Skritter

Skritter is a focused learning tool to help you learn, read, write and remember Chinese and Japanese characters. You learn the words that are important to you, as fast as possible.

Skritter combines handwriting recognition technology, spaced repetition and active recall.

The principle behind spaced repetition is that it's a lot more effective to review something just before it's about to be forgotten. The longer you know it, the less frequently you review it.

Ideally, you want to review Chinese characters when you have a 90% chance of remembering them (corresponding to a 90% retention rate). After several repetitions of a character, your repetitions will be months apart (and soon years apart).

Spaced repetition is key to high-end spoken Mandarin courses like Pimsleur's.

One problem with many spaced repetition systems is that they have no idea whether you correctly remembered an answer unless you tell them. Some systems prompt you to grade yourself on a 0-5 scale after each question. Then they adjust your interval accordingly.

Not only is that distracting, but it doesn't have active recall built in. Active recall is the key to long-term memory: you have to come up with the answer yourself, rather than just see the answer on the flip-side of the card.

Many existing programs are spaced repetition for flashcards. Skritter is specifically calibrated for learning characters.

Skritter gives you the best bits of spaced repetition and active recall in one system.

Two big reasons you should use Skritter:

1. Learn Chinese and Japanese characters faster.
   • Review characters, tones, readings, and definitions in seconds, not minutes.
   • Spend 3.2 minutes to learn Chinese characters and kanji for the long term.
   • Don't let stroke order slow you down; Skritter teaches it as you write.
2. Remember more Chinese and Japanese characters.
   • After 3 semesters, students only remember 39% of their characters.
   • Skritter users currently have a 91% retention rate because of our SRS.
   • After enough reviews, you'll remember Chinese characters and kanji for years.