Difference between revisions of "Jappleng.com"

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Jappleng University - Providing all of Japan to you for free.

Synopsis
Jappleng University provides instant access to an infinite library of Japanese material for free, and comprehensive courses that teach the Japanese language & Culture. The materials provided at Jappleng are gratuitous whilst granting access to a large community to learn from as well.

Jappleng has released parts of its website in September 2011 marking a new chapter in the development of the project. Since then, frequent updates to the website and new content is placed onto the website making it a more of a complete product.

The following is quoted from Jappleng University's Website:

Education

Jappleng provides various methods to learn Japanese and about the Japanese culture. At the present time, online methods are their primary focus and has announced in various Development blogs that it has plans to expand beyond online education.

An "in-development" website was released on May 2012 with limited features and has since then grown into a complete website. It has been stated that development of the website is only part-time and not-for-profit which is why this project has been under development for so long as stated in January 2014. Jappleng has not been receiving many updates as of lately, as stated in the same news post, "If there is enough interest into this project to make an impact on the community, I will focus a lot more of my time into the project, not for profit but for a cultural difference in the world. But as of now, I need to eat and this project is not something that is capable of putting food on the table but I will do what I can to make this project worthwhile to everyone remotely interested in Japan."

Battle with Cancer
Greig fought cancer (melanoma) in 2013 and won but faced a financial toll which would then force him to focus less on the site and more on profitable projects but has stated that he does not plan to ever give up Jappleng and the site will be completed Q1, 2014.

-JPLearn!
JPLearn is a learning management system that teaches Japanese. Presently it is limited to basic Japanese, however it was stated to have a wide assortment of lessons in the future, even those mastering the language could benefit from.

-The JPL-U Libary
The JPL-U library has seemed to have been pushed deep within the website but contains every article that is not community based on the website. It sorts everything from lessons to culture and travel documents.

Japanese Culture / -Japan Life!
The Japan Life! segment is for all who would like to learn everything there is about Japan and see how it is to live in Japan from your living room. At Japan Life, we’ll cover topics ranging from Japan’s Agriculture, television shows, history, and traditions, to experiences, destination information, and everything in between.

Japan life has been renamed to Japanese Culture in 2013 and is fully accessible.

-Nakama Robot
Consider this robot as a good companion that keeps a record of your progress here at Jappleng University. It’ll take note at your progress, quiz you on the things you’re not sure of, and ensure that you are ready for the next step. It’ll even prepare graphs, personal worksheets and tests for you when you need it.

-Club Jappleng
This is more than just a group, this is a club of hundreds of groups worldwide. Perhaps you wanted to create a club about Japan at your school, workplace, online, or with your friends but didn’t know where to start? We’ll not only help you start but provide all of the materials needed free of charge every week! Club Jappleng will also have its own section on the website for even more fun things to do!

JVShare / -Multimedia Education
Japanese related videos are posted in the JVShare section of the website. They are both exclusive and non-exclusive but via JVlogger partnerships. Some videos are hosted on Jappleng while others are embedded from YouTube due to the limited funding for the site. The primary partners of JVShare are Victor Boggio (Gimmeabreakman/Gimmeaflakeman) and Miss Tomoko (Maggiesensei).


-JSpot!
"Tickle your interest by finding your own JSpot!" This hub is where users may customize the appearance, upload “podcasts", create and suscribe to blogs, manage homework, queued articles, favorites and contributions to the site.

JSpot had released partially in October 2011 and is now fully accessible.

News in Japan / News from Japan (Jappleng News)
The origin of Jappleng University began with 'News of Japan' in the form of a blog in 2006 "Jappleng Blog" and later "Jappleng News". Jappleng News as it was called, was the predecessor of Jappleng University and was later changed as it changed its focus towards education, rather than news. It was then decided in 2011 that Jappleng News would return as "News in Japan" where it would be community driven. News in Japan was set to release around second quarter 2012 and in May 2012 it was released and useable for public use.

Members, also known as 'Students' can submit news articles, comment and vote for them similarly to Digg.

-Interactive Media & Chat
Previously known as the IDC (Ineractive Dance and Chat), the IMC is an online multimedia center application that combines user interactions with online media. In August 2013, an announcement was made that it would be re-created using HTML-5 and have improved features that better reflects the website.

-The Arcades
The Arcades have been taken down in favor for a stronger education foundation. Project Pinchy Attack has been announced to be in development many times and is said to release in 2014 for Steam and possibly Facebook/Android. On June 28th, 2013, Greig had announced that Pinchy Attack would no longer be part of Jappleng and would be on its own, however Pinchy will remain the mascot of the site.

The Community

Quote from an announcement that was made in early 2010: "Become part of the community, and that can start right now! Our community forums provides discussions regarding anything in Japan and what is even better is that you can meet new people and become “study-buddies”. Having a friend that can practice Japanese with you is a crucial step in bettering your Japanese. Come in, we’re friendly and bite very little." - Mark

Publishing Services

In May 2008, Mark Greig announced that there would be publishing services in the distant future such as a Magazine Subscription, Pocket Guides, an education game, and Text Books. This was renewed in late 2013 that physical products such as guides will be released around 2015 but no word on any other product types.

