE6/Slides/PPT/ch8.p pt 3. Programming, the web site will use static HTML files and Java scripts/appl ets and Flash for some functions to make the web pages dynamic and make the study interactive and interesting. Feasibility Report 6 ----------------------- Page 8----------------------Feasibility analysis Java scripts/applets are programs that can be executed by web browser. The state ments 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 use r may "play" them. Flash files occur most commonly in animated web pages and rich-medi

a 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 a t 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 developmen t and maintenance requires few staff members. Therefore this websites feasibility resid es in both the growing demand and relatively simple structure efforts. This project i s undeniably interesting from all points of view, it is highly interesting and cha llenging at the same time. We as a group are perfectly adequate to satisfy a project of this kind. Our grou p of four consists of programmers, website designers and last but not least our native Chi nese speaker. Feasibility Report 7 ----------------------- Page 9----------------------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: Longm an. 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 Mmir-smenntun ehf.(n.d).Tunguml - Knverska 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