Chinese Toolbox FREE helps you learn Chinese while you read online or digitized Chinese texts that are interesting to you. Chinese Toolbox FREE is the freeware operating mode of Chinese Toolbox. After a 15-day trial period, the program will switch to FREE mode. The full version (or mode), Chinese Toolbox READER, provides more complete functionality, especially related to Chinese words, phrases and idioms. Chinese Toolbox FREE is not merely a Chinese dictionary, or a Chinese reading assistant. It is software to help you really learn to read Chinese, and in learning to read Chinese, you are learning the language itself. The more and better you can read, the better you'll be able to communicate verbally with others. Features are built in to the program to help you do more reading and less translating. No other program helps you to rely less on built-in dictionaries through Marking for Unassisted Reading while still providing full access to dictionaries. Chinese Toolbox FREE features include: (1) a unique system of learning promoting true reading by helping you to reduce dictionary dependence; (2) a fully customizable character dictionary; (3) automatic look up of definitions and pronunciations showing both pinyin and zhuyin (Mandarin Phonetic Symbols, Bopomofo); (4) multi-field search; (5) a system of smart character review; (6) character time stamping; (7) and many other features. As you read with Chinese Toolbox FREE, the system allows you to effortlessly mark characters you already know. Those characters are marked as Known (or recognizable), and they appear in the reader differently from other characters to distinguish them from those you don't recognize. In other words, they are marked for unassisted reading. The program doesn't automatically show the meanings of characters marked as known. If you happen to forget the meaning or pronunciation of a known character, simply press the spacebar again to show the dictionary entry.