Skritter Blog | Developing the Best Chinese and Japanese Practice Tool

Breakfast Shop Diaries (Part 1)

2012-05-14T14:45:00.012-04:00

Walking out of my apartment I head for 吉美早餐 (jí měi zǎo cān), one of my neighborhood's best breakfast shops. As I head across the street to the small corner store I begin to hear loud incomprehensible streams of Taiwanese, as construction workers follow up their breakfast sandwich (三明治: sānmíngzhì) and soy milk (豆浆：dòu jiāng) with a some cigarettes and betel nuts (槟榔: bīn láng). The betel nut dregs cover the sidewalk near the workers, but the true tale signs of use are in the red-toothed smiles I receive from them as I head for one of the 7 seats in the place. Living with the when in Rome maxim I've had my fair share of new experiences and new flavors, but no matter how many times the workers have offered me a taste of betel nut over the past 9 months I've never felt an urge to try a chew. I think it's the idea of giving someone else a crazy red smile that keeps me away.

After finding my seat I raise my pointer finger in agreement with one of the workers, indicating I'll have my usual: a scallion pancake (葱抓饼: cōngzhuābǐng) and radish cake (萝卜糕：luóbogāo), complete with egg and hot sauce. I reach for one of the newspapers scattered across the tables to get a little reading practice in as I wait for my meal. The construction workers finish their cigarettes and hop onto the back of a baby blue flatbed, saying their goodbyes to the owner. Before the truck motors off I hear the amiable cry of "bye bye laoshi", the title they assigned me when they found out I was studying to be a Chinese teacher, although I secretly think they say it simply because my English name, Jake, is too hard for them to pronounce.

As I enjoy my meal the crowd shifts away from the betel-nut-chewing construction workers to a flurry of middle school and high school kids grabbing a sandwich on the go. Nearly all of them are a part of Taiwan's head-down group (低头族: dī tóu zú), kids that have their faces buried in the cell phones, trying fruitlessly to stay up-to-date on their friends FB pages and Twitter feeds. The glance up from their precious technology just long enough to grab one of the fifty or so pre-made sandwich's off the counter and pay the bill before they're off.

I should be off as well, but not before firing up the Skritter iOS app and burning through some of my reviews with the help of the owner's son Leo, who, on weekends, is just as eager as me to play the "character writing game," or at least watch over my shoulder, asking for translations of the English definitions, and laughing at the strange simplified characters that are mixed into my study decks. After a while I pay my bill, heading back home to get ready to start the rest of my day.

On those rare days I don't make it down to 吉美餐厅, things just feel amiss. They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and while my breakfast shop makes some wicked food, I think it's all the people I meet, and experiences I have that keep me coming back day after day...

End of Part 1

For a list of typical items found at Taiwanese breakfast shops, be sure to check out the Skritter list here.

Learning #Chinese on @Twitter

2012-04-29T10:23:00.000-04:00

Why wait till #FollowFriday to find great Chinese language learning resources? Why limit yourself to 140 English characters? Just think about how much you can say in Chinese with 140 characters. This week is a quick look at using microblogs as a study tool.

Microblogging sites like Twitter and China's Weibo are nothing new, and the fact that Twitter is currently the 9th most popular site on the web means it isn't going away anytime soon. Twitter users are always coming up fun and new ways to share their thoughts with the world. Even the 140 character SMS style limit means you can say a heck of a lot when tweeting to friends in a language like Chinese or Japanese. I find microblogs to be a great way to actively use your foreign language. The pressure of writing a lot of information like you would on a blog is reduced to almost nil. People on Twitter don't want an essay, they want a burst of information, maybe a sentence or two at most, which is something even a language newbie can do on their first day.

Practicing your Chinese on Twitter is awesome, but we can take our "study" experience one step further by following users who are serious about teaching the language as well. So who the heck should we follow? Twitter users who give links to blog posts, or lengthy articles about language learning theory are great, but today I want to focus on five of my favorite users who abide by the theory of "less is more," using those precious 140 characters to give us something new, and more importantly, lots of Chinese.

Here are five Twitter handles worthy of a follow for your daily Chinese fix.

@allaboutchinese As they say in the about section, All About Chinese gives you "cool Chinese stuffs" every single day. I like that they provide both Chinese and English on their tweets, and they keep away from giving you Pinyin for everything, which is great to force reading comprehension. Their tweets are short and sweet, with lots of high frequency vocabulary.
@niuword Looking to learn the latest slang in China, than look no further than Niuword, the Twitter feed for the blog of the same name. New words have Pinyin, but the rest is just a Chinese explanation. Clicking the link they provide will take you to their website where you can find a sample sentence and more related slang.
@FluentFlix While FluentFlix does a lot of re-posting and linking to language learning resources (along with their own website), they also provide tons great idioms, words, and common expressions. The vocabulary is never too tough, with sentences catered toward the language learning crowd; they also update almost daily.
@chinesesentence New Chinese sentences every day, proofed by native speakers, with English and Pinyin provided. No links, no re-tweets, just straight up Chinese! It doesn't get much better than this.
ichinesetweets Tweets about love (in Chinese). Great vocab, and great reading practice. Perfect for someone who has crossed the 1500+ character mark.

There are tons of other resources on Twitter that focus on Chinese learning, but these are the ones I love to see in my feed every day. They keep things simple and to the point.

Got some favorite twitter users of your own, or wanna pick up a few more followers? Please post those @ mentions below.

Sentence Mining Like a Boss

2012-04-09T20:14:00.002-04:00

As language learners we are engaged in a constant battle between increasing and maintaining both our active and passive lexicon. Vocabulary lists are generally great for increasing the latter, but they often fail to give us the necessary context for true comprehension. Textbooks, on the other hand, often give us the context necessary for understanding, but the parameters are stacked against us, since the sentences carefully catered to a particular language level or lexical background. As a result, we half-learn new words, lacking the necessary knowledge, or confidence, to use them correctly in "the wild." In order to really learn how to use these words, we must increase our scope of understand, and expose ourselves to countless examples of how these words are really outside of textbooks or the classroom. In short, we need to master the art of sentence mining.

Sentence mining certainly isn't a new concept for many, but doing it effectively is an important part of the process. As Jason Sharp put it on his language blog Beyond Bounds:

"Sentence mining is what it sounds like; you mine for sentences like a miner looks for gold. The word is your mine, and sentences are your gold. When you find something new that you need to learn, you don't just dig out the specific word (idiom, grammar point, etc), but you dig out the entire sentence that contains it, then save it into your spaced repetition system."

The ideal way of acquiring new vocabulary is while you're reading a text, watching TV, or chatting with friends. The word is already in context for you, and the sentence is ripe for the picking. But what happens when one sentence isn't enough, or you've learned the word through one of the thousands of vocab lists on the web?

While Google it might be your first thought, there are certainly other ways that can yield even more results. Below are a short list of resources that I use on a daily basis, to ensure that I get a full understand of new vocabulary. In order to highlight the different functions of these resources I use, I've selected the verb 拥有 (yōngyǒu v. possess; have; own) a word that my dictionary claims has a very low usage rate, only 6.1 occurrences per million characters of text.

Nciku: If you're only going to make one stop on your sentence mining journey, this is the place to go. Apart from giving you the dictionary definition of a term, Nciku provides hundreds of sample sentences and English translations for most. Furthermore, you can access a Chinese-Chinese dictionary to be sure that nothing is lost in translation.

MDBG: Similar to Nciku, MDBG is another online-dictionary with the option for sentence selection. It lacks a Chinese-Chinese dictionary and doesn't highlight the parts of speech, keeping out of the number one spot for me, but the sample sentence engine, powered by Jukuu is pretty amazing. If you can handle a little more Chinese text on your screen then I would highly recommend that you start there, since you're not only provided with thousands of sentences, but also a linguistic analysis of how the word you're searching for is being used, such as: 释义分布（shìyì fēnxi: meaning distribution), or (in the case of my search) common adverbs that proceed my search word, and common nouns that follow my search word. As an added bonus, MDBG has a quick add function, so that you can quickly add new vocab words to Skritter lists (just click on the Skritter S)!

Google: It actually really is a great resource for sentence mining, but one needs to focus the parameters a little to really get the most out of it, especially since you don't get translated text like you would on the above mentioned sites. One way to do this is to just search in Google News. Not only is your word highlighted red, but its usage is (hopefully) presented in just about the most formal ways a word can be used, so open up those links and take your pick.

Vocabulary Highlighter in action!

Vocabulary Highlighter: For any Firefox user, this last tool is a must have for any sentence mining pro. Basically the plug-in highlights vocabulary you've added to the program so that you get constant reinforcement anytime the word appears in your web browser. The concept was first brought to my attention on Dave's wonderful site ChineseHacks, and I've been using it ever since. While this tool isn't very useful for the initial mining process, it is invaluable to focusing your awareness on words you're trying to master. The only downside to the plug-in is that you must individually add the simplified/ traditional characters (if using both). Like starring words on Skritter, the tool is best used on a focused set of vocabulary words.

While there are plenty of other resources on the web, these are the ones that are on the top of my list. They give me a chance to see multiple examples of how words are being used, so that I can pick the best one(s) for my personal SRS deck. Once we posses the tools necessary to acquire and comprehend new vocab, the only thing left to do is go out and use it.

