Why I Don't Use Anki to Learn Vocabulary (And Why You Shouldn't Either)
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
- Link to article: www.lucalampariello.com/why-i...
Timestamps:
00:00 - Is Anki the best choice to learn vocabulary?
00:58 - The SRS Origins
03:11 - Why & how SRS tools can actually prevent you from learning
04:08 - Making Anki flashcards wastes learning time
05:53 - Adding new cards can become addictive
07:36 - Reviewing old cards can become a chore
09:32 - Flashcards take language out of context
12:07 - Brain-friendly learning strategies make SRS apps irrelevant
13:12 - How I learn vocabulary without flashcards
14:46 - Conclusion
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@@TeacherBuster lol i bet you arent even fluent in ONE foreign language.
I disagree with you and agree with Luca. In addition to being the most disconnected from reality and boring language-learning activity one can engage in, spaced repetition/flashcard learning of vocabulary results in a superficial, poor-quality kind of “learning”. What I mean is that outside of the flashcard context, one will have much greater difficulty finding and using the word or expression than if one had learned it in a more holistic way. Creating and practicing flashcards can feel reassuring because it gives the illusion of having an organized way of “catching” those thousands of slippery eels of unknown words and expressions in a new language, but one is far better off if one resists the temptation and boring waste of time. As Luca says, there are far better ways that are more fun, more natural and require far less time-wasting “overhead”!!!!
Luca - you are pronouncing the english words "software program" wrong at 7:53 in this video... you say "as a softer program" ... the word is "soft-ware" ... grazie per i video !
I have been using Anki for the last 10 years, and I'm glad I did. All of your criticisms are valid in my experience, but none of them are game breakers. It is important to understand Anki as one tool in the toolbox, with certain strengths and limits just like any other. Your bidirectional translation method seems solid, but I'm sure it comes with its own pros and cons.
True that
My native language is Spanish. Anki is great for passive vocabulary. With reading and videos, you can turn it into active vocabulary. Anki is wonderful, people criticize it because they took cards from others instead of the ones they needed or added unnecessary words. You should study a maximum of 20 useful words per day, and your learning will at least triple just by dedicating 20-30 minutes to Anki
@@Idiomas-gz1ce True that also... most criticism toward Anki comes from people who don't know how to use Anki properly or simply find it boring.
I'm all in for HACKING your memory retention in an "artificial way" (as with Anki). However, counteracting the "forgetting curve" in an organic way should also be at play in your learning.
In my language learning experience, 80% of my retention was facilitated by my organic use/exposure of the language. I cannot imagine learning a language by just hacking your way into it.
There's a way around all of his criticisms, sure, but it will take up a lot of your time. Luca is right in saying that by attacking your new vocab from different angles while spacing said activities in time is a lot more fun and looks to be very efficient in terms of actually being able to automatically use it in the future. Some very famous language learners like Matt from Matt vs Japan used Anki until a certain point, where they began to feel it was taking more and more of their time for ever diminishing returns, at which point passive (but massive) immersion becomes a better and much more enjoyable strategy. But it all depends on one's personality, I guess
I've been using Anki for 1 year on and off and 4 months, non stop, and it's boosted my vocabulary in a way that I couldn't have ever imagined. learning a language takes effort and time there's no way to skip this part of the process. I recommend to use Anki to anyone who wants to speed up the process of learning a language
Hmm - let's take the most common 2000 words that will take you to around B1. Do you really need them in an SRS? If you interact with real native inputs and create your own outputs, you'll come across that vocab pretty much daily anyway. But you're learning it in many different and interesting contexts, along with all kinds of useful idioms and colocations...
Once you become advanced, there's the issue of learning rare words that you might need for your specialised interests. I suspect that there's a stronger case for SRS then - but I don't have enough experience at that level to have an opinion...
@@tullochgorum6323 All the negative points listed are absolutely true but as I have commented here:
All well and good but, with all due respect, you yourself have said before you have trouble learning Asian languages like JAPANESE. Your method is cool and all, and I use a version of it (to make ANKI cards, no less) but this is a method ONLY seem to work for SIMILAR languages. I didn't use ANKI at all to learn ITALIAN, since I'm Brazilian, nor English. But sure as hell I needed it to learn Japanese before and Vietnamese now. And all languages that I intend to maybe learn one day (Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Thai, Burmese, Filipino, Khmer, etc) seem to require this extra time of repeating and efficiency. One thing is learning a similar language that comes with what I call 'free words' (You never saw it, but when you see it you understand it, at last in the written form and in context). But learning a language where nothing looks like to anything else you know is a whole 'nother beast.
You sure don't need in similar languages. Like Europeans learning most Europeans languages. But when it comes to, say, Vietnamese, where to me I couldn't even understand the SOUNDS I was listening to (and I'm not even talking about only the tones). As I started learning Italian and Japanese at the SAME time I have discovered those so called "free words" make ALL the difference in the word. They at least break a sentence and a text for you. And believe me, that means EVERYTHING. It took me a year to be functional in Italian, it took me FIVE in Japanese. And although I've studied BOTH everyday I devoted WAY more hours a day to Japanese, while only devoting up to one hour to Italian, because I knew Japanese would take much more.
@@JohnnyLynnLee You make a fair point - all my experience is with relatively similar languages to English with a bunch of cognates.
Given that amassing vocab is the #1 hurdle to overcome on the road to C1/C2, learning a related language gives you a huge head start for sure. Italian, for example, has at least 5000 closely related words that are often guessable. Learning that number of words in a remote language would take years, as you point out.
And it must be very difficult to react with any kind of meaningful material until you have at least 500 words or so.
I guess that a lot depends on your temperament. Personally I find working through decks crushingly boring and demotivating so I'd never stay the course.
I need something that's more interactive and creative. My current approach to output involves building scenarios, writing scripts and acting them out. I use this to drill grammar patterns as well. This is actual fun - even learning those damned romance verb systems is tolerable.
If I ever tackle a remote language I'll have to find another way. I'm pretty sure it could be done.
What I've learned is that people have very different learning styles and there is no "One True Way". I lot of the CZcams gurus seem very dogmatic and assume that what works for them must be optimal for everyone else - they can get positively abusive if you dare to question their dogmatic assertions (translation is damaging, grammar is a waste of time etc etc).
What Luca is doing here is pointing out that you don't have to follow the crowd, and that if you don't get on with Anki, there are viable alternatives. I think that's valuable, even if he is overstating the case a bit.
@@tullochgorum6323 1. I want my vocabulary to be good in a short period of time, hence, I need all the words I can possibly learn in Anki
2. if I were advanced there wouldn't be any reason for me to use Anki anymore
If you want to speed up learning a language use Anki
@@eduardoguerrero9876 Fair enough - if it works for you why should anyone argue?
