Chinese Annotation Tools for Reading Practice
Chinese annotation tools can turn Chinese text into an easier-to-read format with Chinese characters, Pinyin, and English aligned together. Some tools also support other pronunciation systems, such as Zhuyin (Bopomofo) and Wade-Giles.
Seeing the English alongside the Chinese makes it easier to notice differences in word order and sentence structure, while added word spacing helps you see where Chinese words begin and end.
Resources Available: 8
3line.org lets you import ePub files (Simplified or Traditional Chinese) or paste Chinese text directly into the app. It converts the text to pinyin with your choice of English or Spanish.
You can also save the results as a PDF or paste in a website URL to convert an entire web page to "3 lines."
Available Platforms: iOS and Android Free App
Very simple paste and annotate tool that produces Chinese, pinyin, and English (or French).
Free Web-Based
Only allows Simplified characters. Annotates everything into one line, rather than the familiar 3.
Free Web-Based
Supports pinyin, Zhuyin, Wade-Giles, IPA and other transcription systems.
Chrome Extension
To annotate text, click Words in the main menu. Paste or type the Chinese text you want to annotate, then click “Look up All Chinese Words in a Text.” Then, select “Inline / popup annotation” from the second option field.
Free Web-Based
Choose from Pinyin, Zhuyin, Wade-Giles, Tongyong Pinyin, or Palladius, with or without spaces between words.
The "Add Vocabulary" option can include additional character definitions.
You can also create printer-friendly annotations or annotate entire web pages.
Free Web-Based
Pinyin Annotator is a Chrome extension that puts pinyin or Zhuyin directly above Chinese characters on webpages and video subtitles, including YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, and Bilibili.
Chrome Extension
This tool accepts both Simplified and Traditional characters. You can include or omit English.
Free Web-Based