Do you have your own sentence mining process or tips? Please share them with other readers in the comments below.

iOS App in Myanmar

2012-04-02T00:04:00.002-04:00

Got another Skritter iOS app tester experience report for you, this time from Marleen De Mol. Marleen has been Skrittering like crazy and making a ton of progress; we last heard from her in the November newsletter, and when I heard about her trip to Myanmar, I knew it was a perfect opportunity for some mobile Skrittering.

My name is Marleen De Mol; I am Belgian living in Shanghai with my husband and daughter. Very quickly after I started using Skritter, I became a big fan, and in the past 1.5 years I was able, through lots and lots of reviews, to build my Hanzi knowledge from scratch to about 2000.

Skrittering became part of my life, and my family learnt to accept it. When we went traveling I would always carry along the laptop/tablet combo to squeeze in some Skritter time whenever possible. But sadly often I came back from holidays very frustrated because my due list had grown to huge numbers and it would take me sometimes weeks to get back on track.

When we were planning a trip to Myanmar, stressed because I knew the internet connection would be erratic, I thought of the iOS app as a possible solution not to get too far behind, and I asked to be included in the tester group.

I was very excited after the first download, and although back then, when it was basically just writing, tone and definition (none of the other features were in place), I was already blown away by what had been achieved. And not completely to my surprise, I happily discovered that the team had added some brilliant details like for example glowing fireworks when you have a long stretch of correct items. It certainly keeps the spark in your relationship with Skritter!

But, normal for an app in the alpha testing phase there were still lots of issues to be resolved and bugs regularly came up. However this has never stopped me from using it; I'm always excited to test a new version, to find out what has changed, to discover new features! I don't often use the web program anymore, mainly to work on vocabulary lists and to stay in touch with the community through the forum.

The team certainly goes out of its way to build an awesome app; the writing feels very smooth, the design is sleek and it is a lot of fun to use. But for me the biggest advantage is the freedom that comes with Skrittering offline at any location. Before, I was always studying at my desk, and now I can sit anywhere and get the job done. My favourite Skritter session of the day is after breakfast enjoying an extra cup of coffee while the rest of the family is getting ready. I can also make much more use of idle time: I Skritter in cars, trains, planes...

Since I downloaded the app, I've used it at home in Shanghai, on trips to Bangkok and Singapore, in Hong Kong overlooking the harbour, in Myanmar taking a break between temple visits, biting the cold at the Harbin Ice festival--and that in just a few months' time. I have attached some souvenirs of our trip to Myanmar, but being the photographer in the family, I was forced to use my husband and daughter as model!

This app has certainly given me a much more relaxed attitude towards learning Hanzi. It has taken the pressure off, like it is almost not studying anymore. I am grateful to be given the opportunity to test this fantastic tool the Skritter team is developing. It is going to rock the world's Chinese-language-learning community!

If you haven't already, go check out the Skritter iOS app teaser page and sign up to get an email when we launch the free app. You'll also be entered to win a free iPad to Skritter on.

Language Typology: Principle Branching Directions

2012-03-23T09:59:00.002-04:00

Continuing on from my last grammar post, I thought I would share another concept from a grammar class I'm taking in our TCSL program. This time we are looking at how Chinese fits into the bigger picture.

To truly understand a language, we sometimes have to take a step back and understand how it compares to other languages. This is the process of language typology. One key feature that I've found incredibly interesting is a languages principle branching direction, or "how relative clause(s), adverbial subordinate clauses and sentential complementation takes place" (Lust, 1983). Languages therefore, can be broken into two different types: right-branching, and left-branching. English is a largely right-branching language, where as Chinese is a strictly left-branching language, as indicated in the image below.


English is a largely right-branching language, where Chinese is a strictly left-branching language.

Let's take a look at a few examples of what this means. In a sentence that contains an adverbial clause, or stative verbs (adjectives) the difference between Chinese and English is quite apparent. For example:

English: I went home early {because I was tired}.

Chinese: {因為我累了}，所以就趕早回家了. {Yīnwèi wǒ lèi le}, suǒyǐ jiù gǎnzǎo huí jiā le.

English: He is the man {whom I met yesterday}.

Chinese: 他就是{我昨天遇到的}那個人. Tā jiù shì {wǒ zuótiān yùdào de} nà gè rén.

We can see that the information modifying the main clause appear in totally opposite directions when comparing Chinese and English. The same applies to modifier or attributive clauses. For example:

Chinese: 圖書館的前面很漂亮

English: The front of the library is pretty.

Chinese: 你面前的樓.

English: The building in front of you.

Understanding this type of language typology is not only crucial to fixing those pesky mistakes that we as students like to make, but also to understanding why those mistakes are occurring in the first place. It is easy to write things off as being negative-transfer from your native language, but does that really explain why students make those mistakes?

For native speakers of English, our big mistakes occur when dealing with time, and location. Our brain wants to take these clauses and bits of information and put them at the end of the sentence, because it is how our own language works. But when we understand that Chinese works in the opposite way, we no longer have to rely on our "sense" of the language, or a teacher to correct us. Instead, we can quickly adjust how we view these two completely different types of language and proceed accordingly.

We don't need to keep putting 昨天 (zuótiān) at the end of the sentence, or put time and location in strange and unnatural sounding places. Instead we can simply remember that the majority of the time, the branches of these two languages just happen to fall on two different sides of the tree.

(Notes and examples have been adapted and translated from Professor Chen's lectures)

iOS App in Australia

2012-03-16T15:14:00.003-04:00

We're working harder than ever to get this iOS app to you! Since our tester pool is full, while you're waiting, we're sharing some stories from those testers who have had a chance to take Skritter out into the world in their pockets. This week we have Ptolemy in Melbourne, Australia, talking of the app's convenience effect.

As soon as I heard about the iOS version of skritter I knew it was for me. I already use my iPhone as my main dictionary with Pleco and my sentence flash cards, so getting Skritter on it sounded like the perfect plan. But I didn't quite know exactly how much I would enjoy it till it arrived. The first week I split my time pretty much 50/50 between iOS Skritter and PC Skritter. I was using the iphone version any time I wasn't at my computer, but still using the PC version whenever I was home. It was working quite well--I enjoyed the app--but slowly something happened: I stopped using the desktop version all together.

It had already started, but the big change was when work hit. I'm a programmer, and I had a deadline coming up, so a few weeks of late nights came around. When you get home at 10pm after working on your computer all day, you really don't want to turn on your home PC: you're sick of computers, you're tired, and you just want to go bleghh on the couch. But I enjoy the Skritter app; I really like trying to get the sparks going and it doesn't seem to drain me in much the same way that other studying does. Sitting down after a long day and doing 10 minutes while eating or in the ad breaks on TV kept me interested while work was being a pain. I'm certain that had I not had the app I simply would not have Skrittered for most of January at all. I didn't learn a great deal during this month, and my stats are horrible but what the app did do was stop a slide. I didn't come back after a month and have 388748 reviews due, instead I've kept it under 100, which means now that work has calmed down, I'm fine to kick off where I left off with no big drama.

Now I'm sure there is a bit of novelty factor in there. The app is still shiny and new, and it's getting lots of updates, so it's constantly changing and improving. In 6 months or a year's time it certainly won't be as fun as it is now simply because I'll be used to it, however it'll still be cooler than the PC client in my opinion because of the places you can study.

There have been some great photos already on the blog of people using it in exotic locations. And you can see me using it on the beach on Australia day just hanging out. That was pretty cool, but also the glare of the screen outdoors was very annoying and I only lasted about 5 minutes before the heat and the sun glare won and I went swimming instead. The exotic locations offer great photo ops, but what I found far more useful are the locations that do not offer funtastic photos. My favourite is lying in bed. I traditionally read before going to sleep, however dropping in 15 minutes of Skritter while lying down is great. Drawing characters while horizontal is surprisingly hard, so they end up super deformed however it doesn't matter. It's just a great way to get through a bunch of reviews every day in a relaxed setting. Beyond lying in bed, I've started muting the ads on TV and dropping out 3 mins of review during commercial breaks while sitting on the couch. I Skritter while waiting for my computer to boot at work. And let's be honest, I've Skrittered while on the toilet more than once. None of these are cool places to study with super awesome photos, but to me they're what make the Skritter iOS app better than the desktop version. The convenience.

Now to be fair lots of these you could do with a laptop, but I have a laptop and I never do any of them. Laptops take time to boot, they don't fit in my pocket and aren't always within arms reach. It's not so much about "could" you do this with a laptop but "do" you? And for me I don't--it's just too much hassle. When I'm watching something on TV and the ads hit will I get up, get the laptop and boot it up? No, the ads will probably be over before it's even ready. But would I reach into my pocket and instantly start Skrittering without having to move? Probably. It's just so easy I can't help it. Also my wife looks at me weird when I try to take the laptop into the toilet! So even if you live in the most domestic and average of settings I still think you'll get a ton of use out of the Skritter iPhone app. Now all I need to do is find some way to fit a native speaker who constantly wants to practise into my pocket as well and I'll be fluent in no time!

If you haven't already, go check out the Skritter iOS app teaser page and sign up to get an email when we launch the free app. You'll also be entered to win a free iPad to Skritter on.

An Afternoon with Benny, Part 2

2012-03-10T21:39:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet up with Benny the Irish Polyglot here in Taipei and talk about his current mission: learning Mandarin Chinese in three months (see the original article here). As a learner of Chinese I was certainly interested in what he was doing here, and how his mission was going. However, it was impossible for me to ignore some of Benny's other language accomplishments, like the fact that he speaks eight languages with an incredibly high level of fluency, and has been learning loads more for nearly a decade.

