Scoop up a Summer of Skritter, free!

[roddy]

I'm delighted to announce that I'm going to be giving several dozen forum members the opportunity to enjoy popular character-writing site Skritter free, for a whole three months. Considering that Skritter's usual free trial period is, I think, a week, and that a quarter's use would cost $45 at their monthly rate, I'd say this is a pretty good deal.

 

Skritter have provided these at a significant discount, allowing me to buy a load and hand 'em out to you for free.

 

I'd like to make sure everyone - members, Skritter, and this site - gets maximum benefit from this offer. Ideally, I'd like to give these vouchers to people who: 

 

* Haven't used Skritter before, but REALLY like the look of it. Take a look and try the demo or watch the trailer for the iPhone app

* Think there's a good chance they'll keep using (and paying) for Skritter after their free three months are finished. 

* Are, or intend to be, active posters on here, and will be keeping us up to date on their Chinese learning progress. If this isn't you yet, get started now. We're great, even without the free stuff.

 

If you match that description, tell us below. And if you don't, post anyway. If you'd love to use Skritter but couldn't afford to keep subscribing, or if you're already paying for it but would appreciate three free months - well, I'll see what I can do. I'll try and give out the vouchers as fairly as possible.

 

I'm not sure how many vouchers I'm handing out - I'm going to see what demand is like. I may hold a few back to hand out later (or maybe to reward those who learn the most characters ;-) ). 

 

I'll be sending these out by email, so please make sure that your forums email address is up to date here. 

 

Hope this meets with everyone's approval. More goodies to come, so keep watching... And if you'd like us to help you give stuff away, here's how

[xuefang]

Excellent! I'm actually back to Skrittering after a break in studying and remembered how easy it's to use. Making a new list of 6000+ words and learning just their tone and pinyin was very easy to set up.

 

So the rest of you, better hurry and get that voucher! ;)

[Shelley]

I have always been keen to use Skritter on my android tablet but my old tablet was just too old to cope with things like that and had given up any hope of using it on my tablet. Now I have a new one running 4.0.3. and this free offer appears i figure I have to give it a go.

 

Just had a look they are offering an html version for android, apparently my tablet doesn't support flash according to Skritter which is news to me.

 

Anybody know if the html version is flash free? If so I would very much like to try it.

[sinosplice]

Wow, Roddy, you're a regular Skritter Claus... 

[li3wei1]

I haven't used Skritter before, but really like the look of it. Also, writing the characters is my weakest point, and it's important for me to learn this as I'm often at a whiteboard with eager students watching me.

I can't say I'm likely to pay for it after three months, but stranger things have happened. I am extremely tight-fisted, but I've splashed out on a phone and Pleco, so it is possible.

I am a fairly active poster. I haven't bored you all with my learning progress because my plans and methods keep changing, and it would take longer to talk about it than to actually achieve it.

Please please please please please . . . . .

[Xuesheng1937]

I would appreciate the the voucher. I got a surprise remodel of my two bathrooms (leaking into the ceiling below :-( , So that will help me take a look at the software at least. I've looked at it recently actually as I've started learning how to write. My entire learning process so far has been learning just the reading of the characters, and writing is a whole new thing, lol.

[Shelley]

I got my tech guy on it and he says the html version shouldn't use flash.

 

He also says that my tablet is running flash version 10.2.157.51 and the problem might be that my tablet doesn't show up in the adobe list of tablets running adobe.

 

Wonder if it has something to do with fact the tablet came from china

 

So yes please I would really like to give Skritter a go. 3 months is a really good test and I will definitely know if its worth spending money on it for me.

[Melanie1989]

Give! I am covered in mosquito bites so i deserve sympathy vote!

 

For God's sake, don't take that seriously.

[SkritterEvan]

Howdy, everyone!

 

I've occasionally peeked at this forum (usually when I'm making a rather obscure correction and can't find any other good sources) but have only now found occasion to make an account, and needless to say, it's good to be here!   

 

A quick personal note: I began my Skritter subscription at the beginning of my sophomore year of college, and was greatly impressed with how quickly my abilities began to shoot past those of my peers. Around two years ago (time sure does fly!), the team made a blog post, saying they were looking for someone new to handle communications and content curation, and now here I am, working with an awesome team that's working tirelessly to stay at the frontiers of Chinese (and Japanese) learning! 

 

I'll be regularly checking up on this thread to answer any questions and discuss all things Skritter with this passionate and supportive learning community. 

 

I see that there have been some questions regarding whether or not the HTML5 version for Android contains flash, and Shelley would be correct in saying that it doesn't. It's still in the Alpha testing stage, but we're working hard (not to mention painfully extracting every last tear, bead of sweat, and hour of sleep from our lovely developer, Josh) to get the Beta out to the people as soon as is humanly possible! For a more complete Skritter experience, I would highly recommend using the web or iOS version.

