This topic contains 26 replies, has 16 voices, and was last updated by 
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AnonymousI don’t know about anyone else, and no hate Koichi, but I think you’re overestimating the quantity of content a lesson puts out. (This part is by no means boasting, but it’s true and a real example) I’m so far ahead in Japanese because I get bored of waiting for new lessons so I go learn it myself, that I could estimate another 6+ months of lessons wouldn’t catch up. A new lesson can be read/comprehended in AT MAX a day. And most vocab memorized in a few days. How long has it been since the last lesson? 3 weeks? More? You’re the man Koichi, and I’m here cause I support you, but really, for something you charge monthly for I don’t think such infrequent *core* content updates are acceptable. Yeah, you have a lot of other content going on, this is true. And I’m in no place to say how much work is required to run such a big, complex site. But really, 8 hours a day, one day a week can’t pop out a 6 page lesson?
Only got <3 for you Koichi, but from a business/satisfaction point of view some things need to change.
P.S smash that road trip son. Hookers and blow– I mean Hard, Hard work.
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This reply was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by
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I have to agree with Crumb there. He raises a good point I’d never thought of before – paying monthly for such infrequent lessons isn’t really acceptable. *I* don’t pay monthly anymore, but it can’t be great for the people who do. I think the “always getting new updates” part on the main page is a little misleading.
I also agree that going elsewhere for content is becoming an increasingly more attractive option. The lessons here are GREAT, don’t get me wrong, but there just aren’t enough of them, I think. I’m glad I bought TextFugu, cause it’s really been a great help for the beginning stages, and since I have it “Forever”, I can come back to it when I need to. I just feel sorry for the “Monthly” folks haha. I wouldn’t be surprised if lots of Monthlys cancelled subscriptions for 6 months, went away to learn other stuff, then came back to some decent new content – seems more sensible thing to do, intermittent subscriptions, even if they are past that level of Japanese by then.
While I understand it takes a while to write lessons, I think the majority of time should be spent on them. Obviously you don’t have to listen to us “Forever” peeps, cause you’ve already got our money, but please, THINK OF THE CHILDREN *ahem* THE “MONTHLY” CHILDREN!! You’re a great guy (I’m sure everyone can vouch for that) and I know, like every businessman, you want to make money, but I think you’ll lose customers if you don’t pick up the pace with core content. Leave most of the marketing (like Tofugu and stuff) to Hashi, until you’ve got a more completed product, THEN by all means work your socks off to get more customers.
But what do I know, I never majored in business management >.< I have no idea what your business plans are and am only speculating.
I don't mean to be harsh in my opinion, I'm just saying what I think. And after seeing my post after posting it, I realised it’s a bit rambly haha
:)
Also, not seen you on the forum here in a while Bbvoncrumb – welcome back hehe
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This reply was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by
MisterM2402 [Michael].
Interesting matter here. I’ll give my opinion since…I have the right to.
What I have to agree is that there’s been a MONTH since the last content update ( was supposed to be out something 12-13 July ).
When looking at the Dashboard, we can see that March, April, May and June are pretty good months, there are core contents, Kanji, Lists etc.
When we look at July, it’s a bad month, there isn’t really that much in there.
So I’d agree that July isn’t worth it, but since it only one month out of that many and that i’m a full time member, It doesn’t affect me that much.
The fact that I don’t study that much help too.
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This reply was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by
Reiden.
I suppose now I know where priorities should be (core lessons) :/
Things have definitely evolved to a point where each lesson takes way more work than it used to (lessons used to be easy to write, but now the standards are much higher, I think). Dividing lessons into pages really makes me think more about each piece and where they fit. There’s kanji now (gotta have kanji to refer to in each lesson, ideally) which is a lot extra for the lesson. Also, more worksheets per lesson (at least compared to back in the day), and I’ve been working much harder at thinking about what lesson should go where, since I think the ordering is so important.
That being said, totally hear what you’re saying and will try to focus in more on core, since it sounds like that’s the big spot for most people, which makes sense. Sad part is the better the lessons are, the quicker you guys can finish them, and also the longer it takes for me to write / put them together. Will try to get back to more core lessons – last month definitely had a lot of prepping for the next sections going on, as well as more side-stuff, so focus on core wasn’t very good… you folks definitely reminded me to refocus on that :/
As for the mentions of “you could make more money if you updated more,” etc. … not my goal to make money, unfortunately for you :P If it was, lessons would be a lot worse, I think (but you’d get a whole bunch more, i suppose!).
