TextFugu Blog

Most of us will be in Japan all of February (plus some), so I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know how support will go during that month as well as update you on the next version + edition of TextFugu.

Let’s start with the next TextFugu Version / Edition. They’re actually two separate things.

Next Version

The next version of TextFugu will be an updated design. I’m making things a bit cleaner and easier to read. I’ll also be including a few new features that you’ve been asking for. Here’s a couple of spoilers:

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Cleaner for reading (better on mobile too)

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Viewing history (so you can remember where you are)

I think there will be one or two other things as well, including a non-Paypal payment option as well as things like quizzes to make sure you understand what you just read about. This is actually pretty close to being finished, though I want to wait for certain content changes before putting it up, since the content updates will make more sense with the updated design.

Next Edition (v3)

This is the content side of things. It is also where things get more complicated. With each edition I learn a lot about how you use TextFugu. I figure out the things you like and don’t like and then keep them in the back of my mind. Eventually, there gets to be so many of them that I decide it’s time to start revisions. Usually it happens more often than everyone likes (sorry!).

I’ve actually gotten a decent way into this revision but would like to get a bit more before posting it up. Most likely, similar to last time, I’ll have both the old version and the new version up at the same time for a while. This time it’s especially important because of the number of changes there will be. Don’t worry, the lessons will be fairly similar so you can still go through the current ones quite nicely (I wouldn’t recommend waiting for me, basically), but the way in which the lessons will be displayed and formatted will be quite different. The planned changes are:

1. A lot more focus on practice: “Practice” pages were added in the previous edition. Now I want to make them a lot better, as in make them approximately half of each lesson. This sometimes means shortening lessons (and having more of them). It also means adding more practice. One thing that self-learners need to be able to do is practice, and so I want to focus on that quite a bit more with each lesson so that I’m not just telling you what to learn and when.
2. Revising kanji order: I’ve learned a ton about kanji learning/teaching by working on WaniKani. It is all kanji after all. I want to wrap back around and apply a lot of the knowledge from that over here. I want to make it so the kanji you learn on TextFugu correlates with each lesson a lot better (i.e. you’ll be using the kanji you learn right away). Also, I want the kanji on TextFugu to work with Wanikani more effectively so that if you’re using both they’ll compliment each other better. And, lastly, I’ll be moving over a lot of the mnemonics, definitions, and audio from WaniKani over to TextFugu. Right now there’s a lot of differences. I want you to be able to study both of them together or separately without as much pain as there is right now.
3. Self-Study section: This was supposed to happen with the last revision, but other things got in the way. This section will actually be happening with this update. It’s nice and all to be able to go through lessons, but it’s better to be able to apply it. More on this in the coming months, but I’m planning to gather lots of “study material” while in Japan in February. Also looking to make some connections and talk to people who could be able to assist with this and help to make it happen.
4. Anki: Anki is up to 2.0, so I’ll be updating the decks so they work better with 2.0. They work the way they are, but they could work better. Vocab items will be getting new / better audio (the audio used on WaniKani).
5. Regular Revisions To Lessons: Of course, there will be regular revisions to the lessons as well. I keep track of what is giving people trouble the most, so I’ll be looking at those lessons and updating them.

I’m sure there are other things as well, but those are the big ones. So, when is this all happening? There’s good news and there’s bad news. First the bad news: Since I’ll be in Japan all of February, it’s definitely not going to happen before March. Here’s the good news: When I get back in March, TextFugu will get my full attention. The last couple months has been WaniKani, and I’m actually pretty close to “finishing” up on the main content for it which means I can circle back to TextFugu. I’ll still be working on it, but it will be more like 70% TextFugu and 30% WaniKani instead of the other way around.

So, you should start to see some of these updates in March. I think it’s going to be much closer to my vision on how I wanted TextFugu to be and I think it will become a better resource for self learners because of it. Thank you all for your patience, too. I know I have a lot on my plate and that gets frustrating for people who want updates, but hopefully March and beyond will be a great year for you :)

P.S. A Note On Support While Gone

While we’re in Japan support should be running pretty normally, though possibly on a different time zone. We have just recently put all our support into one box, though, which means if you email hello@textfugu.com four or five eyes will have the chance to see it instead of just one. You can still of course email me directly at koichi@textfugu.com. Anyways, support shouldn’t change much. We’ll be available to fix things even when traveling, just email the “hello@textfugu.com” email for the fastest response!

(Source: blog.textfugu.com)

Happy Friday, TextFugu-ers! Season 8 is here, and it’s (amazingly) all about time. Here’s what happened:

First, I wanted to make a chapter about time. Then, I realized how large the subject was, so I thought… “okay, I’ll do a few chapters on it.” Then, I realized how large the subject was, so I thought… “okay, this is pretty much an entire season worth of lessons here.”

