4 ms·

I think to make the most of it you need to engage your imagination. Relating stories and context to the facts transforms it from ‘staring at flashcards for hour

by agd 6y ago

I think to make the most of it you need to engage your imagination. Relating stories and context to the facts transforms it from ‘staring at flashcards for hours’ into more of a game and something to enjoy. And the great thing is, because of the spaced repetition, you don’t need to spend hours on it at a time. You can learn a lot in 5/10 mins a day.

leppr 6y ago
When I was starting Anki, I would spend time really focusing my thinking on the cards while reviewing them (reading sentences aloud multiple times until pronunciation is good, relating concepts to others, ...). I'm now convinced this is a waste of time and Anki is best used rushing through sessions as fast as possible (maximum 20min a day). This takes care of the small, boring but often essential rote memorization part, allowing you to use as much of your time and intellect for actual practice in the target domains. (This may not apply if the target domain is actually itself rote memorization, e.g. medical exams)
- BeetleB 6y ago
  20 min a day is still a lot - unless it's mostly due to adding a lot of cards per day.
  - tomcatfish 6y ago
    For context in this thread, my maximum study in the last 2 months was 10.42 minutes, but my mode (and average as well, that point is an outlier) is close to 3 or 4
wildpeaks 6y ago
This is exactly why I still lament the loss of my favorite language learning app: "Cat Academy" (https://www.wired.co.uk/article/catacademy https://www.wired.co.uk/article/catacademy) It was using flashcards of cats with funny captions and it actually worked. Sadly my old phone eventually broken and the app can't be installed from the appstore anymore.
- elliekelly 6y ago
  Have you tried fluent forever? their app uses a similar concept except you pick your own photos to help you remember. I finally found a use for many of the random photos of my dogs I’ve been saving in my phone for years!

by agd 6y ago

leppr 6y ago

When I was starting Anki, I would spend time really focusing my thinking on the cards while reviewing them (reading sentences aloud multiple times until pronunciation is good, relating concepts to others, ...). I'm now convinced this is a waste of time and Anki is best used rushing through sessions as fast as possible (maximum 20min a day). This takes care of the small, boring but often essential rote memorization part, allowing you to use as much of your time and intellect for actual practice in the target domains. (This may not apply if the target domain is actually itself rote memorization, e.g. medical exams)

BeetleB 6y ago
20 min a day is still a lot - unless it's mostly due to adding a lot of cards per day.
- tomcatfish 6y ago
  For context in this thread, my maximum study in the last 2 months was 10.42 minutes, but my mode (and average as well, that point is an outlier) is close to 3 or 4

wildpeaks 6y ago

This is exactly why I still lament the loss of my favorite language learning app: "Cat Academy" (https://www.wired.co.uk/article/catacademy https://www.wired.co.uk/article/catacademy) It was using flashcards of cats with funny captions and it actually worked. Sadly my old phone eventually broken and the app can't be installed from the appstore anymore.

elliekelly 6y ago
Have you tried fluent forever? their app uses a similar concept except you pick your own photos to help you remember. I finally found a use for many of the random photos of my dogs I’ve been saving in my phone for years!