But it doesn't work for me, and so it's good to know that efficient alternatives exist.
As a polyglot who can speak 11 language and who has more than 30 years of experience in language learning, I DO recommend Anki. I’ve only been using it for the past 8 years and was totally fine without it before. But now that it exists, I definitely use it once a day.
I wouldn’t recommend it as a primary language learning source, but as one of the many tools people need to learn a language. It’s useless if you don’t combine it with other tools for sure. But I really love this new tool. And it doesn’t take more time to add new vocabulary to Anki than to write it down on a notebook, so the waste of time argument is not the best one.
Second that. From what I can see this guy is mainly poking at anki because he thinks it takes too long to create flashcards and that time can be spent on active learning.
I think anyone who's used anki for more than a month knows that there are methods to make the process faster.
For example, adding an audio file can be done with AwesomeTTS.
Usually people get decks of cards already made to learn basic vocabulary so that they can then spend time on active input.
Starting to read or watch content in a language you have 0 familiarity with will take longer than getting a 500 words deck and then progress from kids shows to movies, music and whatever media you're interested in.
Also, I would like to emphasize that I'm speaking English as my 3rd language but I'm fluent. Yes, I did live in the UK for a number of years and was fluent before that, but even then I don't actively use a rich vocabulary. I would not pass the Cambridge C1 test (as neither would most British people I know) but if you overlooked my accent you'd swear I was a native speaker.
I do understand complex vocabulary, certain slangs but I haven't trained myself on lesser used words or academic writing, altough I am able to comprehend it.)
However, I would not be able to talk like that (let's say like Dr Jordan Peterson, who's vocabulary is just jaw dropping, he can clearly state what he thinks and if you simplify it to more accessible vocabulary you lose meaning of the broad idea or need to use more words to express yourself) unless I would memorise words rather than rely fully on acquisition.
ANKI FTW
Luca: "Adding new cards takes too long!"
Also Luca: "Using tools to generate cards will let you make too many cards in a short period of time!"
😅
I've been there for both situations more than once so I think both points remain valid even years later - there's always new tools, new resources, new thinks to try. It does seem like he's contradicting himself though.
If the cards are out of context depends on you. I write just words that I saw in series. Then I'll write the phrase which I heard that word. I also write various definitions and its examples (in the same language I'm learning). And also I take a picture of the scene that I heard that word.
And this isn't such a slow process, because I just copy the definitions. furthermore the process helps me to pay attention to details (which I was lacking)
Anki has been really helpful for me. It helps me with words and phrases that are less frequent.
Exactly! It's funny that when I review a flashcard I added from a movie, I can remember the exact scene and what was going on and that moment. I can even remember the actor (actress)'s voice in my head, so pronunciation comes naturally as well
@@iagonoah6974 It also happens to me!! good to know I'm not the only one.
There's also a lot of low friction tooling to make high quality cards from your immersion like vocabsieve, migaku, yomichan (for japanese learners), etc. This seems to me to largely be a solved problem. In some cases, they even track the words you know and can find sentences in your immersion where you know all but 1 word to increase comprehension.
It's certainly possible to create cards without context, but you'd need to be intentionally trying to make awful cards instead of using one of the good card formats (sentence cards, animecards, targeted sentence cards, etc).
Same here, and I don’t even have to put a picture. My brain just knows. I also do an activity where I record myself speaking, then make flashcards out of what I didn’t know how to say. Not only is there context but also I get to learn Spanish that I would actually use.
Make cards with sentences, not isolated words.
I'm studying Japanese kanji and have used anki flashcards for the past two years. It has helped me so much and as a result of my daily dedication to it, my reading skill has become the strongest skill out of speaking and listening.
Yeah, I think it can help a lot when learning how to read a language using a completely different script than your native language.
Japanese is what got me to use Anki. I studied German/French/Spanish to varying degrees just by reading and listening before Anki (back in the day) but Japanese immersion with the horrible writing system was too hard. Anki was a life saver. But a slow one (at least for me) because I relied on it completely for the first few years. I absolutely recommend SRS to people learning Japanese but maybe not so strongly for other languages. Although I'm happy with my Japanese I hope your studies proceed more quickly than mine did ;).
It likely could have gotten stronger faster without it is his point
I used Anki wrongly before (word to word cards or premade sentences by others) and barely learned 1/3 of the words, I gave up afterwards, but I tried again and once I 1. started creating MY own sentences (for encoding purposes), 2. with the target word being written in the native language and the answer being in the foreign one (to evade the false-knowledge trap of knowing what a "bicicleta" is, even though I'd never remember it going from English to Spanish) and 3. creating a new sentence and thus more context whenever I forget something, I have come to the point where I can easily learn over 50 words a day even if I don't put much effort in, with only
50 words a day is a genius level claim. I would like to perform this test: you read 10-20 pages of a book in the language you want to learn, and you write down 50 new words you think are usefull, interesting, or important for you to learn. You create a deck based on those words (how much time to do it?). Then you play the deck as usually (for how much time?). The next day you do exactly the same (read, pick up words, add to the deck, playing the deck). You do this for 2 weeks, then you analyze your stats. How many words you can recall?
You mean front card English, back card target lenguage?
I find translating like that to be a downside sometimes bc you tend to always try to translate instead of thinking in the target lenguage
@@rhezer Yeah, ideally, do both.
Still watching the video but I have to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for giving all five points at the start and then elaborating. I can't tell you how many times I've had to watch a video at 2x speed just so I could get to the good stuff quicker!
That's a great video, Luca. The many, also controversial, answers prove that you touched a very interesting topic and in the end we all need to find our path through the jungle of a new language. Mille grazie! 😊
ANKI isn't a method for learning. It's a method for remembering things AFTER you've learned them, by repeatedly testing you. It also isn't good if your target and native languages aren't similar: you don't WANT to memorize a one-word translation.
Anki is just a memorization tool, and it's the best one out there. If you expect it do to more than helping you memorize things, then you're gonna have a bad time.
Okay, after scrolling the comments here, I found most people who have a beef with this video are those who are learning Japanese....
Most likely yeah. From MattVSJapan probably
Honestly, I have used Anki for a few months now specifically with German learning, and my personal experience is quite similar to what you're talking about. At this point in my learning journey, it has become boring and does not feel as effective when it comes to really learning and internalizing the German language. At this point, I haven't been using it for a few weeks and I don't think I see myself going back to it anytime soon, possibly at all. Who knows, I may dabble with it from time to time, but it definitely won't be my main source for learning. For myself, I find it more helpful actually learning things and writing it down or just immersing myself in the language and being aware of vocabulary I have learned and how it's used in context. Again, this is my personal experience, but I'm sure everyone has their own unique experience regarding these type of apps! I know people who have had success with it, but for me I don't think it's 100% right for me.
