trainchinese is a website and set of free software that allows users - be they students or teachers - to create lists of Chinese words and phrases from a highly organised database with more than 20,000 entries, and to then train with them as multimedia flashcards either online or on mobile phones, the iPhone, iPod Touch and on desktop PCs and laptops (Windows, Mac and Linux are all supported). The flashcards feature unique audio recordings made by native speakers here in Beijing, and are presented at intelligent intervals that lengthen with each learning after being initially added to the user's set.

We think this could be really relevant to modern Mandarin teaching. Students of most ages will have mobile phones, and many more will take laptops or an iPod with them on a daily basis; with trainchinese they can take one set of flashcards with them on all those devices and train with them at any time, regardless of whether they have an internet connection. When they do have online access, they can "synchronise" with the website to get fresh cards from their account and back up what they've learned. Furthermore, their teachers can prepare word lists and share them with students, facilitating group study.

The website also features a bilingual dictionary.