5 ms·

I use Anki to learn French, Chess openings/tactics/techniques, to unscramble letters for scrabble, for Pub Trivia... The options are kind of limitless. As a mi

I use Anki to learn French, Chess openings/tactics/techniques, to unscramble letters for scrabble, for Pub Trivia... The options are kind of limitless. As a mid-30s guy who has well passed the neuroplasticity of his teen years, it's a godsend for me. To echo the author's thoughts though, I can't prove empirically that I learn more effectively using Anki (or spaced repetition) than other methods... Only anecdotally. I have a shockingly poor memory, but now I'm B2 certified in French and an ~1800 Elo on chess.com . Do I still forget things all the time? Yes.

all2 3mo ago
When I was doing rote memorization and flashcards frequently (some years ago now) I observed that remembering things became a lot easier for me. I also find my verbal fluency is directly affected by how much pure social time I have in my schedule. It makes me think its one of those 'use it or lose it' things and that I need to schedule more time with people.
helterskelter 3mo ago
Practicing your retrieval is actually one of the best ways to retain knowledge of something. Flashcard programs like Anki are really great because it identifies where you need more work and drills you on your weak points -- it feels awkward working constantly on your weak points, but you get quantifiably better results with the flashcard method it uses. Some people criticize flashcards as optimizing for rote memorization and deemphasizing understanding, but you'll never achieve understanding or mastery in general without a solid platform of knowledge to work from.
- cwnyth 3mo ago
  My problem with Anki is that it's very, very inefficient. It will take much more time and effort to memorize the vocabulary words you learn, and losing those words is very quick. It's much better to use SRS with actual and varied sentences.
  - SubmarineClub 3mo ago
    You know you can just…create Anki cards with sentences, right? Anki doesn’t force you to make cards with vocab words in isolation.
    - potro 3mo ago
      It doesn't but it also will not create a different sentence to you to practice a word. I tried this (use sentences instead of words), it sucks: you spend more time per card, but you learn less efficient, as you learn not just a word but all the hints coming from the same sentence. I wrote my own program 2 years ago, that generates new sentence on each review using AI (at that time I used Anki as scheduler). That was fun and quite effective as far as I can tell. I would recommend others learning language past A1, maybe A2 level to do the same. This day you don't need Anki for this, just use one of FSRS libraries for scheduling.
      - pessimizer 3mo ago
        > It doesn't but it also will not create a different sentence to you to practice a word. Anki doesn't create either words or sentences. Drilling words doesn't work. You've drilled words and found it doesn't work. Try using clozes. It is not "less efficient" than drilling words, because drilling words does not work. No word in French means anything in English. The meanings of words are just surveys of the contexts in which they are used, and French words are used in French contexts. Learning that a French word means an English word is just bad information that is cluttering up your brain. If you're learning Spanish, French, German or Italian, try these. https://sookocheff.com/post/language/cloze-deletions/ https://sookocheff.com/post/language/cloze-deletions/ 20,000 clozes, words are repeated all the time, treat them as disposable. Read the sentences out loud and say the answers out loud to keep yourself honest. edit: you don't need AI to generate sentences. There are already sentences available in every language. https://sookocheff.com/post/language/bulk-generating-cloze-deletions-for-learning-a-language-with-anki/ https://sookocheff.com/post/language/bulk-generating-cloze-d...
        deleted 3mo ago
wordpad 3mo ago
I think deliberate practice is what's really core to improving any skill, including memory. Spaced repetition is an effective way to review things but its biggest benefit is a process that's easy to be consistent with. Somebody else can have equal or better performance with other technique but just like dieting, it doesnt matter as much what method you use as long as you stick with it.
- lacedeconstruct 3mo ago
  I feel like the actual core mechanic at improving is the actual act of "recall", it doesnt matter what you do if its a form of recall it is effective and very awkward in practice because you just sit there waiting for your brain to do a mysterious thing
  - sn9 3mo ago
    "Active recall" specifically (aka the testing effect [0]), as opposed to passive recall like rereading. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testing_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testing_effect
stets 3mo ago
Really curious exactly how you learn things like chess with flash cards. French makes sense as I would guess you just have a word or phrase in both languages. What do you do for topics like chess?
- deviation 3mo ago
  Sure, I can explain - it's a little complicated, but I maintain a small-ish catalogue of ~1000 positions for the following topics: - Checkmates-in-one - Checkmates-in-two - Defensive technique (avoid checkmate/material loss) - Winning material - Endgame patterns - etc (~5 more) ... That I got by scraping the Lichess database, favoring common patterns that appear within +- 600 of my current Elo. From there, I have Claude build me a script to convert each of those positions into a .png, then create me a deck with all the cards, et voilà. The front of the card is the position, the back is the best move in that position with a small explanation. Every ~2-3 months when I see that most of the cards have matured (according the the Anki spaced repetition scheduler, I build a new deck around my new Elo. I also play a lot. Prior to ~1000 rating I got away with spending 90% of my time in Anki and 10% playing online games, but lately it's been pretty 50/50. In higher ratings, playing real games tends to translate into wins more effectively for me. For studying openings, it's almost the same thing, but the back of each card is the book move for my opening + the name of the opening the opponent chose.
  - deleted 3mo ago
    [deleted]
  - dschwede 3mo ago
    This sounds really helpful. Would it be possible for you to share a few pngs to illustrate how you did this? I'm very curious how you managed depth in openings on this.
wisemanwillhear 3mo ago
I'm glad the article acknowledges that flashcards are just one small part of learning. When I first got into spaced repetition, first with the Mnemosyne Project and later switching to Anki, I discovered that the efficiency I imagined was partially illusory. * Memorizing things often takes much more time than learning things naturally as you use them because it takes extra time out of your day. * I often lacked the associations that would normally help reinforce a concept or fact because I used brute force a-single-super-simple-concept-at-a-time memorization instead of more natural methods where context helped me gain a better understanding. * Breaking things down into very narrow, simple, one concept cards is more difficult than I imagined. * Creating mnemonics is really helpful but can be time consuming, and you don't know which cards where you will need them until you repeatedly forget those cards. Someone on HackerNews about a year or two ago recommended using AI and that did help a little, but it didn't take long before I realized that the AI created mnemonics feel so similar and less connected than time tested mnemonics that I find them less effective. * Since brute force memory is slower I often learn slower, which is less efficient than learning a groups of related things together at a pace where the concepts together give you a better understanding than learning one at a time. (Sometimes you need to slow down because your not getting the concept, but going too slow is less efficient also.) I still use spaced repetition but I realized it's not the amazing revolution that I first imagined that it would be.
- j45 3mo ago
  Memorizing becomes easier after understanding. My guess is understanding things, not just what they mean, but how they work, or interact with other concepts, speeds up repetition quicker because that is what's firing when renewing it.
  - wisemanwillhear 3mo ago
    I think that's a good observation (your mileage may vary), but the time that flashcards are the must needful is when your first learning. Yet my first Chemistry university professors pointed out that, although most people imagined it was easiest to get started in a new field and harder to learn when you made it to me advanced classes, in fact, it's hardest to get started when the concepts are new and foreign and easier later when your just adding a deep understanding to what you have already fought to learn.
IndySun 3mo ago
>now I'm B2 certified in French Did you get there using only Anki? If yes, I need to persevere.
- blovescoffee 3mo ago
  I used a lot of Anki for spanish on top of classes. I'd say (anecdotally) it can bump you up a half to full letter in the A-C system depending on where you start. I learned far more living in Mexico though. You really need to talk to real humans to learn another language. If you don't, you can have a decent rating in A-C system but not actually converse that well.
  - IndySun 3mo ago
    Thank you for that. Living amongst a language is truly an accelerator for learning one.
cosmic_cheese 3mo ago
Another mid-30s guy here, and while the the flash cards and SRS algorithm bring plenty of value, for me probably the most powerful thing that Anki enables is consistency. It's easy and low friction to have a chunk of each day carved out for whatever decks I'm happening to be working on at that point in time — regardless of the topic my routine is always the same, and eventually it feels wrong if I haven't reviewed. It effortlessly pulls itself along. I find that very difficult to achieve with any other method of studying, with exception to content immersion in the case of language acquisition. It also has me a bit spoiled, because now when I have no other option but to pore over typical painfully dry, unnecessarily fluffed up instructional materials I groan to myself. It's so much easier and more time-efficient to memorize a deck with the actually-important bits over a 2-3 week period.