I think Anki is a good way for beginning language learning. I think it has been a great way for me as a beginner to learn my first 1000 words and starter phrases. I found it useful for learning common verbs and tenses. But after this beginning phase of language learning, I think one would be better off to use other techniques like Luca presents in the video.
I was similar. I had a pre-made deck, so setup/maintenance was fine, but after a few months it felt too much like schoolwork and I started hating it. Like you guys, I think I also was just ready to switch to all-native content. So Anki is probably fine as a primer, but should be seen as a quick-start tool only, like any other app, Duolingo, etc.
While watching Luca's video, I opened Anki out of curiosity to see how many reviews I have pending: 948 😂
German has so many great resources for the learner such as graded readers, books of dialogues, DW/Goethe Institute courses for any level that Anki learning seems redundant.
But you finding it boring doesn't mean anything about it being ineffective. You need to be disciplined and stick with it
I'm learning German because I like German rap and covers of songs. I have a lot of fun breaking down songs and finding articles to explain the grammar. Anki is just a means to an end to build my vocab to the point where I don't need to search up verbs so often. It lets me listen to more TJ BEASTBOY lol. I actually like using Anki since it takes the load off of remembering words I already see everywhere in lyrics, I wouldn't recommend it if you're goal is just to learn it for the sake of learning German, since that isn't fun.
The fundamental problem is that people seem to get into a "must put everything into Anki" mindset and think you have to do ALL your due cards every day. It's simply not true. If you configure Anki to show "new" cards after reviews, and if you configure Anki to limit your time per session (e,g. 2 sessions per day, 5 minutes each) then most of the problems mentioned here (e.g. addiction, all valid points) go away on their own. Personally I use Anki not to "learn" vocabuly but to build confidence in learned vocabulary from proper material with context.
I agree that Anki can be difficult to use in a smart way. Almost all my Anki cards are key phrases from texts which I listen to many times so that I get both passive exposure and can retrieve useful parts, while remembering the context. It's true that the cards in a deck tend to pile up if you miss reviewing for some time, but the neat thing with Anki is that it takes into account the time you didn't review, so if you review a card a year after it was due, and you remember it, the intervals will increase automatically. I was taking up Spanish again recently after years not using it actively, had 800 cards on Spanish in Anki, which took 3 hours to review, but I remembered almost 500 of those and won't need to review those again for a long time, and the 300 or so which I failed are much easier to remember again than fresh cards and their intervals increase much more rapidly.
1. I solely download pre-made decks
2. The language decks I use are so big I don't add cards, I just find a new already-made deck.
3. Yes, agreed. Learning is a grind.
4. Most language decks I've seen available use the words in a sentence. Some of mine even have audio from native speakers and the conjugations.
5. The reason I like Anki is it takes the work out of scheduling spaced repetition into my study time.
I remember a video where you talked about your struggles with learning Japanese. I am fluent in Japanese and ANKI has been a great help! If you don't stay in touch with the phrases you've learned, I don't know how you can memorize a lot of kanji. But do you also speak Chinese? I going to look for videos where you talk about learning Chinese. Besides ANKI, I use other methods, including some of the methods you've mentioned. I think that as long as you know how to use ANKI effectively, it can be efficient.
I also have been using Anki for Japanese, and if you use it for training but also do some other important things I think it totally helps. For me it has not been boring or a chore. The important thing is to use it properly.
I also speak Japanese, and I have never used Anki. I have no problems recalling kanji. After looking words up a couple of times they just start to stick when seeing them in context
@@TheHakon98 In Brazil, it's challenging to find time for learning due to work and college commitments. However, I make use of the ANKI app effectively during unproductive moments, such as when I'm on the bus commuting to work or college. I also follow Steve Kaufmann's method, which involves texts with audios. I'm fluent in Japanese, and ANKI helps a lot in achieving this. While Lucas may be right, I can't dedicate my entire day to language learning like he does.
I like the idea presented here and I think it is fair...and probably the right time for me to stumble upon it, because I did some translating of a piece of text last week to challenge myself and looked up words I couldn't figure out and found the experience rewarding. But remembering vocabulary is one of my weaknesses because I struggle to stick with any of the flash card methods and honestly hate learning out of context and my best learning has been with things in context and where everything makes sense. So maybe the push I need is to work in a level of spaced repetition.
And you are right about words having different meanings and also sometimes multiple words have the same basic meaning and I generally didn't like creating cards for those words and I figure it'd be easy to get wrong and I have.
Yo amo Anki porque además de ayudarme a aprender palabras, me ayuda a aprender estructuras gramáticales que me están resultando complejas. Creo (sin ofender) que la mayoría de los que se quejan de Anki, no son muy buenos con la tecnología y no lo saben configurar ni usar bien. Anki es una maravillosa herramienta, pero todo depende de tu curiosidad, imaginación y el uso que le des
Hola yo igual ! Por cierto ahora con chat gpt copio varias frases del idioma nativo y le digo que lo ponga en formato csv , luego al Excel y de ahí zas al Anki con eso ahorro mucho tiempo !
Estudio japonés ! Saludos
Wow I was able to understand most of what you said
hey! cómo estás estudiando gramática con anki? me interesa saber cuál es tu método
Listening and reading extensively are my ways to memorize vocabulary
Man I use anki and it has been insanely helpful. I passed the german B2 exam less than 5 months after starting to learn the language. I'm gonna say no to this advice.
Great progress, i want to hear more about your method since im studying 10+ hours a day for my Korean exam 😂😂
Now I understand why I've never liked learning words with Anki or apps like this. I think everyone should choose what works better for them. I love listening to dialogs, then analyze them and memorize the things which are necessary personally for my life. In this way I practice listening comprehension, pronunciation (I can repeat after the speaker), spelling (I can look through the text after the first listening) and I learn words naturally. They just jump in my head without a special effort as I have a context and can imagine the situation. Sure, I have to repeat, without it one can't remember for a long time. But that's the way that works for me
Anki, basically, works against the neural network in our brains, splitting information on unrelated little chunks.
All texts you read, all dialogs you hear is a SRS itself, you meet words again and again, not random ones, but the ones that are actually useful for you. So we don't need another, artificial one above it.
Exactly. Same for me.
@@KnightOfEternity13 Well said!
@@KnightOfEternity13I have the exact same idea. I used Anki to learn words using phrases, but I spent time with words that I don't really need at that point, so by defining the words that I would study I end up in an artificial process wasting my energy to do it. So I noticed that reading a book, the most important words that I really need, appear natural with more frequency.
Now that I've seen the video. I agree with you Luca. Using a notebook in my opinion is way better than using Anki. I had used Anki in the past and it didn't work for me either! Thanks for the awesome content !!
