If you applied for your account online, go to "Settings" and click "My trainchinese.com account details" to enter your details. If you registered from this program, your details will already be saved there. If you don't yet have an account, it's free to get one, and you can request it without leaving the program. Just click "Request a free account" from the "Settings" page.
You're ready to get some cards! Choose "Update cards" from the main menu and click the big button on that screen (or click here to be taken to that screen).
After the update is finished, a number of training cards will appear on your device. Click "List all my cards" on the main menu to see them, or "Begin training" to jump straight in.
If you've never logged in to trainchinese.com you'll recieve a random selection of cards based on the proficiency level you indicated when you created an account. If you have, then you will know about the extensive selection of "word lists", pre-built sets of Chinese words organised by subject matter, study course, difficulty and radical component. You may choose cards from these to add to your set manually, or configure your account to automatically use them in a preferred order (log in and check out "My bookmarked lists").
Let's start with the basics. Click "Begin training". You'll be taken to the Card screen.
Each training card presented displays three elements when fully shown: Chinese characters, the Pinyin pronunciation and an English translation. Almost all the cards feature an audio recording recorded by native speakers and a few examples to demonstrate typical use.
Once you've started training, you'll notice a number of buttons at the bottom of the screen. In order from left to right, these are:
The "I know" and "not sure" buttons represent the two actions that are counted to determine whether a card is learned in a given training mode (for more about training modes, see the next page). They also take you to the next card in your list, selected at random from cards you haven't seen in a while. You'll also notice a button marked "Card settings" in the top left of the card area. Click that to get a summary of your progress in each of the training modes, and switch on or off those you do or don't wish to concentrate on.
You may also learn cards using "timed mode". If you choose this, each card will be presented for a short period and you indicate whether you know it or not before the timer runs out. As under regular training conditions, your statistics are recorded and used to determine when to show the card again, and when to send it to sleep. You can change the timer period by going to "Settings" on the main menu. Note that the timer pauses if you look at the examples or click to edit card settings. You can also pause the timer by clicking on it. If you find yourself doing that often, perhaps it would be better to train normally and come back to the timed mode later!
Once you've learned a card in all of its four training modes, it will go to "sleep" - and you won't see it again for a while. Each time you learn it, it will sleep for longer, and eventually it will stop coming back altogether. To configure these sleeping periods, you can log in to trainchinese.com and go to your account settings.
You have two options if you don't want to see a card again. Choose "List all my cards" from the main menu (or click here to go there now), and choose from the buttons at the bottom:
You can check out your learning progress using the Statistics view. Choose "Statistics" from the main menu (or click here to be taken there now). A summary of your flashcard achievements in the last six days, six weeks and six months is presented.