skritter subscription

[ianwat]

Hi everyone, I am on the free weeks trial with skritter but then it goes to a $14.99 monthly subscription which to me sounds expensive when you compare it to a one off payment for a book or all the free learning resources on the net or do you disagree & it's a must have learning tool? Any advice is appreciated.

regards

ian

[Shelley]

I agree its expensive, but I think its better value if you pay for a year, however you do run the risk of the "gym subscription" problem, you think I will do it tomorrow and before you know its a year gone, at least that what happens to me. if you are disciplined this may not be a problem.

 

If money was no problem I would definitely have skritter. i am on the free summer of skritter and I am loving it, i may get my Christmas and birthday presents as skritter subscriptions if i can persuade everyone

 

I think it is very good learning tool, not sure if I have seen anything else like it that's as good, but i haven't tried all of them

[MPhillips]

Nintendo has an excellent piece of software for learning Chinese characters called 200万人の漢检--but it's for learning them in Japanese. I guess if something similar existed in Chinese it would already have been mentioned on this site(?). I guess Nintendo isn't popular in China.

[Shelley]

I should say that if you are using a tablet then Pleco has excellent flashcards. it does have the facility for writing characters, and SRS learning.

 

I use it all the time along with all the other brilliant things it does.

 

If you are not familiar with it,  it is definitely worth checking out, it is available for android and iOS.

[Hofmann]

Depends on what kind of learner you are. I would think it's good for someone who wants to remember how to write characters, and be able to write legibly. It works well enough for Simplified Chinese.
 

Those who want to review Traditional characters will be forced to follow a hybrid system that will still be legible but nonstandard (in both Hong Kong and Taiwan). A separate font for Traditional Chinese would solve this, but I don't see that coming anytime soon.

 

Personally, I have better handwriting and stroke order than Skritter anyway, even if they implement Traditional fonts (and by Traditional I mean ROC MOE standard). Furthermore, I feel like I'm pretty quick to identify the fuzziest characters in a short list, so it isn't must-have for me.

[Solarin]

I used it for a while, it's a very well made app and runs beautifully. However, when compared to free alternatives, or even other programs that have a one-time fee for lifetime use, it's really hard to justify paying $15 a month. 

 

What makes Skritter unique is that it tests you on writing, and it is by far the best Chinese learning program to do that with a spaced repetition algorithm. But, in my opinion, knowing how to write in Chinese is the least useful aspect of the language. Chinese people, like the rest of the modern world, just type most of what they write. Even Chinese people sometimes have problems with remembering how to write certain words (i.e. it seems like very few can write 打喷嚏 from memory). I'm not saying writing is useless, just that it's perhaps not useful enough to spend the time and money with Skritter to study. 

 

Remember that Skritter is still just a flashcard app, using it for hours a day will not get you fluent in the language. $15 a month would maybe be worth an all-inclusive program that includes all aspects of learning a language, but just flashcards? Your money is better spent elsewhere.

 

Pleco has a great flashcard program that costs around $15, and it does have spaced repetition options. Anki is another good option with even better SRS capabilities, although with Pleco it's much more convenient to make your actual cards.

 

Just my 2 cents!

[grawrt]

I agree with Solarin. If you just want a good flashcard program I'd go with Pleco.

 

I used Skritter for a while just to work on my handwriting because I was lagging behind in class tremendously. It really helped me with writing but after a while I got to a point where I didn't think it was worth the 15/month. I noticed my study times decreased, as did my frustration. I think Skritter is good for the very beginning but as you learn upwards 2000 it's the most painful thing to work with.

 

Skritter has bundle packages that are slightly cheaper, but you have to be willing to purchase 6 months, 1 year, etc.

[li3wei1]

I'm on the three-month free giveaway package, and enjoying it. I'm definitely learning stuff, and I'm someone who does need to learn how to write the characters. Yesterday I blanked on 久. That said, I'm struggling to put in an hour a day, and it's summer and my work obligations are at a minimum. Once things get busy, it would be really easy to skip days. Plus I'm not doing much reading or recognition flashcards, because I want to take maximum advantage of Skritter. The two-year package gets it down to almost reasonable, but do I want to do this for 2 years? At $15/month, I'm paying 50 cents an hour to use an app, compared to Pleco, that I will never have to pay for again, or others that I never have to pay for at all.

 

If they charged something for every character you added to your list, you could pay up front and take as long as you like to learn it at your own pace.

[Ruben von Zwack]

I agree the price is high. I know the reply (as from all other subscription based services, online magazines, etc.) is: "I hear you, but look, it's only x cents a day!"... Um, yes, but - it's still expensive.

 

I think you can absolutely get there with more traditional methods. What I mean by that is: taking the time to understand character components; learn how characters are composed; mind stroke order. And practice your first few hundred with pencil on paper until it looks good.

I think your needs change over time, and by the time you get to your 1000th character, you will probably study very differently than a few months earlier.

 

I use Imron's "hanzigrids" whenever I feel like it, but most of the time, I just practice on the back of scrap paper from the office. I mark the characters that I got wrong or plain forgot - there's usually between 1-3 leeches - and write those buggers on a sticky note, and deal with them. The sticky note is there because often I can't deal with them right away. So I can put the sticky note in a place where it reminds me - the book, my monitor, even my calendar, so I can have a look in the lunch break at the office.

[ianwat]

thanks again for the real helpful replies……I have just cancelled the subscription for now while I checkout your other suggestions….cheers