Talk Dim Sum 6.5.6

Love dim sum but not sure what to order or how to order? This app is designed to assist you with exactly that. Simply bring up the app, find the dish you're interested in, and tap the speaker icon to hear the Chinese pronunciation (Cantonese or Mandarin) using the iOS text-to-speech feature.

I created this app after a visit to Hong Kong, where I embarked on an intense crash course to learn Cantonese in order to navigate the local food courts. Initially, the focus was solely on dim sum and Cantonese text-to-speech, as well as my favorite restaurants. However, based on user feedback and requests, as well as my own interests, the app has expanded to cover a wide range of Chinese and Chinese-adjacent cuisines, totaling over five hundred dishes. It also includes additional features such as Mandarin (in both traditional and simplified forms), search capabilities in English and Chinese, the ability to save favorites, AI camera recognition of dishes, speech-to-text pronunciation practice, basic phrases, and an extensive database of over five hundred restaurants in the US (please note that listing every restaurant worldwide proved unfeasible).

Here are some tips for optimal usage:

1. If the voice remains stuck in Cantonese or Mandarin even after switching tabs in the Practice screen, go to the Settings app, select Accessibility, then Spoken Content, and check the Chinese voice. If it's not one of the Siri voices, try selecting Siri in Mainland China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan.
2. If you do not hear the Chinese speech:
Check if the mute switch on your iPhone is turned on. Keep in mind that text-to-speech for a specific voice may require an internet connection upon initial use (the same applies to speech-to-text, which is accessed through the microphone practice button). Occasionally, a device may encounter difficulties with accessing the text-to-speech voice used for Accessibility in the Settings. In such cases, try turning your device off and then on again.
3. By tapping the speaker icon, you can listen to the Chinese pronunciation at half speed, which facilitates language learning. For more options, tap the microphone icon. This will bring up additional settings, including the ability to adjust playback speed, switch between Cantonese and Mandarin, and practice speaking. These speed and language settings are also accessible in the main Settings section of your device.

Please note that the app employs iOS text-to-speech functionality rather than recorded speech, resulting in a slightly unnatural sound. This is due to the fact that this functionality utters one character (i.e., one syllable) at a time, which may not match the typical pronunciation of an entire compound word or phrase (a similar effect can be observed when using Siri).

On the home screen, you'll find various categories of dishes. Tapping on each category will display the corresponding dishes. Alternatively, you can use the search button located at the top left of the screen to search for specific items (certain vocabulary items, such as "takeout," may not be categorized but can be found via search).

Talk Dim Sum was developed with:

• The dim sum icon from Stock Image Folio on Iconfinder.com.
• The technicat logo designed by Dakota Snow.
• Photos from numerous dim sum excursions.
• Regional map images from Wikipedia (Creative Commons License from Wikimedia).
• Swift open source packages: AlertToast, ImagePickerView, Qgrid, SQLite.swift, SwiftUIPager, and SwiftyJSON.