For many language learners, traveling to (or living in) the country where people speak your target language isn't nearly as easy as packing your bags and booking a flight. Work, school, and all the little (and big) things in life always seem to get in the way. The busier we get, it seems, the less opportunity we have to actually use the language we're studying to interact with others. Since speaking, and social interaction are such a crucial part of Benny's own language mission, I was curious what tricks or tips he had for those language learners who, for one reason or another, can't immerse themselves in the language and culture, but still want to practice speaking with native speakers.

Of course, the Internet, in all its glory, has given rise to a loads of opportunities to speak with people all over the world. Services like italki and LiveMocha instantly come to mind, but for many, these services fail to live up to those real "in the flesh" interactions that we as humans desire. So, what can we do to practice our language of choice? Below are four ways that Benny has maintained, or honed his language chops with native speakers.

CouchSurfing:
Even if you're not going to be traveling soon, CouchSurfing can be a great way to meet people from all over the world. What better way to practice your Chinese, than hosting a native speaker and showing them around your city, or at least swapping travel stories while they crash at your place for a few days? And who knows, your guest might be willing to return the hosting favor when you head to their neck of the woods.
MeetUp.com:
MeetUp's tagline "Do something. Learn something. Share something. Change something," says just about everything that needs to be said about this site. If you have a passion for learning a language, share it with others. If there isn't already a local language meetup in your area, you could always be the founder. Even if you aren't meeting with native speakers at first, there is no harm in swapping study tips and spending some time practicing with other language students like you.
Tourist Destinations:
This tip is not for the faint of heart, or for someone who lives in the middle of nowhere, but with a little bit of guts and some free time, this can be a great place to way to meet native speakers who are visiting your city. Meeting them could be as easy as eavesdropping on some foreign conversations, or taking that foreign novel you've been dying to read from off the shelf. Once you've made contact it is all up to you to charm them into carrying on a conversation. It if doesn't work the first time, don't give up hope, as Benny reminded me during the interview--Mandarin Chinese does have the largest native speaking population. Just wait for another group of tourists and try again!
Cultural Hobby:
Ever wanted to learn the Chinese Zither, Tai Chi or Calligraphy? These hobbies can be a great way to get connected to the local Chinese community and meet native speakers at the same time. Even going to a local Chinese restaurant can be a great way to practice both your reading a speaking skills, while filling your stomach with deliciousness.

I'm sure there are many more ways to practice speaking with natives, no matter where you are. The most important thing is to just realize that there is always an opportunity to speak the language you are studying. All you have to do is go out and find it.

If you have any other ideas or suggestions be sure to leave them in the comments below.

An (elementary) question: why do we say "我很好"?

2012-02-29T09:45:00.000-05:00

Take a moment and think back to the first exchange that appears in just about every textbook created for second language learners of Chinese. In most cases it probably looks a little something like this:

A: 你好吗？

B: 我很好，你呢？

A: nǐ hǎo ma?

B: wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne?

I'm sure there was some part of the opening exchange that also clarified where you were from, and how it was great to meet whomever your were talking to, but for the purpose of this post, the above "dialogue" is the focal point. As good students, we dutifully memorize this simple exchange, with "你好吗" representing "how are you?" and "我很好，你呢" taking on the meaning of: "I'm fine, and you?"

When we start breaking down the characters found in this little exchange, however, something doesn't quite seem to add up. We discover that "很" (hěn) has a variety of meanings, such as: very; quite; awfully etc. A curious student might then ask the question: "If I just want to say 'I'm good,' then why can't I just say '我好'". I remember asking this question myself a few years ago, and at the time I was content with the answer my teacher gave me, basically, that this is how the language works, "我好" is just not something that people say in this context.

As native speakers of one language or another, I'm sure we've all used this explanation before, but in all honesty, simply saying something just is means that we don't know the answer-- because everything in language happens for a reason. So, why the heck do we really say "我很好," rather than "我好"?

The answer lies in "很", a word that most of the time plays a role as an adverb. However, in the sentence "我很好" or "I am fine" the "很" loses its original meaning and becomes a function word or a particle, known in Chinese as a 虚词 (xūcí). Very much like the 老 (lǎo) in 老师 (lǎo shī: teacher) the character has become more of a place word than anything else, because not every teacher is old! The function word no longer carries its original meaning, but it is still a necessary part of the word or sentence.

The reason we can't get rid of the "很" is because "我好" actually creates a sentence with a totally different meaning. Basically, "我好" becomes a comparative sentence, rather than a simple reply. By saying "我好" you are saying that you (as the speaker) are better (either than someone else or better than before), almost as if answering an unspoken question. The same applies to other sentences as well. In Chinese we cannot simply say "他饿" (tā è) to indicate that someone is hungry. We need to add a "很" or a "了" to make the sentence more clear (and grammatically correct). The instances where we would actually say "他饿" are comparative, for example:

A: 你饿还是他饿?

B: 他 (比较）饿

A: nǐ è háishì tā è ? (Are you hunger or is he hungry?)

B: tā (bǐjiào) è (He (is more) hungry)

With that being said, I think beginner textbooks are correct in ignoring the idea of function words, and relying on understanding through translation or context. However, there will come a point when we should all ask ourselves if the answer "that is just how the language works" is good enough. Once it isn't anymore, we have to seek out the real reason why we can't simply say "我好" when someone asks us how we are doing.

iOS App in Chile

2012-02-22T22:40:00.000-05:00

I know you hadn't forgotten, but we're working on our iOS app, and we want to whet your anticipation a bit further, so here's another app tester story. This time we hear from Diny in Chile, who has an enviable Skritter-from-hammock setup.

I’m a French / German translator from The Netherlands, and I live in Chile. China is exactly at the other end of the world as seen from here. I started learning Chinese in Nigeria, where I used to live. A Nigerian teacher who lived in China for some years gave me the first couple of lessons. I was struggling to get the tones right, while none of my classmates seemed to have any problem with the tones: their African languages were all tonal languages!

I haven't been to China (yet), but I love learning new languages. Out of the eight languages I know, I consider Chinese as the most fascinating to learn. I immediately fell in love with the sound of the language and the characters. Here in Chile it was very difficult to find a teacher, as I live in a remote Andes town. I booked an occasional lesson online, but now I try to study at home. Initially, it was extremely boring to write characters: repeating the same character again and again on a piece of paper. So I thought I would do this “later”. I used Anki to be able to read the characters. I thought I did very well… until I discovered Skritter! Recognizing a character is completely different from writing it, as you probably all know.

I read Nick’s blog about the iOS app and immediately applied for a place in the tester group. Being very new to the Chinese language and having hardly any experience with the web version of Skritter, I am very grateful that he included me in the alpha list. I started using Skritter on my iPad and it was not only great to be able to use the app on long bus rides in Chile and on endless flights to Europe, but it was also an excellent means of passing the time in an enjoyable way, when waiting at the dentist’s for example.

However, the most useful part is probably that I’m able to use the app when I’m offline. The internet connection is so erratic here that I cannot imagine Skrittering on my computer all the time. The connection is lost about 5-10 times (or more) per hour. This is no problem when using the app.

I also study online with a writing pad on my computer every now and then, but found out that I can Skritter much faster on my iPad. I prefer using a stylus, but sometimes when I’m Skrittering in bed, I use my finger to write, which also works fine.

That was the useful part. Yet, the VERY best thing about Skritter is that I am able to Skritter in my hammock outside on the veranda. I work a lot on the computer, but when Skrittering on my iPad I don’t really have the feeling that I’m working on a computer, especially not when I can do this in my hammock! The only reason to still use the web version on the computer is the fact that I am sharing the iPad with my partner.

Skritter is by far the most effective way to learn how to write characters, I think. The app is improving all the time. In the latest version I can even add new words and mnemonics without having to use my computer. I already know more than 320 characters and think I couldn’t have reached this level without the iOS app. Nevertheless, I realize I still have a long way to go, er… to Skritter!

If you haven't already, go check out the Skritter iOS app teaser page and sign up to get an email when we launch the free app. You'll also be entered to win a free iPad to Skritter on.

An afternoon with Benny

2012-02-14T09:29:00.000-05:00

For nearly a decade Benny Lewis, or Benny the Irish Polyglot as many of us know of him, has been on the move. He has traveled to over 20 countries, always with the same inspirational goal: to prove that anyone can learn a language. At the beginning of January, this "technomad", armed with Anki, Pleco, ChinesePod and a Kindle full of grammar guides, arrived in Taipei, Taiwan to begin his current mission: reaching a C1 level of oral and listening proficiency in Mandarin Chinese in just three short months.

Benny's Mandarin mission has invaded Taiwan!

Being proficient in Mandarin after three months? This seemed like an almost impossible goal, until I took the time to set up an interview and asking Benny to explain himself and his mission. Benny assured me that this isn't nearly as impossible as it sounds, but, as a rather humble and modest guy, he was also quick to admit that he might not reach his goal. "I'm aiming to fail," he said, while sipping some fresh mango juice. "People think failure is not an option… it actually is," he continued. By getting rid of the perfectionist attitude you begin to realize that aiming for a goal like C1 proficiency will force Benny to push himself as hard as he can for three months, rather than setting a modest goal that he might achieve in two.

Benny hates when people say that his websites "claims" fluency in three months. For him, the idea is about aiming to be fluent in three months. After nearly a decade of language learning and traveling he is well aware that the best way for him to improve is to set a target, set a deadline, and make it public. There is no doubt that Benny succeeds in all three. He certainly thinks there is "a value in impatience," which goes hand in hand with his maxim: "speak from day one!"

