JapanesePod101.com

Blog / April 2023

  • 18 April 2023More small fixes & updated keywords from 3rd printing

    I was on a roll last week trying to find simple small issues that I could close. Please note the small fixes described below went live last Wednesday (April 12, 2023).

    Since the updates to the RTK Editions data sources I wrote about in March it was easier to fix keywords and update the database, so I finally addressed these keyword related issues:

    • Most importantly the infamous town and village keywords have finally been swapped - as per the RTK1 6th edition errata (3rd printing) : #96 町 is now town and #221 村 is now village. Thanks to Peyton for bringing this up again. Peyton also kindly located the RTK1 erratas PDFs here (it seems that Nanzan university no longer hosts the RTK related articles or sample PDFs). So if you have a 1st/2nd edition printing you may want to check the PDF and annotate your book.

    • Fixed spelling : #2427 狸 is now raccoon dog (not "racoon dog"). Issue #145

    • Use the more common spelling : #294 鎮 is now tranquilize (not "tranquillize"). Issue #176 by BigPeteB

    Also fixed a sorting issue in the My Stories table. Issue 284 - thanks Peyton for the initial report.

    If there are still open issues related to keywords I have missed please let me know!

    I'm not sure why it took so long to act on the 6th edition errata. /blush Oh well the fixes are in.

    Editing Keywords

    Added a small note on the RTK Edition form :

    Keywords are always from the last edition! This ensures everyone shares stories based on the same keywords. In particular please note with the 6th Edition errata Dr. Heisig swapped the keywords for "town" (now 町) and "village" (now 村).

    So this is what's intended in case you were wondering. For the purpose of sharing kanji mnemonics it makes no sense to handle "old edition keywords".

    Remember that you can edit keywords! It's not super obvious but you can click the keyword on the study page. You can also view & edit multiple keywords at once in the Manage > Edit keywords page.

    Fourth printing?

    There is also an odd change reported by FranticRain here - where 昧 "obscure" and 末 "extremity" are swapped. I've looked at the erratas for 1st,2nd and 3rd printings (pdfs here) and I do not see this change. Was there a 4th printing? Did they put out an errata for it?

    Either way it is such a small change I've decided to let it be for now. Any additional input is welcome in 末 and 昧 order swapped for 6th Edition #308.

    If you read thus far maybe you'll enjoy Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb!

  • 7 April 2023Mobile friendly improvements to the Dashboard & Lessons Chart

    The live site was updated today with fixes to improve the layout of the homepage Dashboard and Lessons chart for mobile devices & small screens.

    I don't have a smartphone, so I am relying on the Google Chrome dev tools to have a preview of what it should look like. I posted a couple screenshots here so you can see what it's supposed to look like, or at least what I'm seeing.

    There are numerous small tweaks to optimize the dashboard and the lesson progress bars so it all fits on smaller displays.

    Please let me know in issue #306 on Github if there are any remaining issues. You can also send feedback via the Contact form.

    Thanks to UncomprehendingGale for reminding me about this!

    To be honest back in Q1 2022 I spent so much time looking at those prototypes in FIGMA that I was really tired of looking at those screens and couldn't be bothered with the mobile layout. But in all fairness it isn't that much more work, just annoying to do. ... What? Ok... ALRIGHT!! Alright, writing mobile first CSS means I have to think through my CSS code a little more. Pffft.

    Here's another favorite ambient track from 1994. The Number Readers from the album Frozen Ants by Subsurfing. I still have the CD.. it had a scratch on this track. Good times!

By Month