Thinking of flying over to China for vacation? Don’t speak Chinese? That’s ok! Nciku is an online English-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-English dictionary.

They have a mobile site (m.nciku.com) which is a simpler version of their main website Nciku.com.

What is nciku mobile?

nciku mobile is the mobile version of nciku.com, a free online Chinese-English dictionary. It uses the same extensive database of words, idioms and examples as the parent site, and new content is uploaded daily to help you realize your language learning goals. nciku mobile is optimized for devices with small screens and low-bandwidth internet connections, and focuses on presenting the most essential content in a streamlined and simplified format.

How do I use nciku mobile?

To use nciku mobile, simply enter m.nciku.com into your mobile phone’s web browser, enter your search term – which can be English, Chinese or Pinyin – into the search box, and press ’search’.

Why doesn’t nciku mobile display properly on my phone?

If you bought your phone outside China, your phone might not support Chinese characters. You might be able to install Chinese character support by downloading a patch from your manufacturer’s website, or by visiting a service center and asking them to help you install Chinese language support. If you live in an area with a large Chinese population, you might also be able to find a shop in your local Chinatown that will install Chinese character support on your phone for a small fee.

Apart from Chinese character support, some phone models also do not support all the IPA pronunciation symbols for English words. Unfortunately we aren’t aware of any way to install IPA support onto a mobile phone, but we think that mobile nciku will be useful even without full IPA support.

What is the difference between the English and Chinese versions of nciku mobile?

In addition to the site interface language, the Chinese version of nciku mobile does not provide pinyin for dictionary definitions or examples. If you want to see pinyin for dictionary definitions and examples, please use the English version.

Check it out by going to m.nciku.com from your BlackBerry Browser.

(via MobileMammoth)