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> For a given word you should have the definition and the forward and reverse translation. Perhaps for simple/beginner words. But for more advanced words, it's

> For a given word you should have the definition and the forward and reverse translation. Perhaps for simple/beginner words. But for more advanced words, it's important to realize that our active vocabulary is necessarily much smaller than our passive vocabulary. There are many words we can recognize but can't immediately synthesize ourselves on demand just from an idea or concept (or a translation, even). For anything beyond the most simple words, I think that having the reverse translation doesn't make a whole lot of sense and can be pretty counterproductive in developing one's passive vocabulary.

mikekchar 7y ago
In fact, the opposite is true. Something that is harder to deal with paradoxically is learned faster long term. Look for papers on "desirable difficulties". Best to memorize from L1 to L2, although neither provides an opportunity to acquire the language so make sure that you are only using it as a bridge to help you comprehend native input. Get as much native input as you can. Free reading is usually the easiest way to do that.
- Gormisdomai 7y ago
  What does free reading mean in this context? I tried a Google search but got ebook marketing spam.
  - goerz 7y ago
    Reading arbitrary text, out of interest (books, magazines, newspapers), as opposed to reading for the explicit purpose of studying the language, in a language class
- burtonator 7y ago
  IF it's too easy the ease will keep backing it off...
- DiogenesKynikos 7y ago
  For listening comprehension, radio and podcasts are great. Some state broadcasters even produce dumbed-down content (such as news broadcasts with simpler vocab, read slowly and clearly) in their country's language, specifically for non-native speakers.
kazinator 7y ago
In addition, reverse translation is a 1:N problem. Many cards from the foreign language to yours have recurring words on the back: if you reverse that, you will often have to remember many different foreign words for one card. Then how do you judge whether you know the card? 4+ out of 5 is good?, 3 is "hard", 1-2 fail?
- 0815test 7y ago
  > if you reverse that, you will often have to remember many different foreign words for one card. This is one of many, many reasons why spaced-repetition systems should support dependencies - as in, "delay card X until after cards A, B, C have been solidly learned." Then you'd just gradually learn a sequence of reverse cards for that one word: most common first, then second-most common (prompted as: "<word> (2)"), third most-common and so forth. With each "depending" on the previous cases in the sequence.
  - echelon 7y ago
    The Wanikani (paid) spaced repetition software does exactly this for learning Kanji. It's exceptionally well thought out, both in order of dependency and frequency. I'm currently using it, and I love it. I still use Anki for vocabulary, but wish there was something as polished as Wanikani instead.
    - kazinator 7y ago
      I made a (paid, freemium) program (for Windows) called Tankan for memorizing kanji that is very efficient. Much more so than spaced repetition. http://www.kylheku.com/tankan/ http://www.kylheku.com/tankan/ In Tankan, instead of viewing flashcards, you take batch tests, typing answers into blanks, tabbing from one field to the next. The machine grades your answers as a batch, and you can take a new test immediately over just the unanswered/incorrect items. As you gain proficiency, a "pipeline" process takes over: your eyes can read ahead two or three kanji while your fingers basically don't stop. I've been able to review some 1200 characters in the space of about 40 minutes of furious typing, when my accuracy on those characters hit around 96%. Instead of spaced repetition, once you're proficient, you can just fire this up once every few months, and just review every kanji you know in one short, sweet little session and be done with it.

mikekchar 7y ago

In fact, the opposite is true. Something that is harder to deal with paradoxically is learned faster long term. Look for papers on "desirable difficulties". Best to memorize from L1 to L2, although neither provides an opportunity to acquire the language so make sure that you are only using it as a bridge to help you comprehend native input. Get as much native input as you can. Free reading is usually the easiest way to do that.

Gormisdomai 7y ago
What does free reading mean in this context? I tried a Google search but got ebook marketing spam.
- goerz 7y ago
  Reading arbitrary text, out of interest (books, magazines, newspapers), as opposed to reading for the explicit purpose of studying the language, in a language class
burtonator 7y ago
IF it's too easy the ease will keep backing it off...
DiogenesKynikos 7y ago
For listening comprehension, radio and podcasts are great. Some state broadcasters even produce dumbed-down content (such as news broadcasts with simpler vocab, read slowly and clearly) in their country's language, specifically for non-native speakers.

kazinator 7y ago

In addition, reverse translation is a 1:N problem. Many cards from the foreign language to yours have recurring words on the back: if you reverse that, you will often have to remember many different foreign words for one card. Then how do you judge whether you know the card? 4+ out of 5 is good?, 3 is "hard", 1-2 fail?

0815test 7y ago
> if you reverse that, you will often have to remember many different foreign words for one card. This is one of many, many reasons why spaced-repetition systems should support dependencies - as in, "delay card X until after cards A, B, C have been solidly learned." Then you'd just gradually learn a sequence of reverse cards for that one word: most common first, then second-most common (prompted as: "<word> (2)"), third most-common and so forth. With each "depending" on the previous cases in the sequence.
- echelon 7y ago
  The Wanikani (paid) spaced repetition software does exactly this for learning Kanji. It's exceptionally well thought out, both in order of dependency and frequency. I'm currently using it, and I love it. I still use Anki for vocabulary, but wish there was something as polished as Wanikani instead.
  - kazinator 7y ago
    I made a (paid, freemium) program (for Windows) called Tankan for memorizing kanji that is very efficient. Much more so than spaced repetition. http://www.kylheku.com/tankan/ http://www.kylheku.com/tankan/ In Tankan, instead of viewing flashcards, you take batch tests, typing answers into blanks, tabbing from one field to the next. The machine grades your answers as a batch, and you can take a new test immediately over just the unanswered/incorrect items. As you gain proficiency, a "pipeline" process takes over: your eyes can read ahead two or three kanji while your fingers basically don't stop. I've been able to review some 1200 characters in the space of about 40 minutes of furious typing, when my accuracy on those characters hit around 96%. Instead of spaced repetition, once you're proficient, you can just fire this up once every few months, and just review every kanji you know in one short, sweet little session and be done with it.