Update - 10/16

Bunpro
#1

N4 Grammar Popout

All of the example sentences for N4 grammar points have been setup to support the Grammar Popout functionality.

Grammar popouts1

New N5 Grammar

These grammar points were added to increase exposure to different nuances and to be used in relation to the grammar popout functionality.

New Landing Page

A new landing page is coming in the near future. We have already received good feedback from some community members on the prototype. If you are interested in giving feedback, please let me or @Daru know!

To that end, we would like to request new testimonials from anybody that is willing to give them. If you are interested in giving one, please send me a message. We would really appreciate it!

Minor Bug Fix

Stretching of badges on mobile.

As always we would love to hear your thoughts on these changes!

31 Likes
#2

Nice update! Gotta do some N5 grammar to make sure I stay at 100% completion. :slight_smile:

14 Likes
#3

Noticed the new linked grammar today doing reviews, love it!

This also didn’t show up as an “Announcement” in Bunpro like the normal update posts do.

5 Likes
#4

Just did some of the new N5 grammar points and I really like the explanations! Newbies will love the details added along with the example sentences. Kudos to whoever made them!

May I recommend that this video from the late, great Cure Dolly be added under the readings section for the adjectives, or at least na adjectives. I thought the concept of thinking of na adjectives as adjectival nouns was really helpful in understanding how they work.

7 Likes
#5

My explosions have felt more powerful and destructive since I started reviewing grammar with bunpro. - Megumin

15 Likes
#6

Now say it in Japanese. :stuck_out_tongue:

3 Likes
#7

Bunproのおかげで、私の爆裂魔法、最近強くて破壊的になりました。

Now, after making me go through all that effort you have to put it on the front page.

12 Likes
#8

Thanks for all the hard work doing these updates. :+1:

May I add a personal note though? While doing reviews and I’m answering with something you’re not looking for, I am getting tired of the beginning of a particular response of yours: “nice guess”

I think this is more than a bit insulting and not quite as funny as the person who came up with it must’ve thought. Why? Well, I have given you a correct answer, but not the one you happen to look for whatever reason. So, as we’re on a website teaching Japanese, why not keep the tone a bit more respectful?

Also, if you’re asking yourself why I’m bringing this up here, well, I’ve written a separate, direct message through your in-app messaging system about this a couple of months ago but have received no response. Hence my request in the open channels.

I’d really appreciate it if someone could do something about this for a future update. Unless, of course, you and everyone else of your students thinks this is really funny and should stay. Please feel free to chime in everyone.

1 Like
#9

Nice guess! (Sorry.)

I think one of the points of Bunpro is to teach you as many grammar as there is in the wild. If you answer in only one way all the time, you’ll never learn other ways to say the same.
Yeah, these tips can be pain in the ass sometimes, but it’s for your own good.

Maybe, these “nice guess” things can be transformed into some small games, like “Yay, you’ve found 2 of 5 possible ways to say that! But we’re looking for a particular one, keep going!” Because sometimes when I see “Not looking for X, Y, Z” response, I can’t think of anything else to try except X, Y, Z :rofl:

5 Likes
#10

am getting tired of the beginning of a particular response of yours: “nice guess”
I think this is more than a bit insulting and not quite as funny as the person who came up with it must’ve thought.

Just so I get this right, your issue with this is not so much that there is a popup, but rather the fact that the phrasing uses the word “guess”, implying that you didn’t really know but just, well, guessed?

I personally have never felt bothered by that – to me, it felt like a friendly, encouraging statement, and I have not interpreted “guess” here to to imply that I didn’t know a correct response. And of course, some of these hints do speak not of “guesses”, but use phrasings such as “This can work”.

So to summarize, I’m not really bothered by it at all, and I don’t find that it implies a lack of respect towards me as a learner. But everyone’s different, and perhaps a different background can turn the phrasing into an insult? In that case, I would not mind if the phrasing was replaced with something else, even if a blanket search>replace might mean to lose a bit of “character” in these replies.

4 Likes
#11

I’ve never thought of this as insulting. Just a casual way of encouragement like from a peer tutor. There’s many ways that people can be encouraging, and there’s many ways that people can be discouraging. The fact that this site encourages you in so many ways to keep trying would indicate that “nice guess” is neither an insult nor a condescending tone. I’m sorry that those simple words have been used as an attack on you in the past, but most people here want good things for you.

What are alternatives that you would want?
– good guess
– good job
– try again

(Btw, any one of these, if read with a sarcastic tone, could still sound insulting)

6 Likes
#12

While native speakers can use “nice guess” with a bit of a snarky tone, it’s not meant unkindly here. 90+% of the time someone gets a wrong answer on this site, they were guessing. And even if you know for certain several ways to say it in Japanese, if you get the answer off, you were guessing at which one Bunpro is looking for. There’s only so many ways to say “not that one” in an encouraging tone, and all of those encouraging tones can be twisted into sarcasm if you’re looking for harshness.

For some of us, part of learning Japanese is also recognizing that people probably aren’t as obnoxious and critical about our abilities as we assume. We can’t always assume the worst meaning from a phrase, or we’ll alienate potential friends. At some point, we just have to accept that some people are not a–holes.

P.S. If you want true Japanese culture, your answer was wrong because it’s not the answer programmed in the answer key.

12 Likes
#13

Thanks everyone for chiming in with their opinions, I appreciate your replies.

I guess what @zencakv suggested, the snarky tone, is what gets me. Because to me it feels this is just how it’s used here, it doesn’t have the casual way of encouragement some of you perceive.

I always thought “this works, but it’s not what we’re looking for…” to be the best answer. It’s both encouraging and still says no, but it doesn’t have an undertone.

So, thanks again for your views, have a great week everyone.

7 Likes
#14

A-friggin’-men. “nice guess” is a “nice” touch. When I first saw it, it made me smile and still continues to do so. It’s only snarky if someone actively chooses to read it that way.

4 Likes
#15

I hope you can move “なくちゃ。なきゃ” lesson to N4 next update because the long form is already in N4 section. So why the short form in N5 section.

Thanks

#16

because it’s more common. My guess for why they put the longer versions later is that they wanted to have them in the lesson after ば.

#17

I would have never thought "nice guess " was insulting. Personally, I think the variance in the ways they give hint answers give a personal touch and is more fun :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#18

Or just enable the Serious Mode on the settings

image

Spoiler

Don’t try to search for it, it doesn’t exist. It’s a joke (or isn’t it?)

7 Likes
#19

I really want to actually use this testimonial tbh :100:

3 Likes
#20

We did rewrite all of the ‘Nice-Guess’ answers recently, it is possible that they are sitting in a backlog and have not been implemented yet.

While they were definitely not written with any form of snarky tone in mind, it is obvious how it could potentially be perceived that way. :sweat:

Giving better (and more encouraging) feedback is something that we definitely want to prioritize alongside further development, so we will make sure to remove anything that could be perceived negatively in the near future. :weight_lifting_man:

3 Likes