Hey! I have not been using skritter for over a year now. The reason I unsubscribed was that because I there was no plans for an android app, because it took too long time for bugs and issues to get resolved and new functions to be added.

From what I understand there is an android app in the makings, and this is indeed great news, but we REALLY deserve an ETA on this app. I know working on a deadline sucks, but for someone like me who plans to do most of his skrittering on his phone, its kind of important so that I know when I can subscribe. Are we talking weeks, months, quarters or next year?

It would be great if someone could tell me a little about whats changed the last year.

Is there an active way to study definitions now, or is it still the old "think of the answer and grade your self" way?

Are there more people working on developing skritter now, or is it still a 2 man team?

Any other cool things that have changed?

Thanks!!!

I think the android app has been finished for some time and is working pretty well. (That's the HTML5 thing, right?)

Definitions are still 'grade yourself' but I can't imagine a better way of doing that.

@cemeterymink, Yes, the html5 version which runs in browser on Android devices has been out for awhile. I wouldn't call it finished, but it is functional for reviewing on the go on most devices that aren't too old using Chrome for Android. It has provided a lot of insight and is the basis for getting the native application developed.

http://www.skritter.com/forum/topic?id=1145054181

@DaXia, Thanks for checking back in! We don't have an exact ETA, but from the choices you've listed it falls in the lower end of the months category. If you'd like I can add you to the a mailing list to be notified when the beta release is launched. Shall I add you to that list?

@Cemeterylink

Ye, grading yourself is not all that annoying as I remembered it to be. However, one way of making it more "active" would be to simply give you four possible choices. 3 of the choices being the definitions of 3 random words in your lists and the 4th being the correct answer.

Something like: 我

A: Pancakes
B: Collarbone
C: Me, myself.
D: Grammatical particle for owning something.



Josh

Please add me to the list. I am currently trying out the html5 version and surprised over how smoothly it runs. Great job!!!

Ofc, there are a few things missing but I'm sure it will be great when its officially released!

One thing I have noticed that sometimes I end up getting confused about exactly what is being tested. I often confuse reading with definition, because they kind of look alike. I know it says what its asking for under the character, but when you really are into it and on a "skritter roll", you (maybe only me) tend to be too lazy to read that sentence under the character.

Maybe it would be a good idea to do group up different tests a little, making it less random. Like 50 definitions in a row, then 50 readings, then 50 writings etc. I dunno.

I imagine multiple choice definitions might work if the choices were similar. But as for pancakes and myself, it'd make things way too easy.

@本杰明

I kind of depends though. 我 is a very simple word, but if we take a more difficult word like: 罄

A. To attack.
B. A dress
C. A classical Chinese instrument
D. To exhaust.

If you already know the word, then it will be easy ofc. If you know it vaguely, you might be able to remember it by looking at the alternatives. If its your first time seeing it, you wont have a clue (but maybe you can figure it out by looking at the radicals etc). Being forced to actively make a choice will help you remember it next time, and if you managed to figure it out by looking at the radicals etc, you will probably remember it forever.

I prefer something like this:

Which one of the following is an INCORRECT answer for the character 而?
A: furthermore
B: suddenly
C: if
D: but

And some examples are provided to back up the answers.
moreover, furthermore: 学而时习之，不亦说乎？
if: 人而无信，不知其可也。
but: 不劳而获

And the 而 in 忽而出现 does not have the meaning of suddenly.

@PTS
I think that would be very daunting for new users who are happy when they remember one meaning of a certain character. Also, all characters would have to have at least 3 defenitions and that would take a lot of work.

I think you guys are tossing around some good ideas! In regards to definition and context-based study, the main thing I'd like to focus on in the coming months is fixing our sample sentences to be more relevant to definitions of the word and characters someone is studying, that and making them much more level appropriate.

I was recently at a Chinese teacher conference that talked about the importance of knowing "all" the words in a sample sentence or a dialogue. Academics in the field have found that things like sentence length, and total number of known words have a huge impact on comprehension. I don't remember the exact findings of a study that was done, but it was something like knowing 90% of the words in a given sentence generally only means around 70% total comprehension among beginner learners. Having 80% or less of words known decreases comprehension to 50% or below. Evan is working on doing some changes in the HSK 1 & 2 lists right now, and we're looking at expanding this process to include more words in the future. Hopefully this brings some positive results, and a big increase in overall comprehension!

As for HTML5, I think Josh covered things pretty well. We're working hard, but don't want to make any promises we can't keep. The Alpha build for native devices is going very well, however, and we're putting it through it's paces. I'm able to study for 15-20 minutes/ session without many issues, but we're still struggling with some sync issues and lots of small bugs. The biggest change we've done recently is speed up the input/ writing speed for character prompts. It's starting to feel very smooth, and super quick! Hopefully the wait will be well worth it!

The big difference between the html5.skritter.com site, and what we're working on now is that it's native wrapped in order to work much, much better on mobile devices. We're testing on Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Galaxy Note, and Galaxy S4 at the moment and can't wait to add more to the mix when public Beta drops

Another big change that happened recently is the hire of Olle Linge of Hacking Chinese. He'll be working hard to keep our social media a little more active and also start writing more about how to get the most use of Skritter and the Skritter community. We're very fortunate to have him on the team, and can't wait to see what he comes up with!

@Jake

Sounds good!!! Maybe some day in the future, we could have tests for grammar, reading, listening etc, and perhaps tailor made HSK tests. I know that a lot of people are looking for a good way to prepare for HSK tests. There are workbooks with excercises that are fairly easy to come by in China, but hard to find abroad. An online sollution would probably be very well recieved. But I guess thats hardly relevant at the moment :D Keep up the good work guys!

I Had a teacher that did multiple choice tests (it's not common in my country) but he always included an option called "None of the above". this way you're never sure that the correct answer is listed.

As for not making the 4 answers completely random, you could base the options on the most common mistakes from previous answers by other skritterers...