Nciku is a Web site worth blogging about. It’s a popular site for native English speakers learning Mandarin and vice versa. I’m highlighting what I view as their excellent Web development efforts, public relations efforts, and a little bit of both.

Web development efforts:

  • A dictionary with Chinese character handwriting recognition
  • Abilities for users to add vocabulary words and sample conversations to the site as well as ask each other language-related questions
  • Personal vocabulary lists that the site automatically updates every time a user looks up a new word

Public relations efforts:

  • Participation in popular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter
  • An accurate, succinct, catchy core message: “More than a dictionary.”

A little bit of both:

  • A blog that people actually want to read daily
  • An on-site social network
  • Multiple levels of involvement for users to choose from (kind of like President Obama’s online election campaign headquarters)

How did I find out about Nciku? Someone on a Facebook group for my university’s Chinese-language students recommended it as a good online dictionary, specifically mentioning its hand-drawing tool. I’ve been using it as my primary Chinese-to-English dictionary ever since, and have recommended it to a few friends, who are happy with it as well. Nciku’s public relations efforts would be fruitless if it wasn’t a Web site that satisfied its users.

Image taken from Nciku.com without permission

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