You're method sounds way more overwhelming than reviewing flashcards hahaha
Right? I agree with every criticism he has but his alternative doesn't appeal.
It probably really is a matter of preference. To me, it sounds a lot more fun. Like incomparably more fun :)
I got my advanced in English thanks to anki
Great video, as always!
Still, I think you could employ the BDT or similar methods (e.g., Goldlist) through Anki. It's just a matter of how to structure the cards.
I’m an experienced language learner with 3 languages aside from my mother tongue at the C1/C2 level and one at the B1 level so far, and I agree with Luca and am pleased to see this video! In addition to being the most disconnected from reality and boring language-learning activity one can engage in, spaced repetition/flashcard learning of vocabulary results in a superficial, poor-quality kind of “learning”. What I mean is that outside of the flashcard context, one will have much greater difficulty finding and using the word or expression than if one had learned it in a more holistic way. Creating and practicing flashcards can feel reassuring because it gives the illusion of having an organized way of “catching” those thousands of slippery eels of unknown words and expressions in a new language, but one is far better off if one resists the temptation and boring waste of time. As Luca says, there are far better ways that are more fun, more nstural and require far less time-wasting “overhead”!!!!
Thank you for this, Luca. I always give up on Anki. I can't get myself to like it.
Could you clarify day #1 and Day #3 please? You mentioned on Day 1, you use the translation in your mother tongue, and on Day 4, you make a personalized translation of the text in your native tongue (mother tongue). How does the translation from Day 1 differ from Day 4?
On day 1 he'll be using translation from other sources to understand the content, and on day 4 he'll make his own translation from what he understood about the content.
Fair points! I've gotten a lot out of Anki, specially with my Japanese studies, since the writing system is a tough one to get used to. To each their own, but I think these are well-structured and fair criticisms anyways, and I'm sure they'll help people decide what they want to do.
I love ANKI, the process of creating letters, makes you have contact with the phrase, its translation and meaning, several times, when looking for audio, image etc, it increases even more the contact with the phrase, then revise and revise. Now I doubt that anyone picks up a book, reads it and then rereads it several times, nobody has the patience for this. Now Anki is revised every day with great pleasure, I wouldn't change anki for anything.😊
1. Anki provides 1000s of downloadable pre-made decks with 10s of 1000s of cards in them.
2. See #1
3. Fair point.
4. Use full sentences and phrases when creating cards instead of just one word per card. Besides, Anki is meant to be a supplement, not a one and done learning tool.
5. Another fair point but it seems both can be effective. I'm going to use Anki and the bidirectional method! 😁
I have been in Japan for about 16 years and after several attempts to learn the language I gave up and abandoned it... and as a last resort I tried Anki and it has been a total change, thanks to the application plus immersion today I can talk and joke with the Japanese an intermediate level
Anki fue lo único que me ayudó a aprender el idioma japonés .. intenté varias veces estudiarlo sin éxito .
Crear tarjetas es fácil …
1.- puede usar Yomichan
2. Puede usar chat gpt para ayudar a crear nuevas tarjetas … por ejm frases originales de japonés las copio al chat gpt y le digo que lo ponga en formato csv … luego lo pego a Excel y de ahí con dos clics tengo muchas tarjetas etc,etc
Qué es formato csv?
@@k.5425es un formato de excel, pero utiliza TABs para separar colunas
As a potential translator or interpreter I'm expected to fare in a native level when it comes to listening or reading in my target language, this points to the need to know every single word because time is everything when it comes to translation or interpreting. I believe that when you learn how to use it can become an easy way to not forget vocabulary, but this is up to you. Everyone has it's own method that works for them in their own way. You should pay heed to others' and decide whether it is good for you or not, but do not take everything seriously, I'd say be choosy on which advises you decide to follow.
Btw my mother tongues are Spanish and Galician and I wrote this text using vocabulary that anki helped me to remember, ain't that cool.
Happy language learning to everyone :)
I can relate. I’m currently studying to be a court interpreter between English and Spanish and while I ideally would love to learn all these legal terms through natural comprehensible input there’s just no way so I have to grind Anki for a large percentage of them
ANKI is just a tool for helping you not forget (after you know something). A translator needs to know ALL the common meanings of a word in the target language (not just one), and how to know which meaning is intended. ANKI can't do any of that. But perhaps there are other things that ANKI can do. If it does something useful for you, terrific!
I don't think you quite need native level for interpreting but obviously a very high level. Good luck. I wouldn't trust myself to learn a language well enough to be an interpreter.
Oohh! I was looking for this video at this morning!! Great!
Hello Luca, I'm Alexandre, and Im from Brazil. I am an Anki user, and I appreciate your perspective about this app. I use a method that takes me a few minutes per day to add and study cards. I also guarantee that I will add more than one meaning to a word. From my perspective, there are ways to use this software in a proper manner. But your arguments are valid as well. Good video, Luca.
Hi, I just stumbled upon this video but find your strategy really interesting. I’m wondering where you tend to find content that is both written and has audio? Also what is the rough length of the text you tend to use? …perhaps you have another video explaining this process in more detail?
I have to say, I have never gelled with Anki. I find the interface itself to be too boring. But I have enjoyed using Memrise for Japanese- perhaps Kanji necessitates the use of flash card learning more so than Latin alphabet languages.
I totally agree Learning with flash cards is as hit way I use LingQ and I go through authentic French podcasts and breakdown every single sentence for understanding. Move on do another then eventually return right back to the first one and repeat. I do this until I’m blue in the face. I’ve done this for about a year and I now understand everything I want in the language. I do it alone and don’t really like chat rooms and the like they piss me off. I have conversations with myself and often at work I speak in French and directly repeat in English. I wasted years doing Duolingo and others and didn’t learn anything. I know a French speaker in town who I feel at ease with and I try Various things. I try out some Argo and speak as fast as I can even messing the words like francophones seem to do. Yeah she understands me. There you go my method similar to yours Luca. Tommy
I learned Portuguese, Spanish and French with Lingq in three years. Now I live in Brazil and read classics in these languages.
Bofore that I wasted 6+ years learning German and Japanese with Anki, Duolingo and alike. I still don't know those languages.
Parabéns. Estou usando o Anki para minerar frases em inglês, mas não gasto mais do que 30 minutos de revisão. Faço mais listening e reading. Para gerar os cards uso o ChatGPT, assim não gasto muito tempo nessa tarefa.
very good video, thank you for such indepth explanation
Thank you for your videos, which I usually like very much. But I have to admit I'm a bit surprised: I use the Mosalingua app, and I'm always exposed to your videos in which you say that the spaced repetition system is the best when it comes to learning vocabulary... which of the two Lucas is right?
