Outlier "Essentials" Review for a humble learner:

[Ledu]

After some discussion about the use of mnemonics when learning characters/words, I went ahead and purchased "Outlier Essentials". Since I am studying toward HSK6, this should cover 3,000 characters. I should know 2500 characters for HSK6 so I think this “essentials” is worth it. The "expert" may not be for a learner such as myself.I am no way affiliated with any party. I strongly feel this add-on will help many learners but it is up to you.  I couldn't really find too much info on this or the pleco site. Here is what I like so far:

 

1. It is not a reacurring subscription.
2. Not too costly in my opinion.
3. Helps to make associations to parts/components of characters easily.
4. The "Form" part is nice. The description there alone can create an association to help you understand and memorize a character quickly.
5. It breaks down the type of component.
6. Simple meaning
7. Stroke order as a sort of picture with all steps. This can be helpful when practicing handwriting with all steps displayed. 
8. Obviously the portability and speed in comparison with using a physical dictionary.
9. Description is in English which helps me quickly process the information.
10. I don't have to go to a website, it's on my device and can work offline. 
 
I will compare it to the book I am using to learn a little about components. Ledu Book 3 page 40. Here it teaches me about 生. The description in the book is in Chinese. It will take me a little time and some OCR use to quickly figure it out. Otherwise I am going to scribble on Pleco on my phone to figure out words I don't within the textbook description. 

 

Now with Outlier I compare it to a word I am currently having trouble with: 奖金. So I click on 奖 scroll down to Outlier's entry and I learned the top part is a sound component, the bottom is 大 which originally had something to do with "dog". The meaning originally could refer to "a reward given to a dog that has obeyed a command". So just with that small amount of info I can remember 奖金 has something to do with giving a reward. Even the description can be a small story which I can now remember clearly. If I click on CHARS, I will see DA4 however no reference to: "a reward given to a dog that has obeyed a command". So it is this association I get from using the Outlier entry which is helpful to me. 

 

I think it is a joy to get something that enchances my learning and perhaps helps to make associations to better memorize characters/words. Sometimes when making purchases we take a risk that the outcome will be as we expect as we hope and it unfortuntly is not always the case. I'm glad I got this add-on because I know it will help me with component knowledge and to be able to memorize a word easier and quickly.  I plan to utilize this mainly with words I am struggling to remember. Any bit of information that can help make mental associations will help. I don't show any pictures of the add-on itself but it is a good enhancement for studying Chinese in my opinion. I've had it less than 1 day and I think I am going to remember troublesome words easier. 

 

[OneEye]

Thanks for the review, and glad you like it! We've really enjoyed putting it together.

 

I'd say the Expert Edition is for people who find such things interesting, regardless of their level. It's certainly not required knowledge, but some people either enjoy reading the entries, or find that they remember characters better after having read them. For anyone not in that category, the Essentials Edition is the way to go.

[Ledu]

@OneEye

 

I didn't expect to talk to a creator. Well cool, I will purchase the expert upgrade after I can learn the first 3000 characters. I know I can, there are many here that have before me. Some that are going on 20 years learning Chinese.

 

One small problem though is I can't access your website. I have really horrible internet so I don't blame anyone but my own internet access. That is why having offline options is such a necessity for me. I am sure I am not the target customer as I already am living in China so I don't mind. Perhaps it is where your server is located. Even just using the data on my phone, I can't access the Outlier Linguistics website. 

 

Perhaps others living in China can try to access the site and communicate if they can successfully?

 

Well, it's not a big deal. I just took a shot in the dark bought the add-on and am satisfied with it. May your business grow and prosper!

[OneEye]

That's odd, we haven't heard of anyone else in China having issues accessing the site. I'll look into it—thanks for letting me know!

[Ledu]

@OneEye

 

I wonder if you might kindly show a screenshot of what 奖金 (jiang3jin1) shows in it's description using the Outlier Expert Beta(S) Upgrade? From the screenshot description on Pleco Add-ons I really can't see what the difference is between Outlier Essentials and Expert as the screenshots for both are not the same characters. I don't have an easy side by side comparison showing how Expert is an expanded description. If you can't due to copyright and such, I understand. Just thought I'd ask. I am happy with the version I have so far. 

[OneEye]

Well, our dictionary doesn’t have entries for multi-character words, so “獎金” doesn’t have an entry. But here’s a screenshot of the Essentials entry and the Expert entry for 美.

 

Note that not every character has an Expert entry. As of right now, about 500 characters have Expert entries, while about 4000 have Essentials entries. 

 

Hope that helps!

[Ledu]

@OneEye Yes great. That was what I was looking for. I can now see the second screenshot would be the Expert extended description. Thanks for your time. 

[Ledu]

My gateway to Outlier was discussion about Hanzi Hero's mnemonics- a catch phrase for 3k characters + SRS. Any thoughts or experiences? 

 

No evidence of expertise in Chinese. 
Same yearly subscription price as Skritter $$$. 
Taiwan based creators.

[Tomsima]

Never heard of Hanzi Hero before, so I cant comment on quality, but wow that pricing is way off if you ask me. They compare to Wanikani, Heisig and Anki. The first I've no experience of as a non-Japanese speaker, but at present £9 gets you a second hand copy of Heisig 1, then put the characters into anki cards as you go along and autoadd pronunciation, no html or css needed, all for free. Or $10/month ("+local taxes") for someone else to tell you what their mnemonics are? I get that running a business is expensive these days, but that price model seems a little optimistic. A mnemonic works when it is meaningful to you, you can't just take stock stories from someone elses brain, even Heisig admits that in his books.

[Ledu]

 

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£9 gets you a second hand copy of Heisig 1, then put the characters into anki cards as you go along and autoadd pronunciation, no html or css needed, all for free. Or $10/month ("+local taxes") for someone else to tell you what their mnemonics are?

Well one of the creators started all the way back in the COVID times and now can comfortably read Chinese literature. 😆 Subscriptions are decieving and stack up upon each other. I'll try with "Remembering the Heisig" one day. I enjoy learning about tried-and-tested methods.