I know some of you don’t like Anki as much (and then there are those who already liked Anki better, and have been emailing nonstop trying to get me to switch over since forever), but I hope you give it a fighting chance. First off, it’s a little different in how it tests you. Instead of choosing a correct answer, you have to come up with the right answer in your head, display the answer, and then tell it how well you actually knew it. If you’re honest with yourself, then this method is actually way better for long term retention. If you’re not honest, and you keep telling it you know things you don’t… well… I think you’ll know what will happen (so be honest!).

That being said, Anki is different. It has things that are (in my opinion) way better than Smart.fm, but it has some issues as well (Smart.fm did too, if you remember back). All in all, though, I think it’s a bit better, especially since I have more control over how I create study lists (I think all the study lists are better now because of this, but that’s for you to decide), I have more control over distribution (which means TextFugu members get exclusive access to a lot of the lists), and I know it’ll never disappear or go paid, because it’s an open source project (gotta love the open source!). So, although it was a hectic week, I think things are better, at least overall, because of it, and I hope you think so too (just give Anki a couple weeks if you aren’t sure about it yet, you’ll learn to love it!).

Still, there’s some things that need to be done, and that’ll happen over the next few weeks. Those things include:

• Getting those revisions done so the Anki lists fit better with lessons that originally had Smart.fm in mind.
• Creating more Anki lists for current / future lessons (more flexibility in deck creation means I can actually do a lot more in terms of giving you tools to help remember things that I couldn’t do before).
• Putting up something that will help you to find all the new lists without having to cycle through all the pages. Alluded to this in this tweet.

Anyhoo, thanks for all your patience – I know there’s a ton more to get done, but at least it’s back to where it was before Smart.fm decided to disappear. Definitely if you run into any Anki lists that don’t work or something, too, let me know. Email or Twitter are both fine. Thanks!

Anyways, here’s the plan for 2011, TextFugu-wise. I don’t really like super long term goals, but these are some general things I’m hoping to get done in 2011 for you. As always, I’m really excited for everything.

A Lot Of Kanji.

You deserve a lot more kanji. Now that I’ve spent 2010 writing and rewriting the kanji section, I think kanji has become something pretty remarkable. The problem is there isn’t much of it there right now. Now that things are pretty well solidified in terms of how kanji will work and integrate with the rest of the text, and now that I’ve had some practice writing them (*cough* several times), I’m thinking 2011 should be a pretty big year for kanji on Textfugu, which I know a lot of you have been asking and asking for (and I agree!).

Finish Up The “Core” Content

Now that kanji is catching up, and I’m able to reintegrate things a bit more properly, it’s time to finish up the core content. Three plus seasons were written in 2010, so it makes sense to finish the other three (planned) seasons in 2011. A lot of 2010 was spent learning how you use TextFugu (and 2011 will be too, I’m sure), but I think I have a pretty good idea of what is working and what can work better. I’m working on rewrites for seasons 2 & 3 now that will bring the entire “book” up to par with Season 1, and then flow right into Season 4, 5, and 6. All the rewrites have been tough, but a big reason why they have to happen is so Seasons 4, 5, and 6 can have a better flow and direction to them. I really want to make sure the later seasons stay more focused on “only teaching you things you already kind of know.” That’s one of the cool things about TextFugu – everything you learn you already sort of know (even though you probably don’t know it yet), which means you’re almost never learning something 100% from scratch. Straight-up memorization is just frustrating, and the rewrites will help a lot with this.

Figuring Out What Happens After Season 6

When I started TextFugu, I (guessed) that six seasons would make up the core lessons. The more I think about it, the less sure I am that six seasons will be enough (then again, I’ll have no idea until I get closer). Some possibilities, depending on where Season 6 takes us:

• If TextFugu isn’t able to teach everything I want it to teach by Season 6, I think the answer is obvious: Make a Season 7. If that isn’t enough… well, then it’s time for Season 8. I really doubt there could ever be more than 8 seasons, but you never know until you get there. Basically, the core lessons won’t be done until they’re done. I don’t want to rush it and smoosh everything into six seasons if six seasons isn’t enough.
• Write one-off lessons that don’t really go with the core lessons, and can be learned one at a time. This gives opportunity to look at things you don’t normally get to look at.
• Or just finish… nah, just kidding, I don’t think I’ll ever finish – there’s just too much to write about!

