Scoop up a Summer of Skritter, free!

[SkritterJake]

@James3

 

Thanks for your question. Are you thinking about purchasing a device in order to use Skritter, or do you have other goals in mind as well? For studying on the go, the regular iPad can feel a little large IMO, so I find myself using the iPhone more often. When sitting at home with a good stylus, however, the iPad makes one feel like a character writing god!

 

We're going to be release an Android app in the very near future, and I have been doing alpha testing on a Nexus 7 device. It's small enough to fit in one hand, and landscape mode looks pretty slick. You might consider looking into that device, since it's going to be cheaper than both the iPad and iPad-mini. The Nexus device starts at $229.00 in case you were curious.

 

I hope that helps answer your question, and let me know if you need anything else!

 

-Jake

[James3]

@Jake

 

You're right, I'd be purchasing a new device specifically so I could start using Skritter. I'm not quite ready, but I'm toying with the idea nevertheless. Hmm...I'll have to check out a Nexus 7.

 

Thanks!

[SkritterJake]

@James3 

 

   Sounds great. The Skritter website should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect feature-wise, even if you're just using a mouse to start (use anything but a laptop's trackpad!!!)  but obviously the mobile apps will be a very different experience. Another alternative is a Wacom, or other writing tablet, which would cut down on overall costs, the tradeoff being that you'll forever be anchored to your computer.

 

Let us know if you ever have any other questions, and we'll try to help! 

 

-Jake

[roddy]

Bump for this - anyone else? 

[Modena]

I haven't had the fortune of coming across Skritter in the past but after having tried out the demo I'm already impressed. I especially like how they give pronunciations while learning characters and their strokes. Writing characters has been the most difficult process for me.

 

My fiancee is Chinese and due to work in the past I haven't been able to dedicate a substantial amount of time to learning. She speaks fluent English but being able to communicate better with her family is important to me. Now that I have more time available to me I've been learning more and this would be an excellent opportunity to expedite the process

[roddy]

Ok, emailed out a batch of Skritter vouchers just now - everyone who asked for one, got one, so if you don't have something in your inbox, let me know.

 

Still got vouchers left, so will leave this open for now - anyone else?

[Pokarface]

Hey guys and girls using Skritter,

You should post pictures or videos showing your handwriting.

 

Chinese are always amazed to see foreigners trying to talk and write their language =-p

 

Right now, I'm only using pinyin. I'll have to familiarize myself with more words and increase my pronunciation skills before I dare to study characters.

[SkritterJake]

大家好,

 

 Glad to hear that the first batch of coupons are sitting in some worthy inboxes! I hope that everyone who received the coupon code enjoys using Skritter and taking their character learning abilities to the next level. 

 

In case you were waiting for an Android app to kickoff your Skritter studies, the team is pleased to announce that you don't have to wait any longer. This morning we released a functional beta version of the app! Get all the dirty details from Skritter blog here, snag a coupon and join the group today!

 

-Jake

[Mouseneb]

 

 

Chinese are always amazed to see foreigners trying to talk and write their language

 

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that. I find it kind of annoying actually - this attitude that Chinese must be SO HARD or foreigners must be SO DUMB that it is simply shocking to see them actually write or speak! In Chinese!!!

 

When people act that way around me I tend to want to get away from them and go find somebody who will treat me as an actual individual rather than a dancing monkey or walking stereotype. 

 

Perhaps you feel differently 

[Melanie1989]

Are the links working for everyone else? I get to the beta-testing page where it gives you the options for the android app, and nothing i'm clicking on works, it says they may have been removed...anyone?

[Xuesheng1937]

Excellent, thanks for the voucher, it is much appreciated! I've also been talking to a teacher recently and she is trying to find good tools, if my experience turns out well, I will definitely recommend it.

[bob24]

Thanks very much, received the voucher and it worked well.

[GotJack]

Hi there,

 

Im a masters student at ZJU, and have been here for around 9 months. I have been having Chinese 1-1 tuition around twice a week all this time, and have reached (in this time) a level Im happy with in spoken and listening, I would say roughly between HSK3-4. Im happy with this because my main course  (& time consumer), and priority has been my masters (which is taught in English).  I decided upon arrival, that because Chinese was to be my 2nd priority, I should focus on what would be most useful to me (spoken Chinese). My teacher however, has said the longer I go being unable to read and write, the more its going to hinder my learning. 

 

As such this summer i have 2 months completely free, which I will be devoting to learning to read and write, and obviously I would like to give skritter a go at helping me achieve this! I haven't used it before, and would consider paying for it if it turns out to be useful!

 

Jack

[roddy]

Sounds great Jack, will send you a voucher. I'll also take the opportunity to invite you to give an update on your experiences in the Zhejiang University topic - would be very useful for incoming students. 

[Shelley]

I have a question/dilemma, i have received my 3 month voucher, Thank you very much, but now I see they are asking for Beta testers for the Android version which I would like to do as I want to use it on my tablet.

 

So, do I sign up with my voucher and then follow the instructions on the Android beta testing page or the other way round? Or something completely different?

 

Thanks in advance for help

[SkritterJake]

I have a question/dilemma, i have received my 3 month voucher, Thank you very much, but now I see they are asking for Beta testers for the Android version which I would like to do as I want to use it on my tablet.

 

So, do I sign up with my voucher and then follow the instructions on the Android beta testing page or the other way round? Or something completely different?

 

Thanks in advance for help 

 

 

    Hi Shelley,

 

    Thanks for your question. Please still use the coupon as that will provide you with three months of study time to check things out. After you've created your account on the web and gotten familiar with what Skritter has to offer, join the tester community so you can start studying on your tablet.

 

We've been working hard on building the Android app, but we haven't even started working on how to bring new users into the app (that's the summer project) so creating an account on Skritter.com is going to be much less of a hassle. We hope you enjoy and I look forward to seeing you on the Beta community soon!

 

Best,

Jake

[SkritterEvan]

Hi Melanie,

 

Are you still having trouble accessing the Beta Testers page? This link works just fine for me!

[Hofmann]

roddy, if you still have any, I'd like one to examine Skritter in depth so I can have an informed impression of it, and perhaps recommend it to other students at school.

 

Edit: To say it more clearly, I will be a teaching assistant in a university. I influence a lot of your target demographic.

[Modena]

Thank you. I've been using it for a couple of days now and I'm thoroughly impressed with how it tracks performance and retention. I will write in-depth once I've had more time with it~

[Milkybar_Kid]

I am pleased to confirm that I have received a three month voucher.

 

I have just completed the signup process and found it to be a complete breeze.  Here's to learning lots of characters over the coming months!

 

I will post an update in a week to let the community members know how I am getting on.

 

Thanks