Hey everyone! We know that you have been waiting to hear more news about the project’s progress. So, without further delay, today’s blog will highlight what we’ve been working on:
- Czech Course Alpha Release
- Introducing the Translation Teams Liaison
- Creatonaut Update: New Library/Store for Sharing & Downloading Courses
- The Creatonaut Wiki is now Completed
Czech Course Alpha Release
Let’s begin with the Czech Course Alpha release. Previously, we’ve mentioned that for a Translatonaut to begin working on a course, we were going to provide a template that serves as a resource to guide them on how the course should be structured.
New Four-Skill Template
While the original version was a bit rushed to be published and allow Translatonauts to work on their course, we fully reworked the template to improve its value to translatonauts. The new four-skill template is more refined and representative of what official course skills should look like, so the main aim here is to provide clearer guidance on structure based on our new tools (.CN2, Automaton). It’s fewer skills than the old one but hopefully the higher quality will offset that.
Course Structure
We’ve said that the template is going to work as a guide, but what does the course structure actually look like? The Czech Course, and no doubt many of our other courses, will be divided into 9 units:
- Unit 1: Covers the basics and the nominative case.
- Unit 2: Focuses on the accusative case.
- Unit 3: Goes into the vocative case.
- Units 4-9: To be determined, so every feedback and insight is welcome in our Discord or Forums.
The Four Skills
The four skills that we’re introducing first will be the first overall too, at first our thought was to do some skills from all over the course, but that meant than when it came to actually creating the real Czech course, all that work would be thrown out the window as it wouldn’t be coherent:
- Hello!: Includes basic phrases that we all use daily, such as “yes,” “no,” and “please”.
- Adjectives: Covers the gender and forms of adjectives, allowing you to start building vocabulary through exploration and usage.
- Nouns: Focuses on the gender and form of nouns and how they interact with adjectives, further expanding your vocabulary.
- Articles: Explores the different forms of “the” and when to use each, allowing everyone to practice with existing vocabulary.
Accessing the Template & Getting Involved
With the fully reworked template now complete, you might be wondering where to find it, and we’re happy to say that you’ll be able to access it in our library feature, which we’ll cover in more detail later on!
For anyone interested in getting involved and might not be aware of how, join our Discord and head through the contributor channel, which is always open, and you can apply! (Make sure to read the pins first!)
Introducing Translation Teams Liaison
Formerly, the main person and point of contact for all teams was Doc. While Doc’s passion in having a larger oversight across how the project is managed and progresses has been essential, we as a team recognized a new opportunity. To create a better environment that’s more organized, relaxing, but also productive, we’re introducing a new role called Translation Teams Liaison that will serve as the new primary point of contact and manage the Translatonauts teams within our project. Nervardia has taken on this role.
Role Responsibilities
The new role is going to cover coordination and management of the Translatonauts team, ensuring that there is clear communication and collaboration among teams. This role involves handling any concerns or questions, overseeing quality control, and managing any issues or disputes, including disagreements between team members.
Main Focus and Next Steps
The main focus is not only about having someone to coordinate the Translatonaut teams and resolve any arising issues, but also to allow our Developer to focus on the development of the app without having to worry about team dynamics. Additionally, part of the new role is to bring insights and reports of the Translatonauts team to keep everyone within the team up to date, so we can make informed decisions.
What’s coming next is that Nervardia, will reach out to Translatonauts and start organizing the teams, but in order to do that, we’re going to create a handbook that explains and guides through various parts of how to actually make the courses, so everyone is informed and aligned with these values.
Creatonaut Update: New Library/Store for Sharing & Downloading Courses
As previously mentioned, you’ll be able to access the new Czech Course through our library feature, so let’s discuss more about this feature and what it is about.
The new library/store feature we’re bringing is about allowing people to share and download courses. Think of it as your go-to place where you can download and edit local copies of courses, which will be our start point for our app while it’s still in development.
The library/store feature will be a new button located under the import repository called Browse community courses.
This new feature among a host of others will be available in Creatonaut 2.1, with a full release notes blog post coming later next week.
How to add a Course to the Library
In order for a course to be added to the library, a team leader will first need to submit it to the new role we spoke about earlier. The Translation Teams Liaison will then pass the course on to us for the final approval. While we have the final say on who can upload courses, anyone who believes their course meets the standards, including conlangs, can submit their course.
Courses will undergo quality checks focusing on communication and the team environment. The team will perform automated testing to ensure the course is functional and complies with our policies outlined in the community bylaws on lingonaut.app. Once these checks are completed, users can report any issues or conduct concerns about a course going forward. (Though we concede that the newest AI language models would be a good tool for this, they’re far too expensive to use right now).
Staying Updated, Interaction, and Feedback
For those interested in staying up to date on new course releases or updates, the best way is through our Discord. Be sure to check the library regularly for updates!
To provide feedback or ask questions about official courses, you can either reach out on our Discord or through our Forums. The management of unofficial community courses is still to be determined.
Creatonaut Wiki is now Completed
We are excited to announce the completion of our Creatonaut Wiki! This particular resource is designed to help you navigate and use the Creatonaut app efficiently and easily. It will be up in the next few days and You’ll be able to find the Creatonaut Wiki here:
Course Creation Wiki
We’re currently developing a separate wiki page on how to create a course. To clarify, the Creatonaut wiki is focused on getting around and using the Creatonaut app, whereas the upcoming course creation wiki will provide detailed guidance on developing courses.
Language Availability
Some of you might be wondering if the information we share, such as blogs, wiki pages, or other sections, could be available in other languages. As of now, we currently can’t offer translations, but we are considering this for the future.
Support and Questions
Should you have any questions or need further clarification on any topic, you can ask us via Discord or through our Forums, also If you’re interested in contributing, you can suggest new wiki pages through there as well! When we notice that there’s enough interest and participation, we’ll add the suggested pages to the wiki.
But Wait, There’s More!
Project Updates: Beta and TestFlight
We’re still making our way to the releasea, and we have some milestones that you might be interested in regarding the project’s development, and speaking of that, details on the beta and TestFlight will be coming out soon! The way this will work is that we’ll be giving out beta keys to our patrons, with the number of keys ranging from 1 to 3 depending on the tier.
Stay tuned for more information on how this will work and how you can get involved in the beta testing!
What’s Coming Next?
As we mentioned earlier, there’s going to be a beta announcement, while we’re also focusing fully on our translation teams to ensure everything runs smoothly. Additionally, something very important that we recently started working on is our presence on social media.
We believe this will allow more people to discover our project and our purpose, so we’ll be investing time on becoming active on social media while also providing additional spaces to learn news, upcoming updates and our project’s milestones.
-Tatsumi
Chief Blogonaut
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