Anyways, just wanted to let you know I’m thinking about post-season-six, and either way, it’s more TextFugu (as in, I won’t just stop writing when six seasons are done, as some of you have asked).

Get Back To Bounties & Donate More $$$

I’ve neglected bounties for a little too long now, busy rewriting old content. I think there are around 400 (!!!!) bounties in my inbox, that need to be checked. Thank you all so much for continuing to submit them – I really appreciate it, and really need to get back into the habit of going through them every day, because they really are incredibly helpful (and help make the TextFugu experience better for your fellow TextFugu friends).

I’m also looking to up the amount given to charities when you choose to donate your bounty to charity. A good 70-80% choose to donate their bounties to charity already, and I’m hoping that upping charity bounties will encourage more people to donate rather than take the money for themselves. I’m also hoping to do more “personal” charities too – perhaps by donating money to Japanese classrooms (that need supplies, or something). It seems like it would be a good way to help others to learn Japanese, even though they aren’t using TextFugu (which is really the main goal, anyways!).

Focus On Community

I don’t visit the forum as much as I should, but every time I do, I’m like – “holy crap, you guys are awesome.” TextFugu members (not me) have built up a community all on their own, and that’s incredible. I’ve literally done almost nothing to help with that (I know… I feel bad), so I want to jump back in the community game and hopefully join the forum as a regular ol’ member, and just go with the flow, helping how I can. I think what (you) are doing is awesome – I don’t want to mess with it, just help it do whatever it wants to do. Also…

• Properly integrate the forums into the site (so you don’t have to create a new username). The forum uses bbPress, and in theory bbPress is becoming an actual plugin, which means I’ll be able to set something up that’s much smoother and simple, without losing the old forum (should be able to integrate old with new pretty well, I think).
• Put more “quizzes” and fun things like that on the forum – ways for people to both learn new things and interact with each other.
• Work more with TextFugu members who are putting on events, and such – A couple of you have been putting on TeamSpeak / Skype get-togethers. That’s so cool. I want to help.

Along with this (kind of) is also that I want to post on the TextFugu blog more, and also post on Twitter / Facebook more often (or really, just post on Facebook at all, in fact). I’m definitely not the best about letting anyone know that something has been updated, unless it’s fairly big. I need to at least start sending out status updates for medium things.

Happy 2011!

Anyways, I hope you all have a great 2011 – there’s so much potential when it comes to new years! Although it really is just any other day, there’s the opportunity to refocus and use that “New Year’s Inspiration” to kick start things in a positive direction.

So, what are your New Years goals this year, if you have them?

]]> http://www.textfugu.com/2010/12/heres-what-2011-looks-like/feed/ 5 http://www.textfugu.com/2010/11/so-how-about-those-new-lessons/ http://www.textfugu.com/2010/11/so-how-about-those-new-lessons/#comments Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:39:11 +0000 koichi http://www.textfugu.com/?p=6675

Hey all. I just wanted to send out a quick thank you for all the patience, as well as the requests for the “new stuff.” Totally understandable, you deserve it. Here’s the answer, which includes what’s been going on in my mind, as well as what’s going on in the next couple weeks. Next few weeks should be good for all of you wanting new things.

Updating The Old Stuff (But Why!??)

So, the reason (as many of you know already) why there haven’t been new things (except new kanji, there was) is because I’ve been going through the old stuff. Not only have I been changing all the old stuff over to the new “little victories” style, but I’ve also been rewriting a lot of things, making better study lists, creating new worksheets, and more with them. This is my own fault, I think, but the more new stuff I write, the better I get at this Japanese textbook writing thing (practice, you know?) so I end up wanting to bring everything up to the new “par” level. It’s dangerous, I know, and I need to fight that urge, for all your sakes :)

Also, lots of time and energy has been put into getting the new voice actor off the ground and training her (P.S. she’s awesome, and you’ll be hearing her voice a lot more on TextFugu… oh, forgot to mention I’m adding in audio for a lot of the old lessons right now, too), writing the new kanji narratives (which take a huge amount of time for me to write… good for you because the longer it takes me to do something, the easier it is for you to get through… bad for you because it takes me a long time to write), and other, random, distracting things as well.

