Cheap Chinese Learning Touch and Talk Kit (LOYO pen and My First Words

Customer Ratings:

This "My First Words" set consists of eight books and an electronic pen designed to work together to help teach Mandarin Chinese to English speaking children and I suspect it would also be useful for teaching English to Mandarin speaking children. My company provided Mandarin classes to my family a few years ago but we have become somewhat rusty since our opportunities to speak it are limited in my area, so I was pleased to be offered this set to review.

The books in this set are very colorful, containing high quality photographs and images that children will enjoy, and most images have the Chinese character, pinyin (phonetic), and English words. The books are fairly thin, each having 18 pages of content, and include "Transportation and Vehicles", "Nature", "Animals", "Food", "Occupation", "Vegetables & Fruits", "My..." (family, parts of the body, clothing, and common items), and "Numbers, Colors & Shapes".

Learning how to use the pen is fairly easy and there are a lot of helpful videos on YouTube that cover all aspects of the features and functionality. The pen might be a little difficult for very young children to use on their own, but I suspect that most advanced 3-year olds and older will not have much trouble with minimal adult supervision.

Using the pen with "The First Words" books provides a much enhanced experience over using the books alone. The pen allows for interactive games and correct pronunciation of words in both Mandarin and in English. The speech is surprisingly clear and easy to understand from the built in speaker or when using earphones (not included).

The pen charges via the included USB cable when connected to the PC and this installed easily on my Windows 7 laptop. The pen can also be updated from the manufacture's web site with additional content as new compatible products are published.

This is a great set for children and even adults can pick up basic Mandarin words by reading through these with their kids.

Highly Recommended!

CFH

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My 5 year old son is taking Mandarin classes and loves this product. The concept is similar to the LeapFrog Tag products. When the pen is gently pointed to Chinese characters in the companion books, a lady's voice pronounces them in Mandarin. The English translation is written on the page. I like how this encourages children to associate sounds with written characters. I take it on the road so my son can use it in the car, at restaurants and other places we visit. It keeps him engaged and out of trouble! It is light, compact and easy to use. There is a manual and website with photos and videos so you won't have problems figuring out how to get the most out of it. It comes with a USB cable so it can plug into your computer to recharge and download audio files. Customer support is always available and helpful. Great technology and nicely presented with a storage case. I wish there was something like this when I was a kid.