I speak fluent English and Japanese (not my native languages). However, I've never really used Anki and probably never will. I tried using it a few times in the past but was bored out of my mind and didn't even last two days, haha. However, some people seem to enjoy it, idk why, but nothing wrong with that. :) You can become fluent in a language by using or not using Anki, so rest assured and do what feels good to you!
Yes,Luca, I completely agree with you!My small experience with tough soft has confirm your experience! I left this work ! May be it is not for me,but can fit for others! Thank you!
Hahahaha the first reason you mentioned is the one why I quitted using Anki when starting my journey with English, I thought this is to much work to create a desk of this. I'll jus going to use material already created.
Love your mindset Luka!
I can't trust something that learners have created for me.
You make a very valid point Luca and funny enough, I came across this video because of something with which you mentioned; context. The word από in Greek I noticed has 4 different meanings, and although in one particular sentence within a short story it uses it in the context of 'from', it then makes it more difficult using Anki.
I do have Duolingo, Mondly, Memrise and I still feel they're good, but I have recently started the story learning method and incorporated that into my routine. I just need to find an efficient way that'll help me memorise words from stories.
Hey Luca, thanks for the video! In my case Anki didn't work at all, it didn't help to boost my vocabulary. Repetitions were like a chore and I forced myself many times to reach the day's goal. For me the best way to memorize new vocabulary is to write short stories using the words I want to learn. Then memorising happens in a more active way. On the other hand I understand that such apps are usefull tools for many. We are different and it's cool that we can share our experiences.
*I agree 💯%* *Thank you for the video!* The strategy of using your target language in authentic ways is the shortest way to fluency
I think the same way, something inside myself told me anki isn't very effective as we belief it is, I learn more english through exposition of the language, watching tv shows and reading.
1) When you making a card, you learn as well.
2) You can add the cards with context. Make the whole sentences, not the isolated words.
It takes less than a minute to add a card; usually less than 10 seconds.
I stopped using Anki as soon I reached a level where I could read well enough in my target language. The idea behind was that the repitition throughout the book should sufficient.
Apart from this: an Anki deck with 2000 words, phrases or expressions makes no sense because you are always behind the optimal repitition time.
Maybe in the beginning to learn the most important words it is not a bad idea using Anki. But again, keep the deck small.
With due respect to your views, Luca, I wouldn’t advise using Anki the way you describe it, either. I do bidirectional translation with simple cards (there is an Anki option that automatically creates a mirror image of a card you put in, so that is half the work done for you).
Sure, Anki can’t substitute for a real interaction, or for richer content, but it has its place in my repertoire of activities.
I agree with everything you said. I came to this realisation after a year of using Anki. My Anki practice felt like a chore after a while but I didn't want to give up at risk of forgetting my learnt vocab. I just bit the bullet half a year ago and pressed 'delete'! My golden rule now is make sure your learning is fun.
Your video arrived just in time. I've been thinking about using Anki lately. So far I've been using Notes on my phone to jot down new vocab and expressions. But now I'm looking for something more advanced as use my notes for many other things and the Notes app tend to become laggy and freeze when filled up.
Now let's give it a watch.
I admit the first disadvantage. It is the real hazzle for anyone trying to learn a foreign language. The problem is if you learn a tailored flashcard list, you may not actually find it useful or essential. But if you create a list by yourself, it is really time-wasting.
Luca! Thank you for this video… You are so right!
I have been using Anki for about a year and I have to say that you make some really good points. At a certain point (anything longer than 30 minutes of reviewing cards), it becomes a CHORE.
Also, I can type the answers without even reading the entire question on the card, which tells me that I am simply repeating the answer from muscle memory rather than contemplating the actual meaning of the sentence.
Anki has been a great help in terms of vocabulary and I don't regret using it. However I don't always use what I have learned in every day conversations with natives which tells me that my brain hasn't fully associated what I've been learning in Anki with real life scenarios, rather, it is simply repeating a patter to provide the correct answer.
Anki could be good if you want to focus on a specific topic or only a few new words a week rather than adding new words frequently and reviewing the older ones as it can take an excessively long time.
I don’t use Anki/flashcards because It feels like homework to me. Pass. I want to learn languages doing things I enjoy. And I don’t enjoy reviewing flashcards.
What do you think of Fluent Forever?
Hi Luca! Thanks for making this video and your thoughts on Anki. I completely agree with you and had never put into words like you did but I have experienced these negative things while using Anki and sometimes Fluent Forever.
High Luca,
it's probably the first time I disagree with what you say to some extent, so I would like to pinpoint some advantages of Anki that give it some edge over other tools and techniques.
I started my journey with Swedish using bidirectional translation method. Unfortunately, I didn't balance it out with enough listening and ended up with developing fake prosody (which in turn harmed my listening abilities and led to a funny situation. Being on holidays in Sweden I was able to speak quite freely without any prior speaking practice, but couldn't understand what people were saying back).
I managed to "heal" it with doing microdictations with anki - on the front card I put an audio sentence from a TV series I was currently watching. The task was to write it down. 3 months of 2 new cards a day burnt the right prosody into my brain.
Also, it can work well to augment your biderectional translation method - you can create a flashcard type where you need to translate from your L1 to L2 or vice versa, but you can add L2 audio to the L2 side so as not to develop fake prosody.
What is more, I see benefits of anki for the category of learners who have a tendency to rely too much on reading and distort the original sounds of a given language (i'm one of these people). You can create a deck where on the front side you have only audio in L2, on the backside only a definition/translation in L1. This way you bypass reading and teach your brain to rely on aural stimulus more. Such a deck would be used at the very first stage of learning a new language. Of course, the drawback is that it would have to be pre-made by another person.
These are my two cents or more. Hope it was worth reading for you and other subscribers.
Regards!
Without realizing it I have been using your recommended method for learning Hebrew. But I'm also doing flashcards because of the different alphabet. I find that I need to look at the word over and over in order for my mind to take a photograph of it, because in fact the word makes no sense. And even though I'm 82 years old, I find that the memory, the photographic memory is still working pretty well. Oh and I don't just look at the flash card I write the word over and over as well
Hey Luca, thanks for your thoughts on this. I'm just sorry you built in so many assumptions about how people use Anki. Yes, if people use it how you describe it might be a burdensome and wasteful tool, but it just doesn't line up with my experience. Anki can be valuable when used properly, especially at the outset of beginning to learn a new language. Cards with significant context take only a few seconds to make, and for me have been very effective at building an initial vocabulary and then I happily retire the deck when it loses effectiveness. Seems like this video was more of a strawman for pitching BDT, which you have every right to do of course. Btw, I took your BDT course and have tried it extensively without success so have stuck with other tools. I know it works for you, but of course it may not work for others. Cheers.