As For The New Things…

So, I know it’s time for you to get some new things – especially if you’re a monthly member, this is pretty important. One cool thing that hopefully will alleviate this (if you’re monthly) is something that’s a nice little secret on TextFugu. If you’re monthly, you can upgrade to “Forever” anytime, and subtract whatever you’ve already paid from the “Forever” cost. So, if you’ve paid $60 in monthly, you can upgrade to Forever (normally $120) for another $60. The trick, though, is that you have to email me to make it happen (feel free to do so… and yes, if you’ve done 6 months on monthly, you can switch to forever for free. Once again, you just have to email me). I don’t think you’ll find something like this anywhere else. :)

The new things, though, are coming. I thought of a compromise I think (you’ll have to tell me what you think).

First, I still want to go through the old things… in fact, I’m pretty sure I need to. I have to reconnect new kanji with the core lessons. Right now the core lessons keep referring to old kanji, and that’s no good. Second, I have to add audio to all the old lessons, too. There’s one more thing (this is where the compromise comes in).

As I’ve been going through the old lessons, I’ve found some holes. I’ve also found some spots where certain grammar lessons would fit very nicely (but they aren’t there right now). So here’s the compromise… Over the next couple weeks, you’ll get a decent amount of new lessons… however, they’ll be in Seasons that already exist. I’ve got a few laid out for Season 1 and season 2, and more than a few laid out for season 3. That’ll help round out those seasons, make that Japanese language foundation better for when you hit Season 4, 5, and 6, and also give you new lessons. Whew. Oh, but I’ll also be going through the old lessons, working on those and shifting them over to the new style (and making them better, content-wise, too).

Then again, maybe you hate this idea. Tell me what you think! Seriously, I’m listening. The TextFugu community has shaped so much of TextFugu, and I’ve learned so much about how people learn from you guys as well!

P.S. Kanji too… Gotta wrap up 4-Stroke kanji, and get started on 5-Stroke kanji. That’s where kanji gets really fun, you know?

P.P.S. You can follow TextFugu on Twitter to get info on all the small updates happening

[Image Source]

Here’s the quick and skinny on it: Each kanji narrative is taking a lot longer than I thought to write (good thing and a bad thing, I think. The more time I can put in each one the better they’ll be when they’re finished! … but at the same time they take longer to write, and I know you’re all very patiently waiting!). The more I worked on Kanji2.0, the more ways I found to improve on stuff (which includes both simplifying things down to a prettier core as well as working on some new things too!). I definitely have a good layout now for things, and I should have a preview version of the first 6-7 chapters for members of TextFugu sometime later this week. At that point I’ll probably put the new content up in a separate drop-down so that you can still use “Legacy” Kanji 1.0 as well as the new one, depending on where you’re at. From there, I’ll just add new sections as I have them done, probably catching up to Kanji1.0 a week or two after the preview is up (I’m on a roll, now, I think, partly thanks to my new “office”).

I also wanted to thank everyone for the patience. You guys are all really awesome and patient! I really appreciate it, and it helps me to focus on what’s important (getting good content out to you all!). Thank you very much!

P.S. I just found an awesome t-shirt making company in Portland. That can only mean one thing… hmmm.

If everything goes okay over the next 15 minutes, there should be a moderate amount of change. This is going to set the groundwork for a lot of changes over the next week or two in terms of how the content is displayed (two words: “more simple”). A few new things include:

• Dashboard (what would you like to see in your dashboard?)
• Different menus for logged in people and not logged in people (and its simplified)
• New front page (will be doing tests on this, so expect to see small changes over the next few weeks).
• A Manifesto (still writing it, Sorry!)

If you notice anything broken in your particular browser, please shoot me an e-mail at koichi@textfugu.com. Looks good in Firefox / Chrome on my end, anyways, but you never know with that sneaky Internet Explorer.

Anyways, like I said, very early version of things, and laying the groundwork for some other changes I’ve wanted to make. Would love to hear your ideas, too, especially since things are in early stages!

One of the coolest things about writing your own textbook is the ability to make fun of other people’s textbooks… I’m not sure why more people didn’t take advantage of this. I don’t think my physics text in high school once took a jab at another physics text. Maybe they just didn’t have any sense of humor (or, they were just horribly boring to begin with).

