Disclaimer: I still stand by what I said in my post about TextFugu vs. AJATT, that these two things cannot be compared, and this second look doesn't change that. TextFugu is a product of the academic method; namely, it is more step-by-step and focused than anything from the other methods. That said, if you're doing things the AJATT way and are looking for a good textbook to supplement or solidify your learnings, please look elsewhere are TextFugu is too large a commitment financially speaking to use as a suppliment for AJATT or any other input or output method.
So, some time has gone by and TextFugu has grown bigger and better, and I think it warrants a second look. Last time I reviewed it, TextFugu was a smaller site with infrequent and, seemingly, inconsistent updates; now it is a sprawling site full of good information and I can fully endorse it. Anyone who wishes to learn primarily by textbook (input and output people, this is probably not for you), TextFugu is a great product that will grow with you.
TextFugu has a completely new look, and the site is much more streamlined than it previously was. It continues to deal in seasons, but each season selection up into a new page where you can pick your lesson, rather than the lengthy rollover the buttons used to be. The only downside to the site's looks that I can think of is that the font is a bit large, and the pages aren't long enough before you click to go to the next page, but that's just purely cosmetic and has no reflection on the content within TextFugu.
Now, let's take a look at exactly what TextFugu does, now that it's large enough that I can actually fathom paying the monthly fee for it. For starters, it's greatly expanded the lessons, sometimes making them 10+ pages long! This is an excellent source of information, as each lesson is focused on one aspect of the Japanese language, whether it's i-adjectives or expressing a purpose for an action.
Secondly, TextFugu is now offering a lot more lessons! Back when I last reviewed it, if you look in the comments section, I answered someone's question by making a list of all the topics TextFugu covered back then. For this review, I'll list the title of every chapter TextFugu currently has.
Season 1
1. Japanese the Hard Way (Don't worry, as this is just explaining why self-teachers often quit)
2. The Japanese "Alphabets"
3. Japanese Pronunciation with Hiragana
4. Reading and Writing Hiragana
5. Studying Your Passion
6. Japanese Grammar with Yoda
7. An Intro to Kanji
8. An Into to Kanji Radicals
9. Season 1 Review
Season 2
1. How to Ask Questions in Japanese
2. Negative Tense Nouns
3. Past Tense Nouns
4. Combining the Past and the Negative
5. Your First Japanese Particle, Ha ha ha!
6. Developing a Sense of Identity
7. This, That, & That Over There
8. Counting & Numbers
9. Why So Possessive?
10. Season 2 Review
Season 3
1. Making Time to Study
2. Learning Katakana
3. Particle Wars: は vs. が
4. The Things that You Love
5. The Things that You Hate
6. Have You Reached the Dip?
7. Doing Something (Verbs pt. 1)
8. Doing Something (Verbs pt. 2)
9. Japanese Sentence Enders
10. Keeping Up With Everything
Season 4
1. な Adjectives
2. い Adjectives
3. い Adjective Conjugation
4. What Do You Want?
5. Adjectives + Nouns = Adverbs
6. When the Going Gets Tough
7. Colorful Adjectives
8. What You'll Go Do
9. Social Learning
10. Season 4 Review
Season 5
1. Being Casual Part 1 (Nouns)
2. Being Casual Part 2 (Adjectives)
3. How to Be Casual, Part 3 (Verbs)
4. The Purpose
5. What You Expect
6. Past Tense Dictionary Form
7. If
8. Too Much
9. Negative & Past Negative Casual Verbs
10. Experts and Amateurs
11. Plans & Conviction
12. What You Will Become
Season 6
1. The Particle と
2. What Do You Think?
3. The Particle で
4. This Lesson is Coming Soon
Yes, this is all still at the beginner's level, but as you can see, it covers an awful lot of it right now, and that's not even including the kanji, just the grammar lessons! TextFugu also has a deal going with the Gakuranman, giving you up to 80% off his Japanese learning site, Gakuu, if you're a TextFugu member. Now, I can't vouch for Gakuu, although I'm very, very tempted to take up this offer, but it's allegedly kind of like TextFugu, but for intermediate and advanced learners. Now, I'm going to assume that TextFugu eventually plans on including intermediate and advanced material (that's why I bought it to begin with), but if you're like me and TextFugu is little more than a reference guide for you (part of that is because I'm primarily an input person), then Gakuu might be worth checking out. One day I'll buy it and review it, but for right now, I'm only saying this as an outsider looking in and giving my first impression.