The thing is, most Japanese students spend years not feeling comfortable with the basics of time. Why? Probably because they don’t spend a lot of time on it and they take it all at once. I think I’ve figured out a nice way to break it down so that each chapter helps with the previous one, meaning the more you learn the more solid your previous knowledge will get. I didn’t want to do all this in a couple of chapters only to have you struggling with time for years (no pun intended) to come. Spend some time on it, it’s important. Time’s one of those things we use all the… time?

Season 8 is 11 chapters long and covers all the basics of time. It also has a practice page for each lesson, kanji, radicals, and vocab. At the very end you start out with your first work story. The idea of these is to begin transition you into the “real world.” Most chapters from here on out will end with a story you read that uses the grammar you learned that chapter. It will contain some things you know and some things you won’t know. This is to help push you towards being able to do the research on your own in order to learn certain things. I don’t want you to be helpless when I shove you mercilessly out of the nest, so to speak.

There is one problem, though! :(

The audio got corrupted and I can’t save it. So, besides some of the vocab words (which I already had audio for), the audio isn’t ready yet. I’m getting it redone next week. Also, the work-story at the end of Season 8 is still a work in progress. It’s going to happen after the audio is recorded for the regular lessons and practice (because Emi is going to record the story as well, and I need her to do the other audio first!). So, I’m sorry about the delay on the audio and the season end boss. You should be seeing both of those things next week, though.

That’s all the news for now. Hope you all have a nice… Day? Week? Year? Second? Minute?

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Photo by LOLren

I’m getting to the point with Season 8 where I can estimate a “release” date. I think I’ll be done with it this week, and then next week I’ll be able to add the kanji and such being used for the S8 lessons as well as contract and add audio for the practice sentences and examples. So, Season 8 is looking like a October 26 thing, give or take a few days.

I wanted to try doing a whole season at once for this one. I think it helped to give the whole season a more connected feel since I had to plan everything out first. Also I could write the sections out of order, which I think had an affect on the chapters. I’m not sure if I’ll do it this way for Season 9, but we’ll see when we get there.

Just wanted to let you all know that the Season is coming, as I know you’ve been waiting very patiently for me to plug away at this (like you always do, thank you!).

I have some other pretty neat things going on with TextFugu right now as well, but I’ll save those things for a later day. All I can say is… can’t wait to build the backend of TextFugu from scratch so I can *finally* do the things I have envisioned for TextFugu, but never could because we were on Wordpress. More later! See you on the flip side of Season 8!

(Source: textfugu.com)

So things are moving into Season 8. That’s a nice lucky number if you ask me. In terms of what it is, I’ve been thinking about that for a bit. Season 8 is going to be a season about filling in the little holes and then putting them together. It will also be about covering the things that will eventually make you sound more fluent. It’s basically the start of the slope that will lead you to an “advanced level.” The content will still be intermediate level, technically, but this is where the climb begins.

I think when you begin to get to a higher level, too, the important stuff gets smaller. You’re not looking to bust down the piñata anymore, you’ve already done that. Now you’re picking up the candy. Once you have enough candy you can eat it (and it’ll be delicious as long as you didn’t pick up any Tootsie Rolls). The “eating” part is what I’d call “advanced.” Right now your hands are starting to get full, but there’s enough room for a little more.

Anyways, that’s what I think in my mind right now.

Also, over the next couple months as I work on Season 8 I’ll feed you little scraps and hints of the new TextFugu. I’m learning to code as I go along, so it’s nice and slow going, but it will be a much better platform, and many of the feature requests you folks ask for will also be there. Right now things are pretty limited, but I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. Hopefully by the end of the year you’ll beging seeing the first screenshots and lessons. It should be pretty cool. I’m pretty excited about it.

So, that’s all for now. TL;dr → Season 8 lessons are going to start coming out in the next week or two and you’ll start to see whispers of a new TextFugu in the coming months, unless things go wrong, which they almsot always do ;)

I’m still working on the vocab portion of Kanji 8-3, but the kanji itself (as well as one more new radical, “Spicy”) is available on the Kanji page. The Anki deck for just the kanji and kanji reading portion is available on the downloads page. For the radical I’d recommend just adding it to your Level 8 Radicals tag manually, since it’s only one. For kanji you can just import and have fun.

(Source: textfugu.com)

Just an FYI that three new lessons have been added up into Season 7.

• Being Progressive With Your Verbs (covers progressive verbs)
• From から (covers the first two types of から grammar)
• Because から (covers the last type of から grammar)

Audio for these should be here soon along with the audio for the lesson right before these ones.

Coming up next is:

• Updated Hiragana Chapter (the one where you learn to read the hiragana)
• Next lesson or two in Season 7
• Kanji 8.3
• A new advanced-section lesson story

See ya on the flip side, Homeslice.