Although I haven’t posted updates on the blog in a little while (make sure you follow TextFugu on Twitter if you want update alerts as they happen), there have been quite a few updates. One of them, the most recent, is the beginning of “conversation practice,” which basically sits you down with a conversation script to read and go through. This sort of text is pretty standard in any Japanese textbook. Heck, it’s even required, I’d say. The problem with these, though, is that they’re terribly boring… and they don’t do a good job explaining themselves, which essentially means you memorize the words and phrases as is (unless you have a teacher around to expand your horizons). Here’s what TextFugu is doing instead:

1. Be interesting with the story. End on cliff hangers (so you want to keep learning) and make you laugh.
2. Explain each and every line in a way that a) helps you learn the sentence, and b) helps you learn it in a way that you understand the underlying concept, so that you can use that concept to say other, similar things. It’s not very useful if you memorize conversations line by line, and still can’t use any of the grammar to be found within it.

Anyways, I can tell I’m going to enjoy writing these. If you want a sneak peak (or a full peak), you can take a look at the first part of the story: Mary Makes A Horrible New Friend.

Kanji Updates

Because I’m finding that adding kanji to lessons is taking a lot longer than it should (seriously, I don’t know why it takes me so long, despite a good typing speed & masterful knowledge of shortcut keys), I’m going to start trying to put up approximately five new kanji every day (and hopefully a little more when I can). This means there will always be one “in progress” kanji chapter. It won’t be done, but you’ll have access to the most recently added kanji. Just be warned that some small changes may happen between its “in progress” stage and its “finished” stage, but at least you’ll be able to study them, if you’re at that stage.

Also, it’s a good opportunity for people to find and submit bounties. Heck, I love that I have hundreds of editors going over everything.

So, pretty soon you’ll see an “in progress” kanji chapter pop up, and there should be smaller (but more frequent) kanji updates going up almost every day.

Anyways, stay classy San Diego.

Season 3 is finally starting to roll (after coming back and getting caught up on all the naggy little things). I just posted up the second lesson of Season 3 (which probably means there are a decent number of bounty opportunities available), and the third lesson is being worked on as we speak (as well as the next kanji chapter, which for some reason seem to take ridiculous amounts of time to finish). I’m also pretty excited for this most recent chapter as it’s the first one that integrates homework that involves using Lang-8. Utilizing the social tools available on the web, I think, is going to be one of the really neat things that sets TextFugu apart. Sure, you could go ahead and use Lang-8 on your own, and that’s wonderful, but using it in concert with TextFugu? Now that’s a beautiful (and educational) combination.

Anyways, I’m also putting together a customer survey so I can learn more about the things you find most important (so I can make sure my time is spent wisely for you), so please fill it out when you get it!

I think I might hate kanji more than all of you, if that’s possible. Yesterday and today were the first days “back to work” since the funeral, but I’ve gotten a good amount done probably thanks to Hawaii being so cold right now. Biggest thing that was done is the next kanji chapter, which consists of 30 new kanji (all three stroke kanji), some blank kanji practice sheets you can use, and a new list on Smart.fm. If you’ve already completed “The Things I Hate” in season 2, you’ll want to circle back and go through the second “real” kanji chapter, found here. If you haven’t gotten to this point yet, then don’t worry about it, because you’ll get to it when you get to it. More updates:

Two more biggish updates as well:

1. “Have You Reached The Dip Yet?” is a chapter all about “The Dip” and how you’ll probably experience it (so you know what to expect). This has been put in Season 2 in a spot that I consider to be particularly “dippy.”
2. “Season 2 Review” was added as well. Should have been added earlier, but better late than never.

Season 3 content will start coming in the next few days – with the funeral, the family things, etc., there have been plenty of delays, though I’m starting to get back into my writing stride here. Anyways, if you need to go back and study the kanji, do so now. If not, then look forward to it.

Oh, and the reason I think I hate kanji more than you is because dang… it’s tough to input all the information for the kanji chapters. Very tedious. So, hopefully you enjoy it more than I enjoy inputing the “data.” Just know, that no matter how crummy kanji study gets, it can always be worse. Hopefully, though, you end up enjoying it.