Another good thing about TextFugu is that the flashcards are now based on Anki rather than the late, great Smart.fm. It recently changed back to its former name, iKnow, and now charges a monthly fee to use it. Anki is my new favorite flash card system, so I'm glad that TextFugu is implementing it.
Also, TextFugu has two different pricing systems set up now. $20/month or a one-time fee of $120. I definately recommend the latter if you can afford it.
So, I'd say that TextFugu is definately on the right track. It's written in a smart, stylish way to keep you engaged and to feel like you're actually listening to Koichi, not reading a textbook, which always scores points in my book. I definitely recommend it for beginners, and I'm sure that one day I'll be taking yet another look at it and recommending it for intermediate learners, too. Koichi sure has filled a void for a lot of people who don't want to invest in one textbook after another, and he's done it in an interesting way.
P.S.
Someone left a comment on my other review, and unfortunately blogger won't allow comments right now because of some internal error with the system. Basically, the person didn't know whether to sign up for TextFugu or a class, and my response is this:
"Sorry it took me so long to get to your comment. It really depends on the person whether or not you'd rather sign up for an online book or take a class. If you're the kind of person who needs the motivation that you can get from having an encouraging teacher or from being surrounded by peers, then a class is good for you. However, if you're self-motivated and want to work at your own pace, then I'd definately recommend TextFugu over a class. Koichi is an excellent teacher, and he's always willing to help.
'If you do decide to take a class, research the teacher a bit. If he/she (it's usually a she for some reason) is a native speaker, try and get a good feel for her and her style first. I don't want to sound generalizing, but I'm aware that some native teachers have the idea of Nihonjinron (a school of philosophy characterizing what makes Japanese "unique" and why everyone non-Japanese is basically...well... inferior - although it doesn't state that directly), so they teach assuming that the students will basically not get the language anyway.
'Best of luck to you!"
So, some time has gone by and TextFugu has grown bigger and better, and I think it warrants a second look. Last time I reviewed it, TextFugu was a smaller site with infrequent and, seemingly, inconsistent updates; now it is a sprawling site full of good information and I can fully endorse it. Anyone who wishes to learn primarily by textbook (input and output people, this is probably not for you), TextFugu is a great product that will grow with you.
TextFugu has a completely new look, and the site is much more streamlined than it previously was. It continues to deal in seasons, but each season selection up into a new page where you can pick your lesson, rather than the lengthy rollover the buttons used to be. The only downside to the site's looks that I can think of is that the font is a bit large, and the pages aren't long enough before you click to go to the next page, but that's just purely cosmetic and has no reflection on the content within TextFugu.
Now, let's take a look at exactly what TextFugu does, now that it's large enough that I can actually fathom paying the monthly fee for it. For starters, it's greatly expanded the lessons, sometimes making them 10+ pages long! This is an excellent source of information, as each lesson is focused on one aspect of the Japanese language, whether it's i-adjectives or expressing a purpose for an action.
Secondly, TextFugu is now offering a lot more lessons! Back when I last reviewed it, if you look in the comments section, I answered someone's question by making a list of all the topics TextFugu covered back then. For this review, I'll list the title of every chapter TextFugu currently has.