Corporate Details

Jappleng University is not a registered corporation and operates independently. It is not for profit but not a non-profit organization.

Rumors and Speculations

Victor Boggio and Tomoko from Maggie-Sensei are rumored to have lessons on the website. Many hints have been dropped regarding this in the announcements, and also the conceptual "screenshots". - This became true in May 2012

There has been discussions that Jappleng might be involved with NHK for news and radio broadcasting in 2007. This rumor was neither confirmed or denied.

It has been rumored in the IRC that Jappleng may be releasing their new forums with the Jappleng University theme in August 2008. It is also rumored that the design is more complex than the original. - This has happened in August 2008.

It has been speculated whether or not Jappleng is intending on building their very own University in the future because of their new name and motives. This rumor has been denied and the name only represents the online website.

Easter Eggs

Hidden Chat Room In early 2013 the chat room was removed but was still accessible by visiting /jSpot/IMChat. Later in the year, the chat room returned officially. The return of Easter eggs? In April 2012 a new article has been made "Where do I begin?" and inside hints that there are new Easter eggs to find.
Konami Fools On April 1st and April 4th, 2010, if you typed in the famous Konami Code onto the website homepage (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, b, a, enter) an Easter egg would crack open and a baby Pinchy would creep out.
Various Easter Eggs can be found around Jappleng's website. Bellow are a list of known Easter Eggs, although there may be more that are still yet to be discovered.

YinYen Hunt Challenge!!! - Every now-and-then, there are episodes of "YinYen Hunt Challenge!!!" located in random locations of both the website and the forums. Often this is simple trivia related or not related to the section where it was asked. The first to reply correctly is generally the winner, however different Challenges may differ. The tougher the challenge, the more 'YinYen' is given if answered correctly.

The Jappleng Toybox - Various hidden features or "behind the scenes" material are located in the Jappleng Toybox. You can find the Toybox url at --URL no longer exists-- however, it is just an empty splash screen with no links attached to it. All Toybox materials can be found throughout the Jappleng Network.

Japleng.com - Visit http://www.japleng.com/ and you should see a spelling mistake page "You have misspelled Jappleng. You typed in Japleng.com which is missing an extra p."

Promo Flash menu - Right click on the Promo flash file on the main page (prior to release) and a menu will show up with two items: "There is no Easter-Egg here I swear!" and underneath of it "Best Served With Breakfast". Click on the first item and it will bring you to --URL no longer exists-- with an interesting message explaining that there really is no Easter-Eggs around but if you check http://www.japleng.com/ you might find something interesting.

Mandy's birthday? - In an early promotional screenshot regarding the Jappleng Forums, you can see that Mandy Crabs's birthday is actually Mark Greig's (Founder) Birthdate (September 5th).

Source Code Fun - In June 2006 the home page of Jappleng had a comment within it quote: "Japple is like apples, but very fuzzy and clean!". What it means is up to your imagination.

Additional Information

Subscription Services
Although claimed to be entirely free numerous times in the past, various hints have been made that a subscription service for both video and tutoring may be a possibility(forums/news announcement).

Discussions in the IMChat have speculated subscription services are to be aimed towards redeeming your education for high-school or college credit, and there may be a possibly for a subscription to access higher levels of Japanese, though this has not yet been confirmed only speculated amongst members.

Community Reviews

Jappleng University has been on the front page of Bestuff.com for over 5-days in a row in June 2009.

There has been many drawings, videos, and audio renditions about Jappleng prior to its release as it has been widely anticipated. Many fans composed videos about writing "I love Jappleng" onto themselves, in the snow, and on large posters. One particular member decorated her entire room with giant letters spelling out "I
"I think that Jappleng University looks very promising as it will offer many new ways to learn Japanese as well as traditional. I like the way that it breaks it self apart from all the other educational websites out there by introducing "casual Japanese" lessons, great community feautres, amazing website features, and so forth.

I've been looking forward to this website when I first heard about it about a year ago, and expect nothing less than an excellent website that offers so much for free. I'm even more excited today as they discussed their online services to be a minor step towards their goals with Jappleng, and I await in anticipation.

There aren't any release dates, however there has been rumors in the chat room #lobby, that it will release this september. The authors of this project hinted out that it is a possibility because of an earlier announcement back in May-ish when Mark was revealing his personal goals.

There are no other website out there like Jappleng, and I can't wait for it to release. Thank you for all your hard work and because of it, I am writing a review for it here, and will tell many others about your amazing project! - BlackHaiyate"

"Jappleng rocks! The staff is nice and informal, and their goals are out there! They know what their doing and their doing it right too Smile Ganbatte!! - Japanice"

"Jappleng is a great place to be even if your not much interested in Japanese news (it's in english). Because there is a place to learn the language and its culture, a chat room, games, and various other free online things, even a forum. The website is one of the best if not the best looking one for this kind of thing. It's so helpful too! - Gemini32"

"Oh My God! Thats gunna be so helpful to everyone! It looks absolutely fantastic! I cant wait :3! - dominoprincess"

These reviews were taken from the community forums, and Beststuff.com.

External Links

• Jappleng University: http://www.jappleng.com/