"Speaking from day one" means understanding what elements of language you need "right now," says Benny. Understand them or not, that doesn't mean everything goes off without a hitch. He admits that spending time early on recognizing characters from books like Heisig's just wasn't working for him. "The context was worthless to me," he continued to explain. "Learning verbs for example, is low priority in terms of reading, because when I'm reading I need to read menu items, I need to read signs and these are more noun-based." He hasn't given up on characters altogether, making fine use of Pleco's OCR feature and a single flashcard deck devoted to characters, but he is saving a lot of the reading practice for later on in the challenge.

Benny instead is focusing more on pinyin and units of words that he can use right away when interacting with people. And while he got off to a rough start, he is back and focused on the triage system, and acquiring the information he needs to survive. Studying in a coffee shop with an Anki deck wasn't allowing him to reach his goal of "making at least 100 mistakes a day." But these days that shouldn't be a problem. When he isn't hitting the gym with a personal trainer who speaks to him mostly in Chinese, he is getting his butt kicked in other ways. He has two language teachers and other language meetups that are pushing him past his goal of speaking at least three hours of Chinese every single day.

It's clear from talking to Benny he is all about making language as social as possible, so even with his current language teachers, his lessons are far from traditional. As he said, "What I'm focusing on in is to be able to have friends." Rather than talk about grammar patterns or the one-child policy, he is learning how to talk about his work, hobbies, musical interests etc. In a way Benny is focused on "creating the environment," as he put it, or finding new ways to expand short exchanges into conversations. Using language teachers as facilitators, he's able to dive into the things that he wants to learn.

For Benny, getting started learning Mandarin has been taking a little longer that some of the other languages he's encountered. But "not because its got tones or a different writing system, or that it's not the same as French," he said. Rather, the problem lies in the social learning strategy that has worked so well for many other languages, basically he is finding that the Taiwanese are not nearly as approachable as say a lot of cultures in South America. As a solo traveler you're very likely to get ignored in Taiwan, unless you actively seek out help or advice from others. Randomly getting invited out to a party or even a dinner among friends just doesn't happen as often.

Benny on week one trying to master the basics (photo taken from his website)

However, once Benny started to get the basics down, this social and cultural element has been getting easier and easier. These days he has tons of social events that are keeping him busy, and allowing him to learn the language through communication. For a guy who is making his living as a full-time language hacker, you'd never guess that from him "languages are (just) a means to an end." But I guess it makes sense, since, as he said, "I do not like learning languages, I like speaking languages."

To follow the rest of Benny's adventure in Taiwan and tons of other countries please check out his website Fluent in 3 Months. Since my interview with Benny ran about two hours, I'll be doing a part two to this article focused on a few tips and tricks that Benny talked about, so stay tuned!

Got any comments or questions? Please leave them below.

iOS App in Xi'an

2012-02-05T11:48:00.007-05:00

Still working hard on bringing the Skritter iOS app to you! Here's a third story in our iOS app tester experiences series. Last week we had the story of Alex Louis in Gansu, and now we have Giff Ransom in Xi'an.

My family and I live in Xi'an, China, with our three boys (ages 7, 5, and 3). We've been attending a small language school specifically geared to the needs and learning style of foreigners for about six months now. I've been a fan of Skritter for years, but only recently have I been using it with the commitment of a full-time language student.

A few months ago, I sent Nick a fairly tongue-in-cheek email begging him to be on the alpha list. My wife and I are both language students, I said, but my tablet PC is currently the only Skritterable device in the house. Without having immediate access to Skritter via an iOS device, this was sure to end in marriage conflict over Skritter time. I implored him to have a heart--to think about the potential consequences of this added stress in addition to the insanity of living in China with a family--the breakdown of our family would forever be on his conscience. Nick laughed, and agreed to let me join up, "for the children."

As it turns out, my time testing the iOS app has indeed been "for the children" in some surprising ways. My iPhone is an older one, so the only available option for us was the larger iPad the grandparents had given to the kids for games. This means I don't have neat photos of Skrittering on the bus, or in an obscure noodle joint, but I assume many of these are forthcoming. I've found instead that the biggest difference the app has made is Skrittering the boys to sleep at night.

The younger boys inevitably ask either me or my wife to lay down with them until they fall asleep, and on many nights we're inclined to indulge them. My tablet PC's fan is pretty noisy, and might keep the little monsters awake, but the iPad is wonderfully silent. And so, curled up with one of my sons, I now find myself getting a good half-hour of studying in each night.

The boys like the app. There are times when my oldest puts me to shame--remembering the pronunciation to a character that I just can't seem to get right (he's eager to have his own account). My youngest gets impatient with the pronunciation/definition prompts, constantly asking, "Can we do a drawing one now?" My second son keeps asking me what each of the radicals mean. We've agreed that, after five minutes, no talking is allowed during bedtime Skritter.

It's nice for my own bedtime as well. My wife is a light sleeper, and couldn't stand my tablet PC in bed, but she puts up with the iPad OK. I often struggle to fall asleep myself, so the iOS app lets me make use of that time 'til I finally drop off.

The app itself is quite usable and intuitive. It's gotten to the point where I prefer it to the browser version (even though I have a tablet pc). I'm sure I end up going faster. In the end, the iOS app is a natural extension of what Skritter does so well: making learning Chinese characters fun and even addictive. Now I don't even need a noisy device or an internet connection, which means I find study time that I never knew I had. Having learned my 1000th character before the end of 2011, the goal of being able to finally make heads or tails out of the signs I see every day is no longer a pipe dream. It hasn't exactly saved our marriage, but it is playing a part in helping us bloom where we are planted, blurring the distinction between family time and language time.

If you haven't already, go check out the Skritter iOS app teaser page and sign up to get an email when we launch the free app. You'll also be entered to win a free iPad to Skritter on.

iOS App in Gansu

2012-01-29T12:34:00.003-05:00

Here's another story in our iOS app tester experiences series. Last up we heard from junglegirl in Ethiopia, and now we have Alex Louis in Xi'an.

I have been serving in the Peace Corps in China since the summer of 2010. Integrating into the local culture is crucial for a successful volunteer, and that means learning the language. Fortunately, the Peace Corps provides the best language training out there--in two short months, I was able to order food, buy train tickets, and have short, simple conversations, all in Chinese.

The only catch is Peace Corps language training doesn't teach reading or writing. Since we only have two short months, they have to cram as much as they can, which means no time to labor over radicals and stroke order. So while I could order food in Chinese, menus were gibberish. And if I ever missed my train, I couldn't read a train schedule to find an alternate route. When I first went to my work site and couldn't tell which bathroom was the men's room, I knew I had to learn to read.

Luckily a fellow volunteer recommended Skritter during those first few months at my site, and I've been hooked ever since. In just 17 months of studying Chinese--12 of those with Skritter!--I just passed the HSK level 4. But Skritter's biggest downside was I had to sit in front of my computer at home to study. I'm in a remote city in Gansu province, one of the poorest in China--there are no Starbucks with WiFi where I could take my laptop. And I came to China to see China, not to stay in my bedroom to stare at my laptop. When the sun was shining and people were out in the streets, using Skritter came to be a chore.

Then I was offered a chance to test out the Skritter iOS app. It has completely changed how I study. You won't find me cooped up inside anymore. You'll find me at the wetlands surrounding the city, using my iPod to Skritter and chatting with the people strolling on the path. Or I'll be at the local dumpling joint, the owner's kids grabbing my iPod to play with the app and "teach" me how to write correctly. I recently took a weekend trip to the provincial capital Lanzhou, which normally would mean I'd get behind in my studying. But I had my iPod with me, and I could Skritter the whole 7 hour train ride. The app has gotten so good that I don't remember the last time I used the website to study. I bought a cheap stylus and write with it; it's just like pen on paper. Most importantly, in three short months of using the app I've learned nearly 500 new characters. I never learned that fast when I was on my computer.

Even though the app is still in development, it's pretty much good enough for me right now. But the Skritter team are perfectionists and won't quit improving it, so I know when it's finally released, it will be awesome!

If you haven't already, go check out the Skritter iOS app teaser page and sign up to get an email when we launch the free app. You'll also be entered to win a free iPad to Skritter on.

The Legend of Nian

2012-01-22T08:00:00.004-05:00

This year Monday, January 23rd will mark the Lunar New Year, commonly referred to as Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is a time steeped in tradition and custom. Like superheroes, these traditions often have at least one origin story associated with them--Chinese New Year has several. One that I'm particularly fond of is the legend of the mythical creature 年 (Nian).

Legend says that with winter coming to an end and spring fast approaching, the mythical beast Nian would come from hiding to feast on people and anything else it could eat. However, Nian had a fear of three things: the color red, blazing fires, and loud noises. One winter, after discovering the beast's three weaknesses, the people of a small village decided to prepare for the beasts arrival, placing planks of red peach wood on either side of their doors, and lighting large fires before their doors. No one dared sleep that evening, so instead they stayed awake beating pots and pans, making as much noise as they could muster.

That evening the beast fled from the village, never to return again. The next day, everyone gathered together to celebrate their success, wishing each other safety and happiness for the year to come. That day became known as Guo Nian, or the day that they survived the attack of Nian. From that day forward, every year when winter was coming to an end and spring was fast approaching they would cover their doors in red, light fires and spend the night making a racket in case Nian decided to return.

