Reading Tools

To make best use of this wiki as a modern learner of Chinese, there are several tools you will need.

Modern Extensible Browser

Use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome (both available for PC and Mac), because not only are they the best modern browsers, but they also have the best choices for powerful extensions (also called plugins).

Browser Extensions: Pinyin Popups

Add popups to the Chinese characters on any web page with the following two extensions.

Zhongwen (for Chrome)

Setup is super easy; just install Zhongwen (click on the link below while using Chrome), and a button will appear at the top right of your Chrome browser window.

Zhongwen

Click to turn on; click again to turn off. It's as simple as that!

Also, if you ever mouse over a word (on any website) that is a grammar keyword on the Chinese Grammar Wiki, you'll see a note to that effect, and can hit "G" to open the relevant page on the wiki. Cool!

Chinese Perapera-kun (for Firefox, Chrome)

Installing Chinese Perapera-kun for Firefox is now just as easy as installing a Chrome extension.

Perapera Chinese Popup Dictionary

From now on, you will see a little yellow star in the bottom right corner of your browser window. Click it to turn on the Chinese dictionary. Then just mouse over any words you see in your browser, and a popup will give you the pinyin and meaning. Very useful!

Also available for Chrome as well:

Perapera Chinese Popup Dictionary

Browser Extension: Switching Character Sets

The Chinese Grammar Wiki uses simplified characters exclusively. Traditional characters are supported through external extensions.

新同文堂 New Tong Wen Tang (for Chrome)

Convert simplified characters to traditional in Google Chrome with this extension:

新同文堂 New Tong Wen Tang

新同文堂 New Tong Wen Tang (for Firefox)

Convert simplified characters to traditional in Firefox with this extension:

新同文堂 New Tong Wen Tang