February 2012 Newsletter: All That's New and Exciting at Joy o' Kanji

Hello, Friends of Joy o' Kanji (aka JOKers)!

Happy Leap Day!

Today we'll start with a contest. To enter, just email me the answers, and do it soon! The first five people to answer all questions correctly will win three Joy o' Kanji essays.

Joy o' Contest

The following questions all refer to words consisting of two kanji. (For instance, if I were quizzing you about 花火, I might ask this: flower + fire = _____. You would need to choose "fireworks" as the answer.) You don't need to know kanji to try your hand at the questions. Just use your intuition (and maybe a dictionary) to fill in the blanks:

1. illegitimate throne + year = _______

a. election year
b. leap year
c. year of worldwide uprisings
d. year in which a controversial person accedes to the throne

2. _______ + under = affiliated with; under the jurisdiction of

a. parent; father
b. god
c. umbrella
d. roof

3. white + _______ = type of noodles

a. waterfall
b. hair
c. strings
d. cloud

I'll provide the answers and the winners' names in the next newsletter and on the site. May the best JOKers win!

Latest Developments at Joy o' Kanji

There's lots of good news:

• You can now buy a yearly subscription! Several people have requested a yearly subscription feature, and this option is now available! A yearly subscription to Joy o' Kanji brings the following benefits:

—Access to all essays and all JOKIA albums
—Freedom from the hassle of paying each time you want something
—Huge cost savings

Right now with the early-bird special, a one-year subscription (expiring after 365 days) costs just $65! This offer is valid through Dec. 31, 2012. Starting on Jan. 1, 2013, the rate goes up to $85. To buy a subscription, visit the Pricing Information page.

• You can buy a bundle to save a bundle! When you buy five or more essays, a volume discount automatically applies. The amount of the discount depends on the number of essays in your cart. That's great news, but there's more! If you buy a "bundle" of essays, you receive the same volume discount, and you don't even need to select everything in the bundle immediately. That is, when you buy a bundle, you're actually purchasing credit on Joy o' Kanji. Here are the main reasons to buy a bundle:

—You want a discount but don't want to choose many essays at once.
—You are waiting to buy an essay that hasn't yet posted.

Your bundle credit will never expire. To buy a bundle, visit the Pricing Information page.

• We finished making stroke-order diagrams! Joy o' Kanji has lots of moving parts. This month, after TWO years, we finished one small part of the project: the stroke-order diagrams. These show how to draw each kanji. Graphic designer Tiara Marina made 2,136 of these diagrams, each of which goes into one essay. The diagram below for 鬱 was a killer. Appropriately, this recent addition to the Joyo set means "depression, gloom"! Many thanks to Tiara and to Steve Bills, who checked hundreds of these for me. Whew!

• You can now see a list of new Joyo kanji. Some people have asked for a display of the recent additions to the Joyo set. The ninth section of the FAQ now has instructions about how to browse this list on the site. 

•  The site is prettier now! Thanks to suggestions by Corey Linstrom and Chris Berg, I've scattered many photos throughout the site, starting with the home page. There will be more to come. The glossary and Radical Terms in particular are awash in new visuals. Here's one example:

New Essays

Since we were last in touch, I've posted these essays:

Feb. 3:

恵 (1196: blessing; favor)
双 (1513: pair; set; counter for pairs)

Feb. 10:

卑 (1727: base, lowly, vile, vulgar)
柄 (1776: character, nature; build; design; handle)

Feb. 17:

麻 (1829: hemp, flax; to become numb)
衷 (1585: innermost heart; happy medium)

Feb. 24:

玄 (1227: mysteriousness; occultness; blackness)

 

The links take you to Character Home Pages, where you'll find synopses and can buy PDFs. Currently 27 essays are available. 

I've also posted these free essays on the site:

• Thematic Explorations: "Gendered Kanji": Find out which kanji to use when you want to make gender distinctions. The answers may make you rethink what it is to be male or female!

• Radical Note 22: The "Box on Side" Radical: 匚": This shape plays a part in a pattern unlike any other in the kanji world.

New JOK Notebook Posts

The following JOK Notebook posts have appeared since I last wrote to you:

Feb. 3:   Triples
Feb. 10: Songs of Innocence and Experience
Feb. 17: Dyeing for Hemp
Feb. 24: Mystery in a Box

These are all FREE, and each one has something of interest about kanji, as well as vivid photos, so be sure to check them out! Have a wonderful month. 

JOYOusly yours,

Eve (and the rest of the Joy o' Kanji team)