As China’s role in the global economy continues to rise, so does the need to understand Chinese text. Even if you are not involved in international business, it helps when you have the right tools to understand foreign languages.

One of the more interesting tools in this regard is the Penpower Chinese Expert pen scanner. The mini ScaneEYE pen scanner is held just like a pen as you run it over the Chinese document that you would like to have translated. The device is connected to your computer with a standard USB cable.

The provided software includes three main user interfaces: Chinese-English Translation, Sentence Segmentation, and Phrase Database Management. Combined, the utility can recognize more than 13,000 traditional Chinese characters and 6,700 simplified Chinese characters. This provides not only for translation, but also correct pronunciation.

What’s great is that the software also serves as a learning tool, complete with quick quizzes. The Penpower Chinese Expert pen scanner is on sale for $194.95 and ships directly from Amazon Canada.