Today, people have long forgotten the legend of Nian, but the customs still remain. Guo Nian (过年: guònián）now means to pass (or observe) the New Year. The planks of red peach wood are now the 春聯 (chūnlián: spring festival couplets) that can be found pasted on doorways. The fire and loud noises are the 鞭炮（biānpào), the string of small firecrackers that people light on New Year's Eve. Still today, on the first day of the new year, everyone gathers together on the streets to celebrate and wish everyone a peaceful and happy year.

The modern version of 春聯 that are hung up outside of doors for the New Year.

Everyone at Skritter hopes you all have a wonderful Lunar New Year. If you've heard other Lunar New Year legends, or want to share some of the other traditions associated with the New Year, be sure to share them in the comments below.

新年快乐！
The Skritter Team

* The above legend was translated (loosely) from the following text, with parts added from Jade Dragon.

过年的习俗，有很多不同的传说，有一种说法是：

有个怪兽叫做 “年”，冬天快结束，要到春天的时候，常会出来吃人，找食物，但它怕三样东西，一是红色，二是火光，三是很吵的声音。所以大家在冬天的时候，在门的两边挂上红色的桃木板，门口放一堆火，夜里不睡觉，敲敲打打的弄出很吵的声音，结果把 “年” 这只怪兽吓跑，再也不敢出来，过了这一夜，大家互相庆祝，说说吉祥话，恭喜大家平安快乐。

后来，门两边挂上红色桃木板的习俗，就变成了在门的两边贴上红色的“春联”。火光和大的声音，就变成了放鞭炮。一到了新年的早上，到处都会看见红色的喜气，大家见了面都会互相恭喜，祝贺大家都平安，可以快乐过新年。
（Text adapted to simplified Chinese from tcsl.ntnu.edu.tw/writing)

How to write a New Year's Card

2012-01-18T09:36:00.001-05:00

With the Lunar New Year fast approaching, it is a time for many to return home and spend their holiday with family. But sometimes connecting with distant (as in location) relatives isn't an option. In times like that, the 新年賀卡 (xīn nián hè kǎ), or New Year's Card is a perfect way to send one's well wishes. For students of Chinese, this is the perfect time to put some of our hard-earned studying time to good use, and to get some serious culture points in the process.

A traditional 新年賀卡

The traditional New Year greeting card (see above) is typically just a single piece of paper with four major components.

收件者 (shōu jiàn zhě: the receiver). The receivers name should be placed in the top right corner of the card, followed by their 尊稱 (zūn chēng) or honorific title (if they have one).
吉祥話 or 祝福話 (jí xiáng huà: auspicious words / zhù fú huà: well wishes). Place in the center of the card, as this is the meat of the greeting card. The words should appear larger than the rest. Auspicious words should be selected according to the status of the recipient.
寄件者 (jì jiàn zhě: the sender). Placed on the left hand side of the card this portion is divided into three sections. The first is 自稱 (zì chēng: your self-professed title) ex. 學生(xué shēng: student). It should be slightly smaller than your 署名 (shŭ míng: signature), which follows on the next line over. Proceeding your signature is the 啟事敬辭 (qǐ shì jìng cí), a way of further showing your respect to the sender. A typical example of this is 敬上(jìng shàng), the Chinese form of "respectfully".
日期 (rì qí: the date). Much like personal and professional letters it is always important to wrap things up with the date. This appears furthest to the left on a traditional greeting letter.

Even if you are using the more common western-style greeting card found today, the components remain the same--just be sure to switch all the components to fit western standards.

A more western style of 新年賀卡, where the writing goes on the inside!

The big question still remains. What should you put in the middle? While the ubiquitous 新年快樂 (xīn nián kuài lè), or Happy New Year, is the obvious choice, there are many other options. One that is certain to be popular for 龍年（lóng nián: the year of the dragon) is: 龍年行大運 (lóng nián xíng dà yùn), which will bring good luck to all your actions during the year of the dragon.

For a great list of some standard well wishes, and some great four character couplets, check out Card City, and some of their more standard greetings (found in the box marked: 參考賀詞: cān kǎo hè cí). The site is all in traditional Chinese, but pretty easy to navigate. You can even send an e-card to your friends and family if you choose.

Care to share a few of your favorite New Year greetings? Put them in the comments below.

Big Noise from the Little Island

2012-01-12T23:32:00.001-05:00

January 14, 2012 might not seem like an important day in the west, but here in the "rogue province" we know as Taiwan it will mark the 13th-term presidential election. I'll let The Wall Street Journal and other news media outlets report on what this could mean for China/Taiwan relations, as Ma Ying-jeou and Tsai Ing-wen battle it out for what is expected to be quite the photo finish. Instead, I thought I would try and capture a bit of what it means for me here in Taiwan, and how the political atmosphere feels compared to the US.

I swear there is a scooter in the picture somewhere.

Firstly, the upcoming elections has meant loads of spam in my mailbox (the old fashion kind, that is). I'm sure candidates want to make sure that their message gets out to everyone. However, based on the fact that just about every piece of political spam in my apartment building now graces the floor of our first floor entryway, I would say that the general population (or at least everyone in my building) has already made up their mind on how they are going to cast their vote this Saturday. I guess it is better than having people go door to door, but that would at least give me a chance to practice some politically focused Mandarin!

While we don't get the door to door visits, I'm actually quite surprised at how willing people are to share their political views here. While I grew up being taught that politics were never a polite topic during meals, I've certainly had my fair share of politically conversations at my local breakfast shop. Not that I really have an opinion one way or another, but when I'm reading the newspaper I can't help but ask a few questions about what is being said by the candidates, and how the talking heads (yeah they have those here too) are spinning the facts. But things are all smiles when it comes to talking politics. The owner of the breakfast shop informed me that he and his brother don't speak because of political difference. Needless to say I didn't probe any further on that topic.

On the streets, you would have to be a fool to not know that something big was going on. Taipei, a city usually filled with more scooters than I ever thought possible, is now filled with the political equivalent of Hell's Angels--scooter gangs than have transferred their rides into rolling billboards for the candidate they support. Unlike the Angels, they've traded loud pipes for small speakers systems that blast the candidates' maxims for all to hear (and in three languages too). Since I live near a gas station, my apartment has been inundated with these sounds for months.

It doesn't stop there, as mini-trucks pick up the scooter slack, blaring the message even louder and longer, since they can't quite zip through traffic in the same reckless manner. In addition to these mobile ads, all the major roadways are graced with political flags and banner ads, as if the seeming disconcern for traffic lanes (or signaling before a lane change) weren't a big enough distraction while on the road.

For many, this weekend marks a trip back to their hometowns. Taiwan does not have an absentee-ballot system, so if you want to cast your vote it means you've got to head back to wherever "home" is on your resident IDs. This is a huge issue for many of my classmates who are still not done with finals and final reports for the semester. However, not wanting to miss their first chance to vote (the voting age in Taiwan is 20), they are getting even less sleep than before, trying to cram before the weekend. On an even bigger scale this also means that an estimated 180,000 overseas Taiwanese are returning home to cast their votes as well.

Reflecting back on my time in Taiwan around the 2008 election, it felt nothing like these past few weeks. Sure there were mini-trucks and flags, but it didn't feel like politics were out to get you, waiting in dark alleys or something. If that is any indication, I would say that the 14th is a huge day for Taiwan. The margins are close--way too close to call, and the general noise surrounding the streets (and the relentless mailbox spam) means these candidates are doing everything they can to get the votes. When the dust settles on the 15th, it will be interesting to see what this means for the upcoming future of Taiwan and cross-strait relations. At least one thing is certain: the streets will be a little quieter. Until Chinese New Year, anyway.

So many ways to be distracted on the road!

iOS App in Ethiopia

2012-01-09T13:51:00.002-05:00

While George, Scott, and I are working hard on the upcoming Skritter iOS app, we thought we'd share some of the alpha testers' experiences with it so far. Even in its rough form, a lot of testers have great stories to tell about how they're using the app. First up is junglegirl, who you may remember from the October newsletter.

For several months I had been planning a 3-week trip to Ethiopia in November 2011, and as much as I was looking forward to it, I was also dreading being away from Skritter for so long. I knew that Internet access would not be widely available there, and even when I did find an internet café the connection would probably be too slow. On the rare occasions in the past when I had gone just a few days without Skrittering, my study routine had been turned upside down, and I had become very frustrated by seeing how quickly I had forgotten what I had learned. I hated to think what would happen after three weeks.

At that time the iOS app was still in the early stages of alpha testing; it tended to crash a lot, so I didn’t have much hope that it could hold out for the whole trip. Nevertheless, I explained my situation to Nick, and he finished a stable version for me the day before I left. Lo and behold, it worked!

Thanks to the iOS app, I had Skritter in my pocket, no matter where I went! I could Skritter while cruising from one monastery to another on a boat around Lake Tana, watching gelada baboons playing on a plateau above Lalibela, trekking through the newly harvested fields of the Tigrai region, waiting for the bus conductor to change a flat tire, or just relaxing in a hotel room after a long day of travel. Ethiopia is a beautiful and often misunderstood country with a unique history, culture, cuisine, religion and people. I had an amazing trip there, and it was made all the better by the fact that Skritter was right there with me the whole time.

Even now that I’ve returned home and am connected to the Internet for most of the day, I definitely still enjoy playing (I mean, er, studying) on the app. Skritter is actually much faster on the app than on my laptop, and it’s great to be able to pick it up and study straight away, even when I only have a few minutes, rather than waiting until I have a solid chunk of time available to sit in front of the computer. Knowing how far the app has come already, I can’t wait to see what the finished version will be like once it hits the market.

