8. A computer storage medium having executable software code, the executable software code including instructions for a computer to perform steps of: selecting an implemented Chinese dialect from among a plurality of stored dialects; displaying a matrix of phonetic combinations that excludes phonetic combinations corresponding to syllables not present in the implemented Chinese dialect; selecting a phonetic combination from the display of the displayed phonetic combinations from the implemented Chinese dialect; displaying a first Chinese ideogram, the first Chinese ideogram being associated with the selected phonetic combination in the implemented Chinese dialect; displaying a user interface usable by a user to define a first roman alphabet equivalent of the selected phonetic combination wherein the first roman alphabet equivalent corresponds to a user's preferred pronunciation of the first Chinese ideogram and does not match the displayed phonetic combination; and associating the first roman alphabet equivalent with the first Chinese ideogram.
8. A computer storage medium having executable software code, the executable software code including instructions for a computer to perform steps of: selecting an implemented Chinese dialect from among a plurality of stored dialects; displaying a matrix of phonetic combinations that excludes phonetic combinations corresponding to syllables not present in the implemented Chinese dialect; selecting a phonetic combination from the display of the displayed phonetic combinations from the implemented Chinese dialect; displaying a first Chinese ideogram, the first Chinese ideogram being associated with the selected phonetic combination in the implemented Chinese dialect; displaying a user interface usable by a user to define a first roman alphabet equivalent of the selected phonetic combination wherein the first roman alphabet equivalent corresponds to a user's preferred pronunciation of the first Chinese ideogram and does not match the displayed phonetic combination; and associating the first roman alphabet equivalent with the first Chinese ideogram. 10. The computer storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the executable software code further includes instructions for performing steps of: identifying a second Chinese ideogram, the second Chinese ideogram being associated with the selected phonetic combination in the implemented Chinese dialect; and associating the first roman alphabet equivalent with the second Chinese ideogram.