Hi visitor! This is the Skritter newsletter. Look for it on the 15th of each month. In this issue: learning stats, site changes, a user interview, and a new challenge!
Monthly Stats: Hours spent: 2,887 // Items studied: 2,182,235 // Characters learned: 51,554 // Retention: 89.8%
Last Month's Work:
Coming Features:
Destroyed Bugs
We've been busy ironing out lots of bugs, including fixing the problems with inaccurate practice times and neutral tone ambiguity. And as requested, reading and definition prompts now contain more info.
Japanese Launches: 1/30/2010
We're on target for the planned Japanese launch. Learning Japanese? Let us know about any bug reports or feature requests so we can make the launch as good as possible.
More Japanese Vocabulary
As promised, we have uploaded more Japanese vocabulary. Yookoso 1 & 2 and JLPT lists 2, 3, and 4 are online now. JLPT 1, Adventures in Japanese, and Basic Kanji Books 1 and 2 are next on the list.
Writing Tablets
Using a writing tablet makes Skritter faster and more fun. Soon you will be able to buy a tablet with your Skritter subscription. Existing users who want tablets will be able to buy at bundled prices.
Crouching Audio Hidden Reading
For all writing prompts, you can now choose to turn off the reading and improve your aural and written comprehension while also reducing your dependence on pinyin/readings.
Referral Program
Many of you like to tell others about Skritter, and soon you and your friends will be rewarded for doing so. We will have more details about the reward specifics next month.
User Interview: Muir
Muir Manders
Muir is relatively new to the community, but since joining has been really investing himself in keeping us honest about our stroke order, traditional variants, and definitions. He's been on such a Skritter rampage we had to ask him a little more about his story.
"Why am I learning Chinese? I'm beginning to dread that question. The answer I use most often is "Oh, it's just a hobby", but that's like a heroin addict saying drugs are just a pastime. Lately I have been spending nearly all of my free time studying foreign languages: I take night classes, I do self-study, I meet with a language partner, I talk to people on Skype, and, obviously, I Skritter. Language learning is definitely more than a hobby to me, although it has not quite broken into my career yet.
Just the other day I was extremely content when I recognized that Mandarin will make a challenging pursuit for the rest of my life.
In the process of learning Chinese, I've realized why I like studying foreign languages: they're hard. A good foreign language like Mandarin is hard in almost every respect. It's difficult to read, write, and speak, and it simply takes a long time to gain proficiency, let alone "master" (if that's possible). Foreign languages necessitate rote memorization, strong intuition, and the ability to bend your mind to fit the new language. Just the other day I was extremely content when I recognized that Mandarin will make a challenging pursuit for the rest of my life, with no fear of running out of things to learn.
In general I don't consider myself very opinionated. But, when it comes to topics related to language learning, I can be quite truculent. For example, (and I know I'm preaching to the choir here) I believe strongly that learning to write Chinese characters is essential to learning Chinese as a whole. That is why I love Skritter so much. It makes a task that had become such a chore painless and even fun. I can just see my literacy growing every time I visit the progress page after a Skritter. I don't blame my girlfriend for getting jealous of all the time I spend with Skritter!"
If you would like to share your Chinese learning story, reply to this email and let us know!
The Monthly Challenge
Last month's challenge was a big success! We definitely underestimated everyone's resolve. We thought that perhaps 3-5 people would have the determination to practice regularly through the holidays, but a whole 43 people were able to practice every day for 30 days for 10 minutes or more. All those folks will be getting a T-shirt, so congrats to you dedicated horde of Chinese learners for minimizing the inevitable holiday learning damage.
This month's challenge will be different. Practice for as many days in a row between now and February 28th (45 days) for at least 10 minutes a day on Skritter to earn tickets. You'll get one ticket for each day in your longest chain. Your tickets will be entered in a raffle to win one of three hand-drawn Skritter avatars like the ones that we sport on the forums and blog. Scott draws them by hand using a reference picture and his skills of an artist.
We will be celebrating the accomplishment of the T-shirt winners in next month's newsletter, and the current challenge winners will be highlighted in the March newsletter. You don't have to be a paid member to compete in these challenges, you just have to show your true grit and determination! 加油！加油！
