Just want to let everyone know Nyan 8 (https://www.nyan-8.com/), the new Lang 8 alternative site is now operational. Like the old Lang 8, you can post a journal entry in the language you are currently learning and have it corrected by a native speaker. As a return to the larger Nyan 8 community, you also correct entries written in your native language.
The old Lang 8 was a great place to practise your Japanese and make friends - I’ve been Skyping with someone I met through Lang 8 for years. For the moment, the service is free.
On the surface, this sounds GREAT!! But are there any instructional manuals/websites that explain how to use this site? For example:
I take this to mean that a Japanese individual, for example, will post an entry in English asking how to write… Or post a paragraph and ask for any corrections/comments. I would then give my input in English.
So, what I’m thinking here is that this Japanese individual, must have a reasonably good command of the English language to ask for help and to understand the response.
So, if what I assumed was correct, this site would be totally useless to me since I wouldn’t be able to convey my questions in Japanese!
Furthermore, when anyone signs up, they have to select a language at the bottom. Do I select my native language or the language that I want help with, i.e., Japanese?
Need some instructions here to be able to use this site. Are there any?
Yeah, it does seem to have a massive “assumes you already know what it is, why you might want to use it and how” problem. If you don’t have an account all you get to see is the login page afaict – no demo or tutorial or documentation or anonymous read only view of what the site might be like. Personally I just ignore that kind of web app, as I’m not about to go through the faff of creating an account just to be able to see what it even is…
You as a Japanese learner write something in Japanese - a sentence, a paragraph (preferably not an essay) and then a Japanese member corrects what you wrote or suggests alternate phrasings.
Then you - if you’re a native English speaker - can correct entries written in English - maybe there’s a grammatical error, maybe the phrasing sounds clunky.
You can learn a lot about the language you’re learning as well as your native one by the mistakes non-native speakers commonly make.
The site is based in Japan but its users come from all over the world. It was created to do what Lang 8 once did and literally only days old so it has some teething problems.
Because this has some great potential, I think this is the FIRST time I’m pursuing some unknown thing like this, i.e., asking for more information, NOT creating an account.
After watching @Lisaveeta Tofugu video, I can see that I’m not yet ready to use this site. Yes, I can type a Japanese sentence and get corrections, but either there would be no explanation attached to the corrections or I probably wouldn’t be able to understand the explanation!
Thanks for your explanation But, which language do I select at the bottom; the one I want to learn or my native language?
I want to know this for future use, possibly. After watching the video, I’m not ready to use this site now based on what I said earlier, i.e., I wouldn’t be able to understand the reason for any corrections made!
The site will be presented in the language you select at the bottom. If you’re learning Japanese and feel confident enough, you can select Japanese. Otherwise, just select your native language.
But, which language do I select at the bottom; the one I want to learn or my native language?