Joe McDevitt bought two study aids before leaving London to learn Chinese in Beijing - a soft-cover Chinese-English dictionary and an iPod touch.

The 27-year-old Briton says he has hardly cracked open the dictionary after the first week but uses digital language-learning applications about 50 times a day.

"Without it, I think I'd just be constantly frustrated and that would affect my progress, because I'd be disheartened," he said.

McDevitt is among a growing number of foreigners downloading applications from the Apple Store to improve their Chinese. To them, dictionary and flashcard programs like gFlashPro, Qingwen Chinese Dictionary and KTdict C-E have become indispensable.

The Londoner, who worked as a writer and editor for an Asian news website before coming to China, said his iPod touch has made his three months' study at Beijing Language and Culture University more productive.

"It's useful in the classroom if the teacher can't give an accurate translation of some of the Chinese terms," McDevitt says.

"I use the dictionary applications in such cases and sometimes can help the teacher explain them to the class."

He had looked into buying an electronic dictionary but found them to be expensive and not very user-friendly. He figured the multi-use iPod touch was a better value.

American Bill Curtis, who has lived in China for more than five years, agreed Apple Inc's digital devices offer a better value for money.

"The iPhone is expensive, but once that investment is made, the apps are dirt cheap," says the 65-year-old Tsinghua University instructor.

McDevitt's classmate Michael Carboy said the dictionaries are helpful to his everyday life, while the flashcard programs boost his academic performance.

"I'm of an age where we used flashcards and index cards in high school and college," said the 50-year-old American.

He uses his iPhone for about 25 percent of his character study, not including referencing dictionaries, he said.

(China Daily December 26, 2009)