“Bite-Sized Mandarin: Skip the Textbook, Speak the Language” flipbook: Do they like it?

Abstract

Cross-border mobility between higher learning institutions in Malaysia and China requires efficient linguistic preparation especially for the short-term academic and cultural-exchange programs. This innovation project named "Bite-Sized Mandarin: Skip the Textbook, Speak the Language", is a bilingual visual communication tool explicitly designed for non-native Mandarin speakers at the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Kelantan Branch, as well as the native speaker of Mandarin language when conversing with each other. Developed through an iterative design process that evolves from a physical booklet to PowerPoint slides, and ultimately into a digital flipbook, the innovation integrates expert-curated bilingual phrases with relevant visual graphics. Results demonstrate strong user satisfaction from three aspects namely ease of use, portability and engagement upon the introduction of the digital flipbook. This cost-effective and accessible resource serves to enhance mutual effective communication and academic collaboration.