Please use the words instead of the acronyms.
I've no idea what BTD is, and I don't want to learn more acronyms when now it's free to write the full words.
Just a thought.
@@patchy642 sorry, Bi-directional translation, which is Luca's method
Luca is wrong in the very 1st reason. I do not type words in. I just cut out a phrase from the ebook, put it into Google translator, receive the translation, cut out the sound of the phrase from audiobook (using the Audacity) and copy all three items into an Anki card
E.g.
per vedere di dove mai poteva essere uscita quella vocina // uscire [sound:Pinocchio Cap 01-31.mp3]
to see where that little voice could have come from // come out
Then I hear the whole phrase while space-repeating (any times I want) and pronounce it aloud once or twice by myself
The Google fuctions pretty well
чтобы увидеть, откуда же мог исходить(быть исходящим) этот голосок // выходить, исходить
um zu sehen, woher diese kleine Stimme herauskommen könnte // herauskommen
pour voir d'où pourrait venir cette petite voix // sortir
...and so on
To create a card, I spend 3-4 minutes, And I can use garbage time to repeat the cards, using Ankidroid, While waiting in some queue,
@@tschewm1353
Interesting!
Would you be willing to do a video response explaining all that in a digestible way, including calling out Luke's evaluation of it?
I'm sure many of us would find it useful.
@@patchy642 Sorry. I did answer here, but my answer disappeared in some way. It is hard for me to type my answer again.
Bidirectional Translation Method could result in more waste of time and inefficiency. Anki is faster and easier.
One problem with the original theory that led to anki, is that it doesn't measure meaningful information. It uses information as if all information has the same strength in memory.
I may use Refold's anki cards in the future if I begin a new language just as a beginner
As I approach a more advanced level in Spanish right now, I found LingQ is the only intensive study tool I need anymore. Everything else is a waste of time. I could just read random pages in books I've already read though and I feel that would be just as effective too.
I think the biggest struggle when doing a method that requires finding your own material that you want to understand is the finding part, how do you go about finding material that you think is both interesting and also will be able to understand after listening to and translating for only a week?
I think it‘s all good points, it‘s definitely easy to feel productive through these without making any progress whatsovere . Although I‘m still greatful for these spaced repitition Softwares as it makes the first stage of vocabulary learning not seem impossible. I‘m starting Russian and it seems like Mission Impossible at times. With the flashcards I get used to reading the most important words and am memorizing them. yes they are out of context but with these really basic words like the personal pronouns and basic verbs it‘ll be easy adapting to using them in context. You have to start somewhere and working out methods of learning a language without these methods, just from input and output of the language itself, is too big of a hurdle for me while also having my day to day life. I‘m all for doing mostly natural Input and lots of talking at an a little more advaced stage.
Solid critique. I should say thought that after 3 years of using it (in 4 languages including my native language!) it's still working like a charm😄
1. It's true that it consumes time to learn how to use and it's labourious to make the cards themselves, let aside reviewing them. That is indeed something to keep in mind. As you said in a previous video, it's useful to review how much time you spend on each language learning activity compared to how much it helps you learn and time spent on Anki should indeed be limited to the minimum. Those are problems you deal with in the beginning though. After a certain amount of time you just become "fluent" in using the app and everything is almost effortless.
2. It can be addictive, absolutely. I've been there and it's important to not make a habit of stopping every couple of minutes to add another new world. That can ruin the experience of both reading and using Anki. Personally I ended up using it when it feels important and compelling to learn an unknown word.
3. Missing a day can be a pain in the ass. The most important thing to remember here though, is that the amount of cards depends solely on your input! If it feels like too much, just reduce the amount you add. If you want to set targets, challenge yourself and plough on, add more. Simple as that. It doesn't have to be always the same amount of input. For example, despite of having hundreds upon hundreds of cards in Spanish, at this point I only get 10-12 cards per day to review. That's 4-5 minutes. The more time passes, the bigger the interims become and the less time you have to spend. A lot of times though I feel myself it would be great to be able to pause the app (when I'm sick for example).
4. It always makes sense for me to use Anki as a tool in combination with whatever else I'm doing to learn. So I don't just download random decks to learn. On the contrary I add new cards with context that I find interesting and compelling while reading, listening to music or watching a video or a movie. This way there's a good - imo - balance between focusing on the world/phrase and context.
5. Sounds interesting. Why not combine it with Anki thought? Could be fun 😊
Keep it up Lucca! Pretty good video even if we disagree.
I use Anki for Japanese learning reading and listening to vocab. It was been very helpful. But I also pair it with Japanese subtitles with Japanese tv/movies and games.
I dont think anyone can learn language from just flashcards, but flashcards paired with much much much more input has been a game changer for me.
Also I find making a flashcard of a sentence with grammar or vocab i dont understand with audio and a screenshot(all of which can be done programmatically thus only taking a button press) does wonders. Audio, context, and visuals all give the appropriate foundations of language.
Also if just starting out, you can easily grab premade decks. Something I have also done to learn reading music, which is pure memory based.
While your criticisms are valid, using anki appropriately would have you avoiding them in the first place. Anki is support, not the main method.
ad point (4) 'Flashcards take language out of context... Not necessarily. I use flashcards just only with whole sentences. In these flashcards I do consider the typical use of words, I combine words and i can also integrate declinations and conjugations. You see it depends on how you use flashcards,
So interesting and I agree 💯 thank you so much!!
Luca, I have a question for you. I'm learning now my fourth language, from the very beginning. I've observed that during this process I lose a bit of language fluency in the other languages I speak (except my mother tongue) and I'd love to see the reason. The same thing happened when I was learning the third one. Don't know if there's some biology there and it's natural or I simply neglect the other languages and that's why it happens. Maybe both? 😉 anyone here having such problems?
It is normal. Steve Kaufmann said many times that previous languages tend to get forgotten, but one can restore them very quickly. Steve restores his Polish now.
www.youtube.com/@Thelinguist/videos
@@tschewm1353 still, the first, the second or both reasons? 😉
1. Making flashcard wastes time - Dude, making flashcards is PART of the studying. Just the process of making the flashcard itself helps you to remember the word.
2. Adding new cards can become addictive - Good! You SHOULD be adding new vocab to your stack all the time.
3. Reviewing old cards cam become a chore - That's the point of studying. it's hard work. That's why language learning is rewarding. You overcome your own resistance to doing work.
4. Flashcards take language out of context - So what? You still NEED to know what a word means. No amount of context is going to help you if you don't know what a crucial verb means.
5. Brain friendly learning strategies make Anki irrelevant - Not everyone has access to these mysterious "brain-friendly" strategies.
