Too long didn’t read:
Japanese Talk Online will be going on an indefinite hiatus.
I may come back but not anytime soon.
The website, Twitter, Facebook and Memrise will not shut down.
Patreon will shut down.
Why the Indefinite Hiatus?
My name is Jennifer.
Many people who come to this site don’t realize that I am a single person who has been doing Japanese Talk for…many, many years in my free time, for free.
Japanese Talk was always a hobby that I did in my spare time. In recent years I had the time to work on it. I have published over 200 articles about learning Japanese. 28+ flashcard courses on Memrise that over 25,000 people use. And it wasn’t until this year that I started Patreon to get money to help support the site.
But you may (or may not) have noticed that articles dropped from 1 a week, to 1 every two weeks. It’s been a month since I published an article.
My time has recently gone toward prioritizing work and will continue to focus on work for the foreseeable future.
What I Do
I am a freelance Japanese-English translator. I translate anime, manga, business and tourism documents. I am also studying to become an interpreter and looking to get a career in-house with a game company.
So my time is spent either working, intensive study or recovering (reading manga/playing games/watching anime etc).
I am also going on vacation for 2 weeks in July and studying in Japan for 6 weeks in August. Followed by more intensive study at interpreting school and self-study for the JLPT N1 in December.
This recent break from Japanese talk has been great for me and made me realize that I don’t enjoy writing for Japanese Talk like I used to.
I think the added monitization through Patreon has left me feeling guilty that I’m not able to provide people with content to compensate their generosity.
What About the Website?
Jtalkonline.com will continue to run. It’s not going anywhere.
I’m also hoping to fix the menus and tidy the homepage more for people who want to find useful articles.
I may add the advertisements just to get a little income in to cover hosting costs and keep the site going.
What About Social Media?
Japanese Talk Online has a Facebook and Twitter. I plan to continue posting on those (probably Twitter more) and sharing articles and content about learning Japanese.
Probably also posting about my own study progress and my upcoming trip to Japan.
What About Memrise?
JTalkonline.com Memrise will not be going anywhere either. I’ll still fix errors every few months.
I also have a personal Memrise account which I use for my own study if you’re interested in advanced Japanese.
I am also still working on JLPT N3 Grammar (sorry it’s taken so long). I DO want to get it done.
What About Patreon?
Patreon will shut down. I don’t want to take money from people who aren’t getting anything for it.
The small group of people who have supported me so far have been amazing. I’ve loved our interactions on Facebook and recently on Discord. I love seeing you grow.
The support you’ve provided me has mostly gone on Japanese lessons on italki or buying textbooks which ave helped my further my own Japanse. As well as on hosting the website of course!
So thank you so much for your support!
Thank you everyone who has found Japanese Talk Online useful!
I may write here again someday.
But most likely I will be focusing on articles about translation and interpreting on J-EN Translations.
So check that out if you’re interested.
本当にありがとうございます!