https://github.com/maxhumber/ponkan

Mandarin Chinese to Pinyin, IRT.
https://github.com/maxhumber/ponkan

cadi ios ios-app mvvm swift swiftui

Last synced: 15 days ago
JSON representation

Mandarin Chinese to Pinyin, IRT.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/maxhumber/ponkan
• Owner: maxhumber
• License: bsd-2-clause
• Created: 2022-06-27T15:27:06.000Z (over 2 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2022-08-08T15:11:34.000Z (over 2 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-05-02T05:00:56.065Z (8 months ago)
• Topics: cadi, ios, ios-app, mvvm, swift, swiftui
• Language: Swift
• Homepage:
• Size: 8.03 MB
• Stars: 7
• Watchers: 3
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: LICENSE

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

        


  



### About

Hi, I'm Max! I made Ponkan to help me study Mandarin. *Nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào Max! Wǒ zhìzuò “Ponkan” yīnwèi wǒ yào xuéxí zhōngwén.* (Obviously, I still have a long way to go!)

Ponkan is a speech-to-text app that converts Mandarin Chinese to [Pinyin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin), in real time† The app is intended for beginners who like (and need) immediate feedback while practising in order to correct and improve pronunciation. 

I use Ponkan to practise my Mandarin in the same way that I use [MonkeyType](https://monkeytype.com/) to improve my typing. 

### Download 

[![Ponkan Download Link](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/maxhumber/BreadBuddy/master/Marketing/Logos/AppStore.svg)](https://apps.apple.com/app/id1632470402)

### Screenshots



  

  

  



### Design

Ponkan is a modern SwiftUI/MVVM app. Whereas the *iOS Dev Tutorial* on [Transcribing Speech to Text](https://developer.apple.com/tutorials/app-dev-training/transcribing-speech-to-text) uses `DispatchQueue` + completion handlers, and sticks all of the logic directly onto the View, Ponkan leverages `async/await` and is organized according to [CADI](https://github.com/maxhumber/BreadBuddy#%EF%B8%8F-cadi).

### Core

Ponkan is powered by the [Speech](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/speech) and [AVFoundation](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation) APIs. The core Ponkan [`TranscriptionService`](https://github.com/maxhumber/Ponkan/blob/master/Ponkan/Core/Sources/Core/Services/Transcription/TranscriptionService.swift) wraps and converts the output from `SFSpeechRecognizer` to an `AsyncThrowingStream` of strings which allows a ViewModel to manage and orchestrate speech recognition tasks...

The main `transcribe` method on the service looks like this:

```swift 

...    

    public func transcribe() -> AsyncThrowingStream {

        AsyncThrowingStream { continuation in

            var task: SFSpeechRecognitionTask?

            let onTermination = { task?.cancel() }

            continuation.onTermination = { @Sendable _ in onTermination() }

            task = recognizer.recognitionTask(with: request) { result, error in

                if error != nil { continuation.finish(throwing: error) }

                if result?.isFinal == true { continuation.finish() }

                let string = result?.bestTranscription.formattedString ?? ""

                continuation.yield(string)

            }

        }

    }

...

```

Which enables the ViewModel to capture output like this:

```swift

import Core

@MainActor final class ViewModel: ObservableObject {

    @Published var listening = false

    @Published var text = ""

  

    private let service = TranscriptionService(language: .mandarin)

    private var task: Task?

  

    private func start() {

        listening = true

        task = Task(priority: .userInitiated) {

            do {

                try await service.start()

                for try await text in service.transcribe() {

                    self.text = text

                }

            } catch {

                stop()

            }

        }

    }

    

    private func stop() {

        listening = false 

        service.stop()

        task?.cancel()

        task = nil

    }

}

```

### 🍊 Name

I have a running joke with my partner that I'm not quite a Mandarin (speaker) yet, I'm still just a little clementine (in my abilities). Unfortunately, "Clementine" is already an app, so I had to settle for [ponkan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponkan), another type of small mandarin orange. While not my first choice, the name is growing on me!

### Disclaimer

† While the Speech API provided by Apple—and used in this app—is *pretty good*, it's not 100% perfect. So, if Ponkan isn't able to recognize 100% of your "100% perfect" pronunciation, you know who to blame! 😘