After talking with that local mom of a two-year-old, I decided to add more Chinese/bilingual books with CD/VCD/DVD into the bilingual bookstore (see Chinese/Bilingual books with CD/VCD/DVD will be added), so that children and parents can listen to the story narrated in clear Chinese via CDs, or watch the videos, which is often accompanied with animated cartoons, via TV or computer.

One day, when I searched online for Chinese/bilingual books with CD/VCD/DVD, I run into a video showing a Chinese little boy using a specially designed electronic pointer pen to touch pages in a colorful children’s picture book.

When the electronic pointer pen touches the pages, either images or texts, the coresponding Chinese words, phrases, paragraphs, or dialogues are read loudly by the pen in clear mandarin. Sometimes, a song with lovely music comes out of the pen when the pen touches an image. It’s a digit product that combines functions of touch-reading, translation, playing-over and game.

The electronic pointer pen, referred as “E-reading pen”, looks similar to a LEAPFROG’s TAG Reader, which is a pen-shaped book reader onto which audio from specific books can be downloaded. The difference, intead of reading English, E-pen reads Chinese when scanned across compatible paper books.

Using the latest recognition technology to recognize words, E-reading pen is an easy and handy tool for children and parents who want to learn Chinese as a second language, or anyone who wants to improve his vocabulary or read more than text books in Chinese and/or English.

Users can use E-reading pen independently to learn Chinese pronunciation and intonations, recognize individual characters and later develop a sense of full reading. They can take the pen and books anywhere with them and learn on the go.

E-reading pen offers an alternative to either traditional audiobooks (e.g. CD, VCD, DVD, MP3 and etc) or live person reading aloud. It helps children learn Chinese on an interactive level, making for a more interesting and enjoyable learning experience.

After reviewing so many benefits of the electronic pointer pen, I decided to add E-reading pen and its compatible books into the bookstore, as a complimentary to traditional audiobooks (e.g. CD, VCD, DVD, MP3 and etc) and traditional paper books.

There are more than ten companies in China manufacturing E-reading pens and compatible books with various brands and slightly different names, such as Easy-Read Pen or E-Teacher Talking Pen. In spite of the variance in the designing and outlook, these E-reading pens have similar functions using similar technologies.

A Canadian company Bilingual Me, Inc. aslo developed its own product line: LOYO Pen and its compatible bilingual audiobooks, dedicated to helping native English speakers to learn Mandarin Chinese and to talk in Mandarin Chinese.

Here is a demo of Easy-Read Pen, one product of E-reading pens. Please enable your computer audio and increase the speaker volume so that you can hear the sound track.

Tags: Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, E-reading pen & audiobooks, teaching young children chinese | Bilingual Baby, From Lina, Third Year | Lina | January 11, 2011 11:53 am | Comments (3)