Anyways, thanks thanks to everyone posting here… was really surprised when it turned so moderately angry at me! 0_0
I think it’s also good that you remind us that now the lesson are way more ”complete package” than before and thus making the time lapse between them longer.
Here in the FAQ :
Q. How often is TextFugu updated?
We shoot for around 1-2 new lessons and 10 kanji written per week.
People need to realise that’s what you got for the ancient kind of lesson (like the first one about colors…lol)
Anyway like I said, 4 strong months and 1 weak month ( in my point of view, from the creator its might be a lot different )
So when you say that it seemed ”less” because of preping and thinking for order and stuff, I have no problem at all, I’m no angry. When my Avatar turns green and big, then, I’ll be MADDDD
@Mister I think you are so fast in the learning curve that even 2 Koichi couldn’t feed you enough content :p
@Koichi: All we needed to hear, man :P But if you’re goal isn’t to make money, I’ve got this LOVELY little Paypal account sitting with nothing it, and it’s getting rather lonely… ;) hehe I know what you’re saying though.
Here’s a thought: now that it’s getting into the later Seasons, do we really need as many practice worksheets? I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I think as we learn more Japanese, we get *better* at learning; if we’re better at learning with every lesson (especially the motivational ones), then surely there doesn’t need to be as much extra content like that to help us along. I agree that there needs to be a lot of that stuff in the first few Seasons, when it’s BIG topics we’re learning, but as we’re moving into Season 4, would it be possible to maybe consolidate worksheets a little? Maybe if there are a few little “sub” grammar points in a lesson, you could put the practice into one, condensed sheet, maybe a handful of example sentences each. It would take a lot less time to make, I’m sure.
For instance, the 過ぎる・すぎる lesson has *3* practice sheets – just seems a little excessive to me, when all that is needed is 1 page with a little of everything on it. I get that a lot *more* stuff like that needs to be in place for learning the big guns that are nouns, adjectives, verbs and all their tense/formality conjugations, but that’s all done now, and we’re almost on to (possibly) the second 3 Seasons. Also, if you put all the mini-grammar points on 1 sheet, it’ll push us a little more since we won’t know which exact point to expect with each sentence (and we’ll need to work it out ourselves). “Knock it up a notch, BAM!!” – Chef Elzar
Think of it like a nice big Katamari – the more you roll up, the faster and easier it is to roll up more stuff. If you don’t know what a Katamari is, here you go: http://qsolenoib.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/l_3fc8b5027377e20fa5ec804cc2d7d75e1.jpg
I know that it’s the lesson itself that takes the longest chunk of time, but it’s just a suggestion, something I think might be useful :) Let me know if that seems feasible.
We’re not “angry” at you, we’re just “passionately stating” that we want more of your lovely work :P. You’re a cool guy and you’re good at what you do, but we’re just saying we NEED MOAR! haha
@Reiden: While I AM super-intelligent life form, beamed down from another planet, it took me about 1 month+ to learn all the kana well and other guys are like “oh man, I did that in like 1.5 SECONDS!!1″
derp derp, good catch. I’ll need to change that! thank yah!
I agree with a lot of the other posters – core content. I’ve gone through almost everything you have up now and would love some new lessons. While I do think the other stuff is fun (cat videos *cough, cough*), the core content is the most important. Without it, we’d be getting nowhere with learning Japanese.
My second vote is for conversation – I need to figure out how to use some of this stuff I’m learning. ;)
Good luck not going crazy on such a long car ride!
Now that Cassandra (I feel like that’s your name. lol.) mentions it, we just need cat videos. No more core content. Take all the core content down, actually, and just replace it all with cat videos.
And replace all the forum threads with cat videos.
Koichi, have you posted any kind of roadmap lately that includes a loose timeline for some of the newer sections and overhaul/finishing up current seasons?
I’m also curious when that conversation section is going to start getting some lessons filled in… Not saying ‘OMGHAY FINISH NAO!’ just curious when you expect to have something available in there ;)
I agree with most people here, core lessons :D
And I’m quite interested on the kanji workbook. I think it would be very helpful. -
This reply was modified 13 years, 4 months ago by
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