Every change to Hundred Words that you would notice, newest first, with what you can now do and why we made it. The latest is "The original MoSCoW list is on the roadmap, Won't list and all" on 26 October 2026.
The roadmap now shows the Must, Should, Could and Won't list from the first day of the build, what each bucket means, and what has shipped since.
Why: MoSCoW decides what is in at all, and the scores on the tree decide the order. Seeing the Won't list tells you what this site will never waste your time on.
Every idea on the roadmap now shows the evidence behind it, scored on Itamar Gilad's Confidence Meter, and that score sets its place in the queue.
Why: Guessed confidence makes every idea look good. Scoring it from evidence shows what we actually know, and your votes and ideas are the fastest way to move an idea up the meter.
Every scene page now has a "Got it" stamp, and your language page shows which scenes you are ready for.
Why: Before a trip it helps to see at a glance which counters you are ready for, and which ones to practise on the plane.
We have taken Spanish off the site. Hundred Words now covers six languages for trips in Asia, and the old Spanish links go to the home page.
Why: Every scene here comes from a real trip, and those trips are in Asia. Fewer languages means more real conversations in each one.
A clear privacy policy for UK and EU visitors, a page to download or delete your data, a tick box before we keep any allergies, and a plain page on Plus prices, cancelling and refunds.
Why: You should know what happens to your data and your money before you trust a site with either, and be able to take both back easily.
The roadmap now draws our opportunity solution tree as a picture, and every page shows its own preview card when you share it.
Why: A picture of the plan shows at a glance what we are working on and why, so your votes go where they count. And a link with a clear preview is easier for the friend you send it to.
A new way to test yourself on the 100 words that asks most about the ones you get wrong, and gives you one you know when you have missed a couple in a row.
Why: Testing yourself beats reading a list, but most quizzes waste your time on words you already know. This one spends your ten minutes on the words that would trip you up at the counter.
The home page now tells the story behind Hundred Words: the 7-Eleven bag question and the petrol cap in Taiwan.
Why: You should know who wrote the phrases you are trusting, and what this site is for and what it is not.
46 pages, one per scene, each starting with the question you would search for, like "What does the 7-Eleven cashier in Taiwan ask you?", and answering it in the first line.
Why: Most people look up one moment before a trip, not a whole course. Now that moment has a page of its own you can find, read in a minute and share.
The roadmap is now built in public and scored as an opportunity solution tree. Your one-tap votes move items up, and anyone can post an idea.
Why: You know which counters and cities matter on your trip. Votes and quick answers let you steer what we build, and they catch phrases that a local would never say.
Share your guide with one tap. Your travel partner can copy it, keep the same places and add their own food and allergies.
Why: Most trips have more than one person on them, and everyone ends up at the same counters.
Answer five quick questions and get a phrase guide for your trip: the conversations you picked, how you eat, allergy lines to show a cook, and your own pocket card.
Why: A first trip goes wrong in small, specific places, and for some people the most specific one is what is in their food.
Print or save one page with the questions people will ask you and what to say back, for when your phone has no signal.
Why: Phones die and signal drops, usually at the counter. A sheet of paper in your pocket still works.
A first draft of Taiwanese (台語): 100 words in 10 scenes, from greeting the neighbourhood aunties to the temple and the night market.
Why: Older people and much of southern Taiwan speak Taiwanese first. A few words of it gets a warmer welcome than perfect Mandarin.
Mandarin for Taiwan is now taught inside conversations, from Taoyuan airport to the night market, in traditional characters and Taiwan wording.
Why: Taiwan uses different everyday words from mainland China, and the questions you get asked at a Taiwanese counter are different too.
When you join the waiting list for a personal trip guide, you now get an email straight away with a link back to your free 100 words.
Why: A signup with no reply leaves you wondering if it worked. Now you know, and you can start practising while you wait.
The home page now plays a real exchange from the scenes, so you can see in a few seconds what you will learn.
Why: The site is about what people say back to you. Showing one of those exchanges straight away explains it better than a paragraph.
Two short pages explain what Hundred Words stores about you, and the few rules for using it.
Why: Before you sign in or leave an email address, you should be able to see exactly what happens to it.
The China scenes now use Shanghai wording and point out the local accents you will hear in Shanghai and Beijing.
Why: The Mandarin you hear in Shanghai does not sound like a textbook or like Beijing. Knowing the accent in advance makes the first conversations far less confusing.
The first 100 characters now have two new ways to learn, made for children from 5 to 12: character families and a game that builds characters from their parts.
Why: Children remember characters better when they see why they look the way they do, and start to guess new ones from parts they know. Memorising each shape on its own is slower and less fun.
Textbook phrases that locals rarely use have been swapped for the ones you will actually hear.
Why: Textbook phrases mark you out and can sound stiff or even odd. Hundred Words exists to teach the words you will hear at a counter or in a taxi.
The Why 100 words page now introduces Mark Ashworth, who built the site from 25 years of living and travelling across Asia, and adds more research behind the approach.
Why: Language advice is only as good as the person giving it. You can see the trips behind every scene and decide how much to trust them.
The 100 Mandarin words for China are now taught inside 12 scenes from a first trip, from Shanghai Pudong to the high-speed train to Beijing.
Why: Mandarin is the default language on Hundred Words, so it should open with the moments that trip you up on day one, like the cashier's question after you pay.
A new page explains where Hundred Words came from and the language and memory research behind how it teaches.
Why: You should know why the site teaches the way it does, and be able to check the evidence for yourself.
Mandarin (China) is now first in the language list and the featured language on the home page.
Why: China and Taiwan are where the next real scenes are being built, and the characters course is the part of the site you will not find in a phrasebook.
A public roadmap shows what we are building next, and this changelog records every change that affects you.
Why: If you are planning a trip around a feature, such as recorded audio or the personal trip guide, you can see where it stands instead of guessing.
Every language now has drills that test you on your 100 words and bring back the ones you miss.
Why: A flashcard checks that you recognise a word. At the till, the cashier says it fast and waits for an answer. Drills make you recall the word, and the ones you get wrong come back more often until they stick.
The 100 Vietnamese words are now taught inside 12 scenes from a first trip to Da Nang, showing what you say and what you will hear back.
Why: Single words do not help much when someone asks you a question. Hearing the real sentence, and knowing your reply, is what gets you through the moment.
Mandarin is now split into China and Taiwan, and stiff textbook phrases were replaced with what people say day to day.
Why: A traveller in Taipei sees traditional characters and hears different words for everyday things. Textbook phrases like 打扰一下 sound odd in a shop, so you now learn the ones you will hear.
French has been taken off the site for now so we can focus on travel in Asia.
Why: Doing Vietnamese properly, with real scenes and native-speaker checks, matters more than covering more languages thinly.
A new Mandarin course shows how 100 common characters are built and lets you practise writing each one.
Why: Characters look random until you see their parts. Once you know that 好 is a woman and a child, and that 妈 borrows the sound of 马, new characters become guessable.
Hundred Words launched with the 100 most useful travel words in several languages, flashcards and audio.
Why: Most apps start you on a long course. Before a trip you need the hundred words that do the most work, in the time you have.