For more photos of junglegirl's trip, check out jungleboy's Flickr page. And if you haven't already, go check out the Skritter iOS app teaser page and sign up to get an email when we launch the free app. You'll also be entered to win a free iPad to Skritter on.

Making Progress Numbers Accurate

2011-12-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

As things currently stand, the progress page and its numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Skritter tracks two things separately:

How well you know each individual item currently and
How much you know overall for any given day in the past

Ideally, adding up the progress of the individual items should give you the overall number for the current day. However, over time and due to persistent, hard-to-find bugs, those two numbers tend to diverge a little bit, usually by no more than a percent or two.

However, with the new iOS app, all sorts of new progress bugs have been wreaking havoc on our intrepid alpha testers. Junglegirl, for example, has reportedly learned over four billion characters. To correct these numbers I've built a quick tool to take all the correct progress stats we have on individual items and reconstruct the sums that are shown on the progress page so they are 100% correct once more. Since iOS alpha testers won't be the only ones who might want to correct errors in their progress, I've added a 'recalculate' button to the progress page (inside the 'totals' popup) on the beta site for everyone to use. Give it a try! Let us know if there are any issues with it before we put it to the stable site in January.

Also, one of the major persistent bugs causing the diverging progress numbers on the site was finally fixed in October, so the numbers should be recorded much more accurate going forward. The iOS progress tracking has been getting much better lately, and will probably end up being more accurate than the site since we're doing it all from the ground up again, but there are still some issues. Once we're pretty sure those are more cleared up, we'll start adding more alpha testers. We know how eager many of you are, but we don't want to put too many peoples' progress stats in danger!

Skritter iPhone App Teaser

2011-12-16T01:44:00.000-05:00

It's been one year since we announced the development of the Skritter iPhone app. That's a long time to wait! That post is still getting comments--151 and counting--so we know you're hungry for an update. George, Scott, and I thought we'd put together a teaser video of the app in action to tide you over. Today will be the first public glimpse, though a small group of alpha testers has been using it for two months. Their feedback bubbles with enthusiasm, and with each tester averaging over 26 hours of study on the app, we know we're onto something!

We can hardly wait to launch the app. It's not ready yet, but today we're starting to promote it in anticipation of its release. To kick things off, along with the teaser video, we've put up a teaser page where you can enter your email address to get an email from us when the app hits the App Store. And when you register your email, we'll enter you in a drawing to win a free iPad. The app will be free, and we're planning to include beginner-friendly content in the app, so tell your friends.

So head on over to the Skritter iOS app teaser page and get excited!

If you have questions about the app, let's hear them in the comments. You can get updates on our development progress by following Skritter on Facebook, SkritterHQ on Twitter, or just me on Google+. If you're wondering where your native Android app is: the plan is to do that one after this one.

We've also just sent out the Skritter December Newsletter.

Know your idiomatic phrases

2011-12-11T12:54:00.001-05:00

Idiomatic phrases, those gems of the Chinese language, can make any non-native speaker sound like a pro, and are sure to attract more than a few 你的中文很棒 (nǐ de zhōngwén hěn bàng) from the locals--especially if they're used correctly. I still remember my first idiom like it was yesterday. Arriving in Pingxi (平溪) for the international lantern festival, I couldn't believe how many people were there. Pushing my way through crowds of people releasing their hopes and dreams into the heavens, I turned to a friend and exclaimed, "人太多了！" (rén tài duō le) only to have a Taiwanese person turn and say, "人山人海" ( rén shān rén hǎi). The phrase was perfect, as people did seem to be covering everything from the mountains to the ocean.

From that moment on I was hooked. Any time I heard or read something that seemed like an idiom, I would rush to write it down, storing it for the perfect moment. Drawing from poems, famous figures and commoners alike, these turns of phrase give us a glimpse into the essence of Chinese language and culture. If you've ever had a chance to look at a idiom dictionary, you'll soon discover that there seems to be one for just about every occasion. By now you're probably wondering why I haven't used the word "idiom" yet. That's because Chinese is comprised of more than just 成語 (chéng yŭ: idioms).

So let's take a look at the various types of 熟語 (shúyŭ: idiomatic phrases) and see what makes each of them special.

1. First up are 成語 (chéng yŭ): the most elegant and refined of the idiomatic phrases. Also the most strict. Commonly occurring in four syllable sets, and retaining a quintessence of classical Chinese literature, cheng yu are fixed phrases that cannot be altered. Out of all the idiomatic phrases they appear with the highest frequency, and are also the most literary. Cheng yu generally appear as part of a sentence, and without quotation. Most cheng yu that we see today have a story associated with them, expanding, and giving a background, for the imagery and meaning captured inside these elegant four character sets. A few examples include:

守株待兔 (shǒu zhū dài tù: to wait foolishly for the unexpected)
曇花一現 (tán huā yī xiàn: to be short lived)

While using chengyu can certainly make your Chinese a lot more impressive, using them in informal settings can be rather awkward, so best to save them for your speeches, and Chinese reports.

2. Second on the list is 諺語 (yàn yŭ), also referred to as 俚語 (lǐ yŭ), 俗語(sú yŭ), and 直言(zhí yán ): the great Chinese proverbs that have circulated through the ages carrying profound wisdom in an easy and accessible way. Capturing a sense of ideology, experience and wisdom about all aspects of life, yan yu contain a rich wealth of Chinese philosophy and morals. There form, much like cheng yu, is neat and tidy, with a harmonious tone that is clear and succinct making them easy to teach orally and commit to memory.

These proverbs are often made up of five or six characters, and can be used to connect the meaning of two sentences. A famous examples of this structure is "路遙知馬力, 日久見人心" (lù yáo zhī mǎ lì , rì jiŭ jiàn rén xīn). Unlike 成語 the meaning here is clear and direct, a long road will tell you the power of your horse, and a long period of time will tell you about a persons heart. By far one of the best proverbs for those of us learning Chinese is "活到老，學到老" (huó dào lǎo, xué dào lǎo), the idea that one is never too old to learn something new!

3. Third up is 歇後語 (xiē hòu yŭ), otherwise known as 俏皮語(qiào pí yŭ). These unique phrases are comprised of two interrelated expressions coming together to form a kind of witty simile. The first--(often) a metaphor, the second--the answer, explaining the true meaning of the first expression. However, what is truly unique about these phrases, is that the second expression is often left off entirely, leaving the listener to interpret the metaphor and search their linguistic archives for the proper explanation. Taking the example : 瞎子逛街-目中無人 (xiā zi guàng jiē - mù zhōng wú rén), the connection is drawn between a "blind man shopping" and the idea of (someone) being totally supercilious. While the later "目中無人" is a phrase you would rarely say openly in Chinese culture, the former could help to subtly hint that someone is acting like a total ass. These phrases are a great way to "insult" with a hint of class. Here are a few other examples:

水底撈月－白費心機 (huǐ dǐ lāo yuè--bái fèi xīn jī): to do something in vain.
殺雞取卵－只得一回 (shā jī qŭ luǎn-- zhǐ dé yī huí): to do something stupid.
瞎子看書－裝模作樣(xiā zi kàn shū-- zhuāng mó zuò yàng) to put on a act.

4. Fourth up, 慣用語(guàn yòng yŭ), colloquial expressions that have become the social norm in everyday speech. Short and sweet, these "fixed phrases" are simple and straight forward often describing a range of emotions. A few common examples are: 丟臉(diū liǎn)，亮相(liàng xiàng)，吃香 (chī xiāng), 哭窮(kū qióng) etc. The structure of these colloquial expressions is much more versatile that many phrases on this list, and one can often add other components to them to suit your fancy… such as: “不要丟我的臉”(bú yào diū wǒ de liǎn). Many such expressions carry a similar tone as cheng yu.

For example: The phrase 無孔不入 (wú kǒng bú rù: get in by every opening), is a fixed expression that cannot be altered. 鑽空子 (zuān kòng zi), however, carries a similar meaning but can be taken apart and altered, for example: 鑽了一個空子 (zuān le yí gè kòng zi).

5. Last but not least are 格言(gé yán), maxims, mottos, or sayings that generally were spoke by notable people in China's history. Also called 箴言(zhēn yán), they represent a concise way of stating the behavioral norms in society, or a certain worldview… something akin to aphorism, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Structurally, these maxims often appear as a complete stand alone sentence, independently expressing an idea. They also will appear in quotation in texts. Unlike Chinese proverbs, that are author-less, these maxims will have an origin and author. Once such 格言 is Sun Yat-sen's famous line："革命尚未成功, 同志仍須努力" (gé mìng shàng wèi chéng gōng, tóng zhì réng xū nŭ lì)... which translated means "the revolution isn't over, comrades keep on fighting."

It is clear that Chinese idiomatic phrases come in all shapes and sizes. Some are more colloquial, while others are reserved for research papers and black tie events. Either way, there seems to be at least one phrase out there for just about every type of situation imaginable. Do you have a favorite idiomatic phrase? If so we would love to hear about it below.

As always, the vocabulary from today's post can be found here.

Businessman for the day

2011-12-10T07:54:00.000-05:00

Business is booming in China. Foreign companies and Chinese companies alike are doing everything they can to gain a competitive edge in the lucrative and ever-growing market. Doing business in China is not always about having the best product or the best sales pitch. Sometimes it is all about who you know. In Chinese culture this is commonly referred to as “face.” The more international and well-connected a company appears, the more “face” it has, and the more likely it will be able to receive financial support. And what better way for a Chinese company to appear international than to have a white guy on staff… at least for the weekend?

