The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed the appearance of the “Tools” tab in the menu at the top of the page. For those of you who didn’t, I’m very happy to announce the grand opening of the Global Maverick Tools section, and the release of my first two tools.
What is Global Maverick Tools?
In my other life, I’m a software entrepreneur, working mostly in mobile application development. Global Maverick Tools is the extension of that work into my personal hobbies — i.e., this blog and language learning. What I aim to do is create a suite of free or low-cost applications that support the kind of learning that I’m writing about here — that is, that integrate SRS technology and that help create immersive learning environments by letting you learn wherever you are.
The apps will initially be for the iPhone, as it’s the platform that I work on professionally, but I do plan on releasing apps on other platforms eventually.
KanaTap & HangulTap
The first two apps released as part of Global Maverick Tools are for beginner Japanese and Korean learners, called KanaTap and HangulTap. Both are simple tools that integrate an SRS algorithm to help you learn the Japanese kana and the Korean hangul jamo. For more information and screenshots, check out Global Maverick Tools and view the application details.
What’s next?
A few applications are in the pipeline, including Pro versions of the two above (with more question types and audio) and a similar but somewhat more complex app for Chinese learners focusing on character acquisition.
In many ways, however, the development of these tools will be user driven. What sort of tools would you like to see? If it’s possible, I’ll make it happen.
Related posts:
- Program note
- Welcome to Global Maverick
- Changes at Global Maverick
- Learn Japanese kana with Kanaballs for the iPhone (+15 promo codes)
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
There is one tool I’ve been toying with building, but just haven’t had the time to knock up a prototype. Every good tool needs to solve a problem, without a problem to solve, a tool is probably just a toy.
The problem:
When faced with a page of Chinese characters, I don’t know if I am supposed to know 10% or 90% of the characters in the article. This can be quite off-putting and very often, I give up trying to read anything beyond the first couple of sentences.
My idea:
To highlight the characters I should know or mask (semi transparent) the ones I don’t so that I can quickly see if the article is even worth attempting.
Challenges:
I’d want to integrate this with a master vocab list. That is, the same list I use in Anki, the same list I have on CPod etc.
Extras:
Easily add words (and/or phrases) to your master vocab list. Provide a readability score, maintain a set of articles to re-visit in the future.
This is something that has been on my “to do one day, if you loose your job” list for quite some time now. I just haven’t got round to doing anything about it. How does it sound as an idea? Is this really a problem that anyone else has faced, or am I just inventing problems to give me an excuse to do some software development?
Like Hans-Peter said, LingQ does something similar, though it doesn’t integrate with external vocabulary lists (I think — I’ve only used the service briefly). The other issue, I suppose, is the whole “known characters / unknown words” problem — i.e., you almost certainly know the characters 羊 and 水, but unless your wife has been pregnant you probably don’t know 羊水 (amniotic fluid, strangely enough).
I personally think the “Extras” part of your app would be the most useful. If Anki had an actual API, this would be easy enough to do as a Firefox plugin — highlight, right click, it looks up what it can, and you send the item to Anki — but for now Anki doesn’t so you’d have to implement the sync protocol, maybe, to get the new item into your collection. Probably more trouble than it’s worth, unfortunately.
Something I’d like to see it a mobile version of Heisig, or at least Heisig-like. I know this is a bit difficult because it has to do with copyright and other rights, but maybe it’s possible.
Also, I’d like to see a native Anki app instead of the workaround we currently have, with image support and things like that. I don’t know if they’re working on it, but I’m sure Damian wants to share his api or knowledge to make an app like that possible.
Hm, yeah, not sure how all the various rights and restrictions would work out. I’ll send him an e-mail, though, and ask. I’m going to be releasing a Chinese character app in the nearish future, and while it won’t following RTK/H, it will be pretty fantastic (if I do say so myself!
).
Doesn’t matter if it follows RTH or not, as long as it’s cool and useful. I’ll feature it on my blog when it’s out (it seems that I already have quite some followers
).
Question: will it feature stories or examples? Also; will it be useful for learners of Traditional as well?
Cool and useful I can promise
I don’t think it will feature stories or examples. I don’t personally find mnemonics very useful on a wide scale, and given the screen real estate issues and input difficulties of the iPhone, I’m not sure that it would be that useful. I’m open to convincing, though!
I’m planning two versions, one for traditional and one for simplified. The simplified one is coming first because its of use to the most people, but traditional is in the pipeline, too.
@Bill: You will find such a feature in LingQ ( http://www.lingq.com ). LingQ keeps track of your knowledge and shows you the amount of unknown vocab items in a new text.
@JohnB: What sort of tools would I like to see? I would like to see an iPhone AnkiApp with sound and image support, plus synchronizing with my Anki decks at home. The iPhone solutions that are available now for Anki have all some missing features or drawbacks.
I’d love to make an Anki app. I’ve thought about it before, but want to wait until the format settles down a little bit — it changes so much right now, I’m afraid it’s a bit too much of a moving target (particularly given that it takes about 2 weeks to get a new app or an update approved). Definitely one for the list, though.
bocatas! I couldn’t download the aps because I don’t have the 3.0 update. My mobile learning will have to wait….
All this talk of iPhone apps is sure making me wish I had one.