Tofu Learn for learning Hanzi

[Luxi]

Does anybody know what's the matter with TOFUlearn?  

The www.tofulearn.com site has been unreachable since Saturday. The website has 'Error 502 Bad gateway' in any browser, and the iPad App says 'Failed to reach Server'.  

 

[momowuwen]

On 6/11/2018 at 5:34 PM, Luxi said:

The www.tofulearn.com site has been unreachable since Saturday. The website has 'Error 502 Bad gateway' in any browser, and the iPad App says 'Failed to reach Server'.   

 

I second this, it's not working on android either. But the website dfeojm.com says tofulearn is up and running..

[steweboy]

Hi all,

TOFU Learn doesn’t work for me either, neither on iPad nor on Android. Hope they fix it soon 

[momowuwen]

I've sent an email to info@tofulearn.com to ask whether it's a temporary issue actively being worked on or is the project being discontinued or what.. let's hope for a speedy resolution!

[roddy]

Welcome to the site, both! Feel free to use the spare time while the site is down to tell us about your experiences with the service ?

[momowuwen]

21 hours ago, roddy said:

tell us about your experiences with the service ?

 

Hey there! I have known about Chinese-forums for a long time now, but I always gravitated towards different channels, like Reddit. Now that I think about it, it must be a good five years since I last used old timey forums the like of yours. It does feel nostalgic in a way. and I think it's cozy here!  

  

As for TOFU learn, it singlehandedly solved my half a decade long "too lazy for anki, too poor for skritter" dilemma. It is (was?) the best of both worlds. Subscription-free, ad-free, quick, customizable, intuitive, effective.. with one shortcoming: always online. So now their servers died on us and we're barred out. 

 

I'm grieving!! 

[imron]

5 hours ago, momowuwen said:

So now their servers died on us and we're barred out. 

Therein lies the problem with "subscription-free and ad-free", which seems attractive - until it causes the service you find useful to shut down.

[momowuwen]

19 hours ago, imron said:

Therein lies the problem with "subscription-free and ad-free", which seems attractive - until it causes the service you find useful to shut down. 

 

I know, right? With a business model like that, it is more like philanthropy and less like a business. It's a shame I knew about it for no longer than a week.  

 

As for myself, I wouldn't mind ads, and I have bought learning apps before.. but as far as subscription models are concerned, the price becomes too steep..

[Luxi]

TOFU is back! So far so good. 

 

I was missing it!

 

 I appreciate Skritter and can see many good things in it but it just isn't for me. Pleco's card system and Molatra's TrainChinese are also great for learning words/characters more in depth, but not very useful for writing practice. I like the un-fussiness in Tofu, it's the only system that lets me write with a finger on the touch-screen without expecting too much. 

[Alexis99]

Loving Tofu right now. It's clean, it's nice looking, gives you etymologies and sentences and can keep clicking through to all the words in the sentences if you choose. well-rounded and awesome. I use the Integrated Chinese decks since that's my textbook, and of course the HSK ones. Also working the 'quick add' feature right now which i really like. And the writing decks are great, i couldn't quite get into Skritter. Wish pro were a little less pricey!

[Luxi]

18 hours ago, Alexis99 said:

Loving Tofu right now.

 

Me too, especially after the 'break' when it seemed it was gone forever.  

This is the app that works best for my learning pattern. Plain UI, big bold characters in white, the animations, the quick links to information, and the smooth character drawing all seem to contribute. I especially like having a separate 'Learning' routine where one  can concentrate on a small bundle of new words, go into all sorts of detail for each character and write each character a number of times in a mini-SRS sequence.

I use my own lists, most derived from different online readings and downloaded from Zhongwen. 

 

Disclaimer: my learning pattern was established studying in the pre-digital era, with pen & paper - loads of paper! - it may not work well for everybody these days.

[Shelley]

I had a few problems with Tofu learn in the beginning but the revival of this topic reminded me and went to have another look and was pleasantly surprised. All the improvements work very well and my text books is there (NPCR 2) so I have downloaded it and started using it. 

 

It also was on my old tablet and didn't work too well , so its much better on my new one. 

[Alexis99]

Quote

and my text books is there (NPCR 2)

 

Yeah, it has my textbooks as well! (Integrated Chinese), which is perfect b/c I just finished level 1 part 2 but wasn't learning characters at the time, now that I'm doing Characters I can just hit up this deck for Level 1 parts 1 & 2 and be totally prepared for my class that starts in September.

 

Quote

I use my own lists, most derived from different online readings and downloaded from Zhongwen

 

How embarrassing. before you posted this I had no idea I could download my own decks. HALLALUJAH!! Just uploaded some shared Anki decks, awesome. There's a 100mb limit that won't let me stick "Spoonfed Chinese" deck on it but by golly I will find a way.

 

Hope this sticks around and that the creators are committed to it, it's a really nice app.

[vivea]

Hello, does anyone do writing in Tofu? What's your experience with the way the reviews are scheduled and is there any way to tweak it? (and by writing I mean the automated mode, as the manual one doesn't allow you to write on screen)

[agewisdom]

Really loving TOFU Learn app. It's very useful.

 

The only major gripe I have is that you can't practice more on the new words. So, instead, I have to practice on a piece of paper for some characters that I'm especially weak at.

[mungouk]

Have they stopped taking new sign-ups? I just tried to register but the button is greyed-out.  

 

Also tried "forgot my password" in case I signed up but forgot, but it doesn't recognise my email address.

 

Any clues?

 

[agewisdom]

Nope, I just signed up a few days ago.

I could either register directly by logging in via gmail or creating a new user account.

[mungouk]

OK I just tried again and it worked.  There was a reCAPTCHA box on the dialogue this time that wasn't there an hour ago... hmmm.

 

Thanks

 

[agewisdom]

No problem. Maybe the Google captcha didn't load properly the first time around.

 

After using Tofu and comparing it to Skritter, I find Tofu better. Once you finish the strokes, it automatically goes on to the next character. Whereas Skritter, you need to tap next...

Not to mention $...

[mungouk]

2 minutes ago, agewisdom said:

Whereas Skritter, you need to tap next.

 

I'm fairly sure you can now configure how long it waits before it auto-advances. 

 

But yes, $... especially if like me you only use it occasionally. 

 

Then again, if TOFU is free, who's to say it won't just vanish (again)?