This new business phenomenon is known as “renting a white guy.” News of this unique business venture first appeared in an article released by The Atlantic Magazine, when Mitch Moxley, a writer in Beijing, wrote a confession article about his work as a quality-control expert with an American firm. His job was to wear a suit and shake some hands. His pay for a week's worth of work was $1000. No experience necessary. The only real requirement was to have a fair complexion and a nice suit. CNN also took on the story, interviewing two similar “businessmen” who were living in China.

When I first heard about this experience it sounded so bizarre that I didn’t believe it--until I was offered a similar opportunity while living in China. I was offered a job as the Director of Development for Day's Inn. I was paid to fly to Southern China and spend the weekend attending a groundbreaking ceremony for a new five-star hotel that was being built. The company gave me business cards and a background story. Other than that, I was just asked to be polite and smile big.

I'm sure this is the highest up the corporate latter I'll ever get：Director of Development （发展总监：fāzhǎn zǒngjiān

Aside from discovering that I look pretty good in a suit, I realized that “renting" a white guy does a lot more for the company in that it does for whomever is being hired. The company gains a high level of "face" for a relatively low price. Rather than pay the high salary of an international businessman they can hire a Chinese citizen to do the same job for a fraction of the price. If for some reason they company needs to have a more international appearance they simply outsource the task to a more-than-willing expat. Looking past the apparent strangeness of the situation, it is really just a sort of reputational outsourcing, similar to having a celebrity appear in an ad to sell a product. We shouldn’t be laughing at the situation, we should be taking notes. Given the current financial situation in American, I have a feeling that it won't be long before we find ourselves playing the same game, hiring Chinese speakers to help secure the next big business deal.

Of course, If you are looking for other ways to make a few extra bucks, then playing a foreign extra is another option. Playing an extra means sitting around for hours on end (a great way to practice your Chinese), and the pay is usually 50 kuai an hour. If you speak Chinese relatively well you could land a bigger part, but that typically requires an audition. I spoke to one gentleman who landed a speaking role, and he was making around 3000 kuai for half a day's work. Either way you'll want to find an agent, or have them find you, and they can help set everything up. It isn't Hollywood, but if you don't feel like tutoring, than it's another option.

Have any stories you would like to share? Feel free to post them below.

Improve your Chinese reading comprehension

2011-11-22T20:26:00.002-05:00

This summer I had the amazing opportunity to attend the 2011 ACC-CLASS K-12 Chinese Language Teacher Training program in Beijing, China. For six intensive weeks we focused on becoming better Chinese teachers, learning new ways to help inspire and engage students during classroom activities. Our goal was to learn how to give students the skills and knowledge to not only understand, but also effectively use the Chinese language. Lecture after lecture was devoted to understanding how different students learn a second language, and how we could adapt our teaching strategies to those individual demands.

What I didn’t realize before heading to Beijing, was that during those six weeks I would learn more about how to become an effective Chinese learner that I ever though possible. At least once a week I silently wished that what I was learning, could somehow be transferred to my former self. I wondered how much more I could have gleaned from the (at the time) seemly mysterious language that we refer to as Mandarin (汉语: Hàn yǔ).

One particular lecture, given by Dr. Michael Everson on the topic “Reading Chinese as a Foreign Language,” really stood out to me, and I would like to share a little bit of what I learned during that lecture, along with other strategies discussed in second language acquisition. As non-native speakers of Chinese, increasing our reading comprehension (阅读能力: yùedú nénglì) is a crucial step on the path to near-native fluency. Written and spoken Chinese operate in two very different systems, forcing us to not only understand them both separately, but also draw on their corresponding connections. While reading Chinese is difficult at times, there are many strategies available to help increase and develop our Chinese reading comprehension skills, apart from using Skritter daily, of course.

First, in order to effectively comprehend a reading, it is important to select texts and materials that coincide with one’s current language level. Research in second language acquisition suggests a strong correlation between the amount of unknown words in a text and its affect on reading comprehension. While this may seem quite obvious, it implies that our brain has a limit to the amount of new material that we are able to process at any given time. Since second language learners are always operating with an incomplete lexicon, foreign materials (such as new vocabulary) should be introduced in small chucks that can be acquired (习得: xí dé), stored (储存: chǔ cún), and extracted (提取: tí qǔ) later on. The more new material we are exposed to, the less likely we are to commit any of it to long-term memory retention. So, if you are in first year Chinese for example, trying to read a newspaper cover-to-cover looking up every new word is not the most effective tool to increase reading comprehension, instead it might be better to read a short story that only introduces a few new vocabulary words and grammar points.

Second, when reading a new passage, we should be selective about what we are trying retain. Our focus should be on materials that can be understood, rather than what is unknown. In this way we can gain an understanding of the general meaning (大意: dàyì), allowing our brains to “tolerate ambiguity” and use linguistic context (语境: yǔ jìng) to make informed and intelligent guesses about unknown material. It is important to note that when making these guesses one should not simply rely on Chinese, rather, we should connect the passage to our own individual background knowledge on the subject, even if that background knowledge is in our native language (母语: mǔyǔ).

Another tool for increasing reading (and listening) comprehension is to consider the Chinese rhetorical structure. These are the basic four steps of Chinese essay writing, which is called: 起承转合 (qǐ-chéng-zhuǎn-hé). An essay starts with an introduction (起: qǐ), and is then followed by the development (承: chéng) and transition (转: zhuǎn). Of course last but not least is the conclusion (合: hé). Keeping the rhetorical structure in mind will help to predict (预测 yù cè) how a text will proceed, giving us a better understanding of how each individual sentence and paragraph fits together to form the full argument or statement.

Of course, as we become more proficient in reading comprehension skills we must develop new reading strategies to help with extended texts. The first is increasing our superficial or extended reading (泛读 fàndú) skills. For those of us who are preparing to take a Chinese proficiency exam or are reading extended texts, this is perhaps the best way to deal with the sheer amount of data in a timely fashion. Much like the above-mentioned selective retention, we should only focus on the important elements of an article. However, for test prep we shouldn’t be checking any reference materials (since you can’t do that on a proficiency exam). Superficial reading is a skill that gets better through time and exposure. Eventually, after an increased exposure to similar types of material (daily reading of the economic section of a newspaper for example) we begin to notice grammar patterns and key-phrases that reoccur often.

The second method is a focus on the details and particulars (细节: xìjié) within a text. This method allows for the adding of new vocabulary to our lexicon. Our awareness is on the frequency (频率: pínlǜ) of certain characters as they appear in a text and searching for technical terms or proper names (专有名词: zhuānyǒu míngcí). A general rule of thumb that my Professor at Peking University (北京大学: Běijīng Dàxué) recommended to me was the “three times rule”. If one sees a word (单词: dāncí) or phrase (短语: dǔanyǔ) appear three or more times in a text, it should be considered both important and high-frequency, meaning we should take the time to commit it to long-term memory (or add it to a Skritter vocab list!). The other words in the text, such as technical terms, should also be understood, but we should be more selective about the information that we wish to retain for the long term, because we can only handle so much new information at once.

With effective reading strategies, and large amounts (大量: dàliàng) of reading practice, the process (过程: guòchéng) will become much more automatic (自动: zìdòng) and natural (自然: zìrán). More tips and reading materials for increasing reading comprehension can be found on the National Foreign Language Center’s Website for reading Chinese. If anyone has their own tips for increase Chinese reading comprehension skills, please feel free to share them in the comments section below. For now, happy (Chinese) reading!

The vocab list for this blog can be found here.

Stroke Order for the Perfectionists

2011-11-15T23:11:00.002-05:00

If you have ever learned Chinese in a classroom setting you have almost certainly come into contact with the seemingly arbitrary and ridiculous rules of stroke order. If you were particularly unlucky, your teacher was a stickler for the rules and corrected you every time you wrote on the board.

Here at Skritter we try not to shake our finger too much at your stroke order mistakes, but we do try to be as precise as possible so that we're teaching best stroke order practices. After all, we've taught people more than 1,000,000 characters and it would be no good if we were inculcating mistakes!

The good news is that there has been a great deal of research done on the topic of stroke order and most characters have unambiguous orders. The bad news is that as with any language spoken by 1/5 of the world's population, there are inconsistencies. There is the mainland Chinese standard, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education, the Japanese government's kanji guidelines, and dozens of dictionaries all claiming to have "authoritative" stroke order guides.

In this morass of inconsistency, we at Skritter are making an honest effort to consult all the sources and be flexible whenever possible. Since the site started I have kept a text buffer with my research in it and every time someone asked about a radical or character, I went to that document, double checked any out of date sources, and responded. Recently Nick suggested that I translate that body of research into a page on the site so that our decisions on stroke order were collected in one spot and were transparent to anyone interested in the topic.

Well, it took quite a few hours to codify and fact-check my rather ill-maintained document, but it is now available for public viewing here. If you have a passion for stroke order, I recommend you stop by and check it out. I've spent many hours fact-checking sources for stroke order inconsistencies on the web and have never run across a document like this. Basically I've listed every contentious radical or stroke we've dealt with, outlined what the sources say, and then summarized our decision about how best to support that particular case. If you ever wondered why Skritter insisted on a certain stroke before another, this document should explain it.