Language learning is a wholistic endeavor. No one-part is going to help you. See, listen, write, do, say etc. etc. They're all important. You still have to listen to native speakers, you still have to write down sentences, you still have to speak. No one is taking that away. But Anki and memorization allows you to earn building blocks of a puzzle you're yet to complete.
Really. Funny enough the most boring parts of studying are the parts I learn the most. With immersion I just apply what I learned. And for BT, I prefer to consume something that I already know what's going on, like I watch some episodes of a TV show with subtitles on a week, and the next week I watch the same episodes, but without subtitles.
Ciao Luca, ho già imparato 5 lingue, ma penso di non poterne imparare altre sono bloccato. Tuttavia ho tanta voglia di imparare il tedesco e il tagalog, ma sento che non posso andare fino in fondo come ho già fatto in passato, ¿qualche consiglio?
tysm I adore your videos, i think i've been watching any single video of yours like more than 30 times. Merci bcp.
Luca, you decided to stir up the pot with this video! Lol. I've been using Anki for 2+ years, and I think most of your critiques can be avoided or at least mitigated (but not, of course, for everyone). Getting started on the phone app was super easy for me. I never understand when people complain about it being complicated to get started with Anki, and I'm not particularly tech savvy. I always take my cards from context (such as sentences that my tutor wrote down for me in Skype that I cut and paste), I almost never use single words, and I think it's pretty easy to understand the algorithm and not overwhelm yourself with too big of a deck. I only add about 15 cards per week, which doesn't take a huge chunk of time. I know my limits! Lol. I've heard it said by Scott Young, I believe, that the process of creating flashcards IS studying. It's not a waste of time. I'm reviewing my notes from my lesson or a reading passage when I'm adding cards, and I am typing in a different alphabet--all good things to practice. But, most importantly, once I've created that flashcard, it is stored in the most convenient place for me, which is on my phone. I can review my flashcards anywhere, even on a busy day when I don't have time to sit down to study anything. I believe the biggest drawback of the bidirectional approach is that I need to have time to sit down and study every day. . . which is not the reality of my life right now with a husband, teenager, pets, and multiple professional hats. So, for me, the convenience, the way Anki organizes my study time for me, and the ability to actually get it done are the reasons why I've stuck with it. And it works for me.
Very good point 👍🏼
As a long time Anki user (studying japanese) the only critique here I agree with is that its easy to take the language out of context in the flashcard format. Everything else comes down to finding a balance related to implementation and have more to do with personal study structuring than the tool itself. The tool is so open-ended that its easy to make a mess of the process. I'm also a computer nerd so I like the tinkering and systemizing, while someone else may not. I think the translation technique you mentioned is very interesting though and I will try that.
Do you have an app for your method? If not, I'm going to make one. My problem has always been getting bored doing the same thing repeatedly which is obviously a problem since repetition is key, but this method seems like a much less boring way of returning material. It would be pretty easy to make, not that I'd do anything fancy. I'll send it to you when I'm done if you want to sell it, otherwise I'll open source it.
When you say a short piece of content, how short are we talking? A paragrpah? 2, 3, 4?
I'm really curious about how long. I really want to give this a try, it could be very useful! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks! I finally undarstand why all the flashcard apps are so annoying. Seems I need to make one for myself. I only I could have a free month for that :/
I'm so addictive to anki if I don't add something new everyday I feel bad! From now on when I come acroos words that I don't know I'm gonna just look up the meaning write down a sentece then do alot of reading and listening.
There's another drawback of using Anki - and a dealbreaker for me. It's crushingly repetitive and boring - and boredom is death when it comes to memory and recall. Add that to the time wasted physically building decks and you have a very inefficient process.
Working with real langauge in context is simply much more stimulating - and the brain remembers stimulating input.
But I do think that there's a legitimate use for any SRS app with a decent spacing algo. When I'm working with some input I'm studying in depth, I'll enter the title into the system for future review. But I'm not reviewing isolated phrases - I'm reviewing a whole passage that I chose because it's interesting and useful. Using an SRS spares me from having to use a spreadsheet to manually schedule the review.
Exactly! Boring! 😅 Even if it takes me longer , No flashcards for me. 👍🏼
@@MarchingBandsFromHome I'm not convinced that it does take longer - with a bit of imagination you can be working intensively with new patterns and vocab in much more enjoyable and stimulating ways.
I'm very far from an expert on language learning, but I am something of an expert on academic study technique - and in that scenario flashcards are a pretty woeful method, despite their popularity.
Learning random atomic facts out of context goes against everything we know about how the brain learns. FAR better to use mind-maps to work with networks of facts embedded in a rich and meaningful context.
I can't see why the same principles shouldn't apply to language learning. With the techniques I've picked up over the years even grammar become fun and productive.
I guess we shouldn't be dogmatic - some people seem to enjoy working with flashcards and do pretty well. But many, many people fail, so it's good that people like Luca are offering alternatives.
@@tullochgorum6323 I’ve been learning Italian over two years, not one flashcard. Instead, I dissect a video of a conversation and learn the vocabulary there. When I can grasp the gist I move on to another. Words repeat often and makes for a wonderful SRS. It’s not perfect, my Italian is not perfect but I learned my way, a fun way for me and get have a wonderful conversation. Long way to go. 👍🏼
@@MarchingBandsFromHome I find novels take care of the SRS to an extent too. I'm learning Russian, and I'm currently working my way through a full-length classic novel. The words I learn tend to then be repeated over and over, especially in recurring scenes, etc, so I'm getting that SRS effect on most new words I learn, but not getting annoyed at having to do my Anki reps each day first -- I'm not even worrying about it because I'm focused on working my way through the story. Like you say, it might not be as 'fast' as if I did it with Anki, but my dislike of the Anki process probably reduces its benefits on me anyway. That said, as both of you guys have said already, others do get benefit from it -- so it's probably a case of what works for the individual, whatever keeps you coming back to do the work!
I find I remember vocabulary a d phrases better when I write them down, so for me typing ad hoc Anki cards is not a bad thing. Writing by hand is even better, and I have to do that for scripts I don't know how to type, but they are bulky and not that convenient to carry around, and they can quickly wear out.
I think your method is best suited to someone who already has a grasp for the basics and is at least at lower-intermediate level or at least has a good grasp on similar language structure or the ability to analyse language constructions.
Anki can be useful tool for beginners and more advanced learners.
Learning phrases (including common idiomatic expressions) as chunks of language was very helpful for me as a beginner as anchors in between unknown content....Now that I understand enough English to follow podcasts and read articles etc, it makes sense to do that. But to come across new vocabulary in this way feels like wasting time, so I still use flashcards now and then to learn new vocabulary or review words that I don't come across very often, to move them from passive to active memory
I used something else than Anki to learn English vocab, and it allowed me to define how many words and from which set I wanted to review per day. (Does Anki do that? It should!) I could obviously reset the target vocabulary at any time. The app allowed to read definition (including alternative meanings) and a few phrases and clips where the word was used in context. The downside was that if fetched the resources from around different websites and sometimes that failed, particularly when the website had removed the content...