Season 1
1. Japanese the Hard Way (Don't worry, as this is just explaining why self-teachers often quit)
2. The Japanese "Alphabets"
3. Japanese Pronunciation with Hiragana
4. Reading and Writing Hiragana
5. Studying Your Passion
6. Japanese Grammar with Yoda
7. An Intro to Kanji
8. An Into to Kanji Radicals
9. Season 1 Review
Season 2
1. How to Ask Questions in Japanese
2. Negative Tense Nouns
3. Past Tense Nouns
4. Combining the Past and the Negative
5. Your First Japanese Particle, Ha ha ha!
6. Developing a Sense of Identity
7. This, That, & That Over There
8. Counting & Numbers
9. Why So Possessive?
10. Season 2 Review
Season 3
1. Making Time to Study
2. Learning Katakana
3. Particle Wars: は vs. が
4. The Things that You Love
5. The Things that You Hate
6. Have You Reached the Dip?
7. Doing Something (Verbs pt. 1)
8. Doing Something (Verbs pt. 2)
9. Japanese Sentence Enders
10. Keeping Up With Everything
Season 4
1. な Adjectives
2. い Adjectives
3. い Adjective Conjugation
4. What Do You Want?
5. Adjectives + Nouns = Adverbs
6. When the Going Gets Tough
7. Colorful Adjectives
8. What You'll Go Do
9. Social Learning
10. Season 4 Review
Season 5
1. Being Casual Part 1 (Nouns)
2. Being Casual Part 2 (Adjectives)
3. How to Be Casual, Part 3 (Verbs)
4. The Purpose
5. What You Expect
6. Past Tense Dictionary Form
7. If
8. Too Much
9. Negative & Past Negative Casual Verbs
10. Experts and Amateurs
11. Plans & Conviction
12. What You Will Become
Season 6
1. The Particle と
2. What Do You Think?
3. The Particle で
4. This Lesson is Coming Soon
Yes, this is all still at the beginner's level, but as you can see, it covers an awful lot of it right now, and that's not even including the kanji, just the grammar lessons! TextFugu also has a deal going with the Gakuranman, giving you up to 80% off his Japanese learning site, Gakuu, if you're a TextFugu member. Now, I can't vouch for Gakuu, although I'm very, very tempted to take up this offer, but it's allegedly kind of like TextFugu, but for intermediate and advanced learners. Now, I'm going to assume that TextFugu eventually plans on including intermediate and advanced material (that's why I bought it to begin with), but if you're like me and TextFugu is little more than a reference guide for you (part of that is because I'm primarily an input person), then Gakuu might be worth checking out. One day I'll buy it and review it, but for right now, I'm only saying this as an outsider looking in and giving my first impression.
Another good thing about TextFugu is that the flashcards are now based on Anki rather than the late, great Smart.fm. It recently changed back to its former name, iKnow, and now charges a monthly fee to use it. Anki is my new favorite flash card system, so I'm glad that TextFugu is implementing it.
Also, TextFugu has two different pricing systems set up now. $20/month or a one-time fee of $120. I definately recommend the latter if you can afford it.
So, I'd say that TextFugu is definately on the right track. It's written in a smart, stylish way to keep you engaged and to feel like you're actually listening to Koichi, not reading a textbook, which always scores points in my book. I definitely recommend it for beginners, and I'm sure that one day I'll be taking yet another look at it and recommending it for intermediate learners, too. Koichi sure has filled a void for a lot of people who don't want to invest in one textbook after another, and he's done it in an interesting way.
P.S.
Someone left a comment on my other review, and unfortunately blogger won't allow comments right now because of some internal error with the system. Basically, the person didn't know whether to sign up for TextFugu or a class, and my response is this:
"Sorry it took me so long to get to your comment. It really depends on the person whether or not you'd rather sign up for an online book or take a class. If you're the kind of person who needs the motivation that you can get from having an encouraging teacher or from being surrounded by peers, then a class is good for you. However, if you're self-motivated and want to work at your own pace, then I'd definately recommend TextFugu over a class. Koichi is an excellent teacher, and he's always willing to help.
'If you do decide to take a class, research the teacher a bit. If he/she (it's usually a she for some reason) is a native speaker, try and get a good feel for her and her style first. I don't want to sound generalizing, but I'm aware that some native teachers have the idea of Nihonjinron (a school of philosophy characterizing what makes Japanese "unique" and why everyone non-Japanese is basically...well... inferior - although it doesn't state that directly), so they teach assuming that the students will basically not get the language anyway.
'Best of luck to you!"
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