[Onwards & Upwards]

Wow. I'm impressed by your idea to generate interest for the forum, Skritter, and the Chinese learning community as a whole.

Though I have never used Skritter before, this definitely sounds like a decent opportunity for me to continue practicing my written characters/character recognition before I begin my graduate courses in the fall, especially while on the road. I'd also be happy to write about my experiences if given the chance.

[Shelley]

Thank you SkritterEvans for joining us, I sure it will be really good to have you around to help us sort out any teething problems and answer tech questions.

 

So............ do you have any ides when we could expect the beta version of the HTML5 version, I only ask because I hope it will be within the 3 month freebie period so I can try it out, unless of course you are looking for Beta testers, put my name down

 

Once again Thank you

[Mouseneb]

Skritter user since 2008 here. I just stopped by to say this is a great offer and Skritter is very worth it. I was basically illiterate in Chinese in 2008 (despite having moved to China in 2005) and for the last two years I've been getting paying work as a Chinese -> English translator. Skritter was a huge part of that, and continues to be a daily study tool for me.

[simplet]

Here is my plea for a free voucher :

 

I used to be a paying subscriber to skritter but I got a job offer to russia and put chinese aside for a while. Now I'm coming back to china with a vengeance to work and study and I'm going back to chinese. I'll be working in Jinan until mid-september and then I'll go to Beijing to study (I'll be sure to keep you guys posted about my studies as a french-english-chinese interpreter in the interpreter thread).

 

I can read well enough but so far I've been too lazy to practice hand writing anywhere near how I should, now I think I'll have no choice but to get really serious about it. So I'd say there is a high probability that I'll keep paying after three months.

[Milkybar_Kid]

I have been self studying Chinese for 3 years now and never learnt how to write.  Despite spending a lot of time working on my reading skills, I always thought that learning to write wasn't worth the effort.  Now my opinion is slowly changing and I am starting to realise that writing by hand could actually be worth studying.  

 

I hope that Skritter will be able to give me a good introduction to writing Chinese characters.  If it does, I can definitely see myself paying for a subscription.

 

Thanks

[spiff]

Hi all! I'd love a shot at Skritter, as writing is my weakest skill. Having studied mainly oral communication at a Confucius Institute, it's been quite a shock to study at a Chinese university for the past year, with a heavy focus on writing by hand. I recently took HSK 4 and 5 (and HSKK, all on the same day!) and really felt my performance suffered as a result of my poor writing skills. I've been tempted by Skritter in the past but have never taken the final step of signing up; I'd love a chance to try it out for an extended period and see how it benefits my writing and reading.

[bob24]

Hi. I would loved to get a voucher as well if still available. Tried it shortly some time ago but did not keep up with it. Would be great to give it another shot with an initial free period (plus my Chinese evening classes just finished, it would be perfect to keep me going for the summer :-)).

[DGonzo]

HI!!!!!!!  I would really like to try out skritter for three months; that would be EXTREMELY amazing!!!!!!!!  I've never tried it before because of its seemingly high price, but I think trying it for the summer for free will really enlighten me on the app!  I'm planning to start studying this Chinese really hard this summer in a few days (when I'm done with exams), and having skritter at my disposal would truly be amazing, because I'm really curious if it will advance my learning.  I'm not really an active member on this site, but, given I'll have all the free time in the world starting next week to study Chinese, I highly doubt I won't have worthy questions or comments for this forum. Thanks!!!

[James3]

I was curious the best device to use for Skritter, so I did a search, and found this page:

 

http://www.skritter.com/input-review

 

It says an iPad was the best device (in 2012.) Just wondering if that's still the case.

[photoman]

I would like to join Skritter for free. I am British born Chinese and only speak Cantonese. Mandarin is like a foreign language which Is most difficult to learn. Any help would be mostt appreciated. Thanks.

[lowrijos13]

Hi! 

 

I've been a member of this forum for a while now, but I've never felt the need to post before. I've been mainly using the forum to find more resources to aid my learning and it's taken me a while to go through all the different ideas! Anyway, I'd actually read about Skritter on here and had considered joining but it wasn't at the right time (I'm a uni student and it was during my exam period). It's now Summer and I'm ready to get serious. I'm still not 100% if I'd be happy to pay so much for Skritter after the 3 months, but if I enjoy it and find it useful I certainly will. Writing characters is the part of learning Chinese that I find the hardest by far, so I'd appreciate a voucher so so so much. I'd also be more than happy to post on here about my progress and let you all know how my learning is going. It's about time I joined this community properly!