In what I think might be an important step forwards for the project, we’ve just published the first five lessons of SSiSpanish on YouTube in video form - yes, horror of horrors, with words! - which you can see (and, pretty please, share) here:
@Deborah-SSi - it would be great if you could flag this up, with a humble plea for shares, in the email…
If it gets a decent amount of shares in the first few days, there’s a fighting chance that YouTube think more kindly of it than otherwise… 
With written words?! Ooh, controversial!
Is that something that is intended to become standard for SSi, or is it just to help promote it on youtube?
The original SSIW you tube videos was how I found SSI!! Hopefully this will do the same for others.
Yes, I think so - depends a bit on what we see with the first few sets that get released on YouTube, and if it turns out with time to be an overall win for us. Bit of a compromise, because I still prefer to see people steering clear of words for at least the first Level - but we get so many people asking for them, and there’s so much potentially traffic on YouTube, it may be something we have to learn to live with (while still suggesting to our video watchers that they try the sound-only version!)…
Yes, I can understand the appeal of bringing in more users. Personally (and professionally I guess) I think seeing the words has a negative impact on people’s pronunciation when they’re starting out, but after a certain point being able to read and write the language massively increases the amount of exposure that is possible.
Perhaps in the future, as an alternative to showing the vocab on screen with the first lessons, after the first 5 - 10 challenges there could be a video-based set of extra challenges that introduces the link between the spelling and pronunciation of the language in question - most languages seem to have a closer link between the written word and the pronunciation than English, which makes it easier. I can picture an already familiar word being prompted in the usual way, then the word being shown in full on screen and read out. It would then be broken into syllables with each syllable read out and repeated, and eventually the sounds being combined in different words (also already familiar from the regular challenges).
I didn’t do a very eloquent job of explaining that, so if it isn’t clear what I meant I’m happy to try again 
I agree with the first part - I think the second is slightly coloured by existing norms - it’s certainly been the standard way to increase exposure massively, but I think it’s possible to organise listening-driven bulk exposure…
Yes, I hear you - I’ve been thinking for a while about a ‘now for reading and writing’ bridge out of SSi… And something along these lines might be part of it… I’m going to wait and see (aka get on with other stuff) for another couple of years, though, and see what the process is like for people who’ve gone through the levels with the videos…
Perhaps it is coloured by my own preferences rather than norms - I read the news because I am too impatient to watch it, and when I need to learn something I look for a written explanation rather than a video on youtube because I can go at my own pace and move more quickly from one point to another.
I also think the diversity of written resources is much greater, especially given that most of the internet consists of written language. One of the biggest gains in learning German for me came when I started reading German fiction… I can’t claim the vocab I learnt is all particularly useful in real life (unless I become a detective, maybe).
That said, I wasn’t in any way suggesting written words would be a replacement for the way SSi currently works - I just think it is a much more convenient and adaptable way of exposing yourself to the language outside of the challenges, and once they’re over and done with.
Yes, I think this is true and relevant. And I think reading is important, particularly for people who want to access their new language in that way - maybe less so for people who want to talk but aren’t particularly interested in reading (which to my slight surprise has pretty much been how my Spanish has turned out so far). I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of impact the videos will have on people’s approaches to reading…