The other benefit of putting all my research in one spot is that you can criticize me and hopefully improve the accuracy of the Skritter character database. So by all mean, check it out and yell at me if you find something incorrect!

Also, the Skritter November newsletter just went out.

Famous Foreigners Who Can Speak Chinese Really Well 会说中文的外国明星 (huì shuō Zhōngwén de wàiguó míngxīng)

2011-11-11T11:41:00.000-05:00

外国人 (wàiguórén, lit. foreigners, people who are not ethnically Chinese) who learn Chinese to a near native level of fluency and then appear in the media are still somewhat of a rarity these days. The few foreigners who make it to that level sometimes gain a following in China and become celebrities for their language skills. Below I've listed the ten foreigners that I've been most impressed by. Feel free to add to the list in the comments below if you've discovered other impressive non-native Chinese speakers.

1. 大山 (Dà Shān), Henry Rowswell

The Canadian born Mark Rowswell (otherwise known as 大山) mastered the Chinese language and went public with it by appearing in advertisements, on Chinese TV shows, and in the annual 春节联欢晚会. You can check out his personal website here. Below is a YouTube clip of him performing 相声 (xiàngsheng). If you've spent any time in China, chances are that you've already heard mention of 大山 (lit. big mountain). There seems to be almost a unanimous decision among Chinese people that his Chinese language skills are hands down the best of all foreigners. Chinese language learners in China often experience a conversation at some point about how their Chinese compares to 大山's Chinese, followed by a discussion of what country 大山 comes from and a mention of his Chinese wife.

Alternate video link for Skritter users behind the "Great Firewall of China": http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODcyMzk0NDg=.html

2. John Pasden

John Pasden, a native of Florida, is known for hosting tons of lessons on ChinesePod, the best-known of all the Chinese language learning podcasts. He is a master at clearly explaining the meaning and usage of Chinese words and phrases. His Chinese is amazingly good, and he has helped out countless numbers of people to take their language skills to the next level. He also started his own company last year, AllSet Learning, a consulting firm for helping people in Shanghai study Chinese. His blog, Sinosplice, has gained a lot of attention with Chinese language learners because of the interesting posts, tips for language study, and little bits of wisdom.

3. 大牛 (Dà Niú), Daniel Newham

Hailing from England, Daniel Newham has appeared on a bunch of Chinese TV (CCTV) programs, most notably the new version of 快乐汉语 (kuàilè hànyǔ). 快乐汉语 originally was a sitcom with a Full House / Family Matters feel about an American girl who goes to live with a Chinese family in Beijing. There were more than 100 episodes, each with a cultural focus like kung fu, eating out, or celebrating Chinese New Year's. The 快乐汉语 that Daniel Newham appears on is really different, more of a travel TV show. Each episode focuses on a different area of China and delves into the history and famous sites and scenes of the place. I've been really impressed by 大牛's Chinese, but find the show a little too dry for extended viewing.

Alternate China-friendly video: http://v.ku6.com/show/IyBuZ6w4DlDRPLhO.html

4. 朱力安 (Zhūlì 'ān), Julien Gaudfroy

This Frenchman has rocked the Chinese language learning world with his flawless Beijing accented Mandarin. In the interview below he explains about how he learned to perform 相声. In the video he also performs a few crazy Chinese tongue twisters. Julien has appeared frequently on Chinese TV, often as a host for large scale media events. In some ways he is even more impressive than 大山, considering that he was able to reach a similar level of fluency at a much younger age.

Alternate China-friendly video: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/oZnfvGowUPE/#

5. Jiefu - Jeff Locker

If you watch the clip below you'll see why I'm impressed by this Chinese speaking American, Jeff Locker. Apparently he is famous in Taiwan for his comic work on TV. He has also appeared in several Taiwanese movies. Here he is impersonating a Chinese speaking George Bush. Does anyone know more about Jiefu?

7. 曹操 (Cǎocāo), Jonathan Kos-Read

Jonathan Kos-Read is an American actor from California who appears frequently on Chinese soap operas. IMDB says that he has been in more than 25 prime time TV shows and films and has starred in more than 50 soap operas. He also had a reality show about his life in China.

Alternate China-friendly video: http://v.rbc.cn/play/Play?id=39279

8. 董漠涵, (Dǒng Mòhán), Risteard O Deorian

Risteard is an Irishman who performs 相声 and hosts several TV programs in China. More recently he has remade himself as a one-man band under the name "Low Bow".

Alternate China-friendly video: http://v.ku6.com/show/2sgs7qMMsCQx2vlD.html

8. 大龙 (Dà Lóng), Andrew Ballen Da Long

Big Dragon made a name for himself by hosting a travel show called "Getaway". In the show he traveled all over China talking with people from all walks of life. Later on he turned to business, organizing and promoting hip hop music and culture in Shanghai. In the following interview he discusses his path to China and his process of learning to speak Chinese.

9. 郝歌 (Hǎo Gē), Uwechue Emmanuel

Hao Ge (his name has the same pronunciation as 好歌, lit. good song), from Nigeria, has made it into the spotlight by singing on Chinese tv. He sings in Chinese with a kind of R-Kelly soulful style. New York Times reports that he has quite a fan base with middle-aged ladies who watch American-Idol-style singing competition daytime TV shows. He is also one of the first Africans to break into the mainstream media in China.

Alternate China-friendly video: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjgxNjMzNTYw.html

10. 那比尔 (Nàbǐ'ěr), Nabil Huening

那比尔 is another American who has broken into the world of Chinese tv shows. He has appeared in a bunch of CCTV dramas and sitcoms. You can check out his Chinese in the following clip from a WWII made for tv drama. Aside from his acting work he also is an accomplished pop singer and songwriter. Check out the alternate China-friendly video to see him chat with 大山 and then sing a well-known Chinese pop song (不得不爱).

Alternate China friendly video: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjc1NjQxNzYw.html

iOS Dev Turbo

2011-11-03T16:43:00.000-04:00

Y'all have helpfully clamored for a Skritter iOS app for a long time now. As I've gotten more and more of it built, I'm seeing how right y'all were: it's going to knock off some socks! Looking through the feedback from the alpha testers so far, some of the most popular phrases are "in love", "awesome", "great", "amazing", "really nice", "really really good", "easy to use", "smooth", "fast", "fun", "thrilled", and "excited". (And "crashes", but those are dwindling nicely.) 

I've also been seeing just how much more work it's going to be: a lot more than I thought! As I've been getting more excited, I've been working more so that we can get to launch sooner. I've even been hacking my diet, sleep, exercise, and work routines until I can become an unstoppable productivity machine. But there are only so many hours in one developer's day. 

Which is why we now have two developers working on the iOS app! 

Double development power! This app, it just needs to get done, no two ways about it. I mean, look at some of the feedback we're already getting from our alpha testers: 

"I have to say the app is awesome, and I haven't used the regular site since I've been testing. It is so fun to use."

"It looks amazing visually."

"Loving it! The feel is smooth, the app is fun to use, I'm thrilled that I don't have to log on to the Internet to use it."

Clearly we can't delay in completing this project. So here I am, with a brand new Mac, all shiny and ready to be mercilessly coded upon. 

We have much to do, so here we go.

The Skritter iOS development tools

These past few days have been a blur of activity here with me and Nick getting me ready to go. Migrating all my stuff from my old laptop (I'll miss you, Fedora Linux!), studying up on Objective-C and Xcode, and very gradually persuading my new machine to let me compile and distribute the code that had been made thus far. The last barrier was finally surpassed when I succeeded in sending out a build to our testers yesterday, which included the one line of code I had written for debugging purposes. My own little "Hello, World". 

So for the time being, like Nick, I'll be spending most of my time on iOS. Unfortunately, this means many fixes and improvements to the site have been delayed, but not indefinitely. I'm chomping at the bit to get to some new site projects (particularly general optimization and example sentences), and I plan to dive into them once our app is unleashed upon the world. Thanks for your patience!

And now, back to coding!

Super Editable Lists

2011-10-24T23:12:00.001-04:00

The list system was overhauled for many reasons, and still has some tweaks and bug fixes to go through yet, but here we've come to pretty much the ultimate feature that really brings it all together: published list editing.

We've kept published lists (those that anyone can access and study) immutable up until now because the system simply wouldn't have accommodated the changes previously. Prior to the list system upgrade, if someone edited a list that a lot of people were using, there was a good chance those changes wouldn't have propagated much. If you added a word to a list, people who had already added from that section wouldn't get that new word, and conversely, if a word was removed, it would still be studied by those who had already added it. It all depended on where on the list the word was added, and where on the list it was being added from by any given person. And it would have been even more disorienting if sections were removed, added, or shuffled around.

But now, with the system automatically handling changes to lists and updating your studies accordingly, you can be assured that everyone will be studying from the same page, as it were. For example, if someone reports an error in one of our textbook lists, we can make the change and everyone studying that list will get the fix. If you're gradually building a particularly large list yourself, you can publish it early and have people get new words as you add them. All these changes will be reported to everyone studying the list on the given list's page or on the study nav, so everyone is aware of the changes being made, and it won't come as a surprise when your studies change because someone else edited a list.

In addition to this oft-requested feature, we're also putting into testing the ability to give editing powers to other people, or even making a list editable by anyone. If you and a few other classmates want to put together a textbook list for your class, you can work together on it easily, each editing from their own account. And we'll be interested to see what sorts of extensive lists get put together by the community as a whole.

Both published list editing and list editing permission controls are currently only available to beta testers.