Salve Luca,
Ti sto seguendo da molto e sono molto impressionato.
Comunque da tanto tempo che avrei voluto chiederti una cosa che mi h molto incuriosito.
In un video parlavi di un sistema molto valido.
Imparare con le traduzioni. Come funziona veramente?
Io , par esempio, imparo il tedesco e l'inglese. Sto traducendo un libro col aiuto di Google translate. Scrivo a mano il testo in tedesco, o l'inglese, su un quaderno.
Poi lo traduco con Google, ripeto a voce, e poi scrivo le parole sconosciute in una lista.
Va bene , oppure posso fare di meglio?
Qualche idea, per favore?
Con rispetto,
Alex
One year ago I make Anki cards with screenshots from japanese manga but it takes sooooo many time for every card that I... just put it away
I was longing for this video for a long time. I wish you make a similar one about Duolingo which I don't consider a course but something like cross words.
How is reviewing Anki flash cards any different than studying on LingQ (a product that you receive a financial incentive to promote)? I use LingQ to track new words while I’m reading and then I export my LingQs into an Anki deck. I don’t really care for LingQ’s system so I put them into Anki instead. Sure, it’s hard to keep up with Anki, but I have that trouble with any app I would use because I have problems with motivation and depression.
I have been learning languages through Anki and other methods for over 15 years. I have a love-hate relationship with the app. As another user pointed out there is certainly such a thing as Anki abuse. I think the problem starts when you start trying to learn too much at once and then you miss a few days and you come back to tons of cards that take hours to review which can cause burn out. Anki does work but you have to pace yourself and show up for your reps. If you can do that Anki is a great tool, but if not there’s other ways. I’m back to anki at the moment after being away from it for like half a year during which time I did other things to help with my current language learning. It’s like an ex I keep coming back to even though he hurts me. 😂
Sorry Luca on this one. I progressed the most with Anki. However do not learn a word for word but learn whole sentences.
Also there is ways to facilitate the process, I use lingq and from there its easy to import in to anki and then there is addons that make audio on seconds. So you can make 1000s of flashcards in mins. But the point is to use it as a supplement and not spend all day on them
How do you make 1000 flashcards in minutes? I use Lingq too.
Technically they let you export vocabulary from LingQ but the system has a lot of flaws and I end up just copying and pasting from stuff I read in LingQ instead.
Now, I am using Anki for just one thing: listening exercices without any text. So, I create flashcards containing only audio file, then the solution displays the text I listened to, so that I can check what I understood (and I can even do dictation exercices). Thanks to SRS, I can check if my hearing abilities improved or not, or if I am not used anymore to hearing some words or grammar structures.
I don't agree make card wasting time. there are many browser extensions help to add card with one click. Including: vocabs, explanation, sentence, image and TTS voice file.
Anki is a great boost if you're learning 1 language. I can see how it can be a chore if you're an aspiring polyglot.
I only use it for one language at a time even if I'm dabbling in other languages. I've found it's impossible to stay on top of Anki decks in multiple languages. One language is already more than enough.
Hola , soy cubano, hablo 4 idiomas, ahora eprendo el ruso pero me cuesta mucho trabajo , me puede ayudar?
What I really didn't like about Anki was having to waste a lot of time evaluating and marking if the card was difficult, easy or whatever. This bored me to death! I guess it is better to use each dialogue as a big flashcard in your memory and in paper like Lucca does and use Anki only to reinforce the most difficult sentences from each dialogue; the ones we keep saying incorrectly every time we review the dialogues with bidirectional translation. This way, we would use Anki only to complement Lucca's method.
He has just tried Anki and now he boasts how bad it is. I use Anki for about two years now to learn Vietnamese words. I make those cards of new words taken from original stories I read. I also have a book for the very reduced grammar of Vietnamese, of course. I am proceeding as I have to translate less and less to understand. Some sentences I understand at once completely. I have so far about 4,000 cards often bearing several entries, even entire phrases (there you have context). Before Anki learning this nuanced tonal language seemed impossible to me. Anki is free and without advertisements. It is easily adjustable to your needs. I could be questioned 200 cards a day, but usually am questioned about 100. Yes, it can be a chore. By the way as I usually just hear him talk easy English, how extended are his vocabularies in his professed 16 languages? The way to enter new vocabulary to Anki is fast and easy if you skip videos or images. Instead Lampariello suggests a six-day learning program. One last thing: Don´t use prefabricated Anki cards! The learning process is in reading original texts and making your own cards.
"By the way as I usually just hear him talk easy English, how extended are his vocabularies in his professed 16 languages?"
I'm German, so out of curiosity I looked up a video of him speaking German. His German is very good, he sound as if he lived in German for many years, in some sentences there is no accent at all. I'm very impressed.
If there is one thing I will always thank Luca Lampariello for, it's teaching me the bidirectional translation method. I tried it with German and got from weak A2 to very good B1/weak B2 over the course of 2 months.
Interesting!
Por fin, alguien tenía que decirlo, gracias Luca
It’s possible put a limit on anki’s cards to review daily like only 50 cards each day
I am going to give Anki a try. Ive come a fairly long way in Spanish--at about B1--and I want to concentrate on just getting more words in my vocabulary. Of course, I agree about the context problem, and it is the one that seems the most important. On that score, I'm going to try to incorporate a lot of reading this year, about 50/50 with vocabulary building. The other thing I plan to do is include at least one sentence in Spanish for each word I'm trying to memorize. I'm hoping that this will help. I'm not going to go to the trouble of including images--that really does seem over the top to me. I'll go with the most obvious English translation. I can't imagine trying to build sentences using Anki,, although I'd love to hear from people who have done it. Here we get to the "network" problem. And of course, there's lingq, which I need to get into also. Love what you have to say about spaced repetition. For sure will try that. Thanks!
Wow.. your method sounds like an absolute chore... I would bore myself to tears in a few days.
For me anki didn’t help me , find it boring create flashcards , what I did is read a lot and consume English, just the natural way to learn . Estoy de acuerdo contigo
I'm addictive to anki! when you see a word you don't know as you reading you look up on the dictionary to see the meaning? please help me I what to stop using anki I feel bad if I don't add something new everyday.!
You found it boring and that's it. That doesn't take away from the fact that it's indeed effective. Yeah you can learn without it too people have been doing it for decades but it's slower, that's the whole point lol. Yo igual he estado aprendiendo ingles con Anki asi que se de lo que hablo :)
In a nutshell, the problem is not the tool, but who uses it.