English To Chinese Translator - Online Chinese to English Tools For Word Search and Translating.

Finding dictionaries and translators online to help decode non-English texts is easy with today’s internet access. When trying to find an online English to Chinese translator or Chinese to English translator, there are websites that can provide definitions, common word compounds, and pronunciations (with audio recordings) for easy use with both languages. Many also have forums in which other users help each other answer and ask questions about Chinese. Usually these sites accept searches in pinyin (the English romanization of the Chinese pronunciation), radicals (common, smaller parts that compose the characters), the Chinese character itself, and of course, the English meaning. A quick look in any online search engine leads to many websites that can help translate texts into English, but many Chinese scholars make use of these following websites:

One of the most useful online English-Chinese dictionaries is http://www.nciku.com/. This website has a special tool that allows a user to draw in the Chinese character they wish to look up. This is especially useful for those who want to look up a Chinese word they see but cannot read. The search bar allows inquiries of English definitions, Mandarin pinyin and pasting Chinese character(s). When a word is looked up, the user may also listen to a recording of how the word is said in Mandarin and also how to properly write the stroke orders in the character(s). This site also includes other tools for online use, as well as sentence examples and vocabulary lists.

For the online user who does not want to look up each character one at a time, http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=chardict may be an extremely helpful site. This page allows the user to paste in full sentences and the search results will include the comprehensive meaning of each word, the Mandarin pinyin, the Cantonese Yale and jyutping, the simplified character(s), and also further links to learn each individual characters. This is the detailed option for someone who wants to know exactly what the characters in a Chinese sentence can mean; the user can string together the meaning of the English translation by understanding a little character background information. An alternative to pasting in texts that need to be translated is http://translate.reference.com/, but this site should be used with caution because it can only give rough translations of the English or Chinese given phrases or sentences.

If a user is seeking a website that is oriented more towards the Cantonese language, http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/scripts/wordsearch.php would be of great use. This site can find words using the English meaning, the Chinese character, Mandarin pinyin and Cantonese jyutping. It is very useful in providing word compounds that the Chinese character is often spoken in, and also includes a Chinese word parser that translates pasted text into pinyin and jyutping.

All of these listed sites are useful tools for anyone who wants to translate Chinese texts, from individual characters to phrases to sentences, into English. Depending on the level of Chinese study, each site offers many tips and advice on helping students learn further. Joining forums that specialize in the Chinese language is a means for specific questions regarding phrases, grammar structure, and colloquial uses.