all2 3mo ago

When I was doing rote memorization and flashcards frequently (some years ago now) I observed that remembering things became a lot easier for me. I also find my verbal fluency is directly affected by how much pure social time I have in my schedule. It makes me think its one of those 'use it or lose it' things and that I need to schedule more time with people.

helterskelter 3mo ago

Practicing your retrieval is actually one of the best ways to retain knowledge of something. Flashcard programs like Anki are really great because it identifies where you need more work and drills you on your weak points -- it feels awkward working constantly on your weak points, but you get quantifiably better results with the flashcard method it uses. Some people criticize flashcards as optimizing for rote memorization and deemphasizing understanding, but you'll never achieve understanding or mastery in general without a solid platform of knowledge to work from.

cwnyth 3mo ago
My problem with Anki is that it's very, very inefficient. It will take much more time and effort to memorize the vocabulary words you learn, and losing those words is very quick. It's much better to use SRS with actual and varied sentences.
- SubmarineClub 3mo ago
  You know you can just…create Anki cards with sentences, right? Anki doesn’t force you to make cards with vocab words in isolation.
  - potro 3mo ago
    It doesn't but it also will not create a different sentence to you to practice a word. I tried this (use sentences instead of words), it sucks: you spend more time per card, but you learn less efficient, as you learn not just a word but all the hints coming from the same sentence. I wrote my own program 2 years ago, that generates new sentence on each review using AI (at that time I used Anki as scheduler). That was fun and quite effective as far as I can tell. I would recommend others learning language past A1, maybe A2 level to do the same. This day you don't need Anki for this, just use one of FSRS libraries for scheduling.
    - pessimizer 3mo ago
      > It doesn't but it also will not create a different sentence to you to practice a word. Anki doesn't create either words or sentences. Drilling words doesn't work. You've drilled words and found it doesn't work. Try using clozes. It is not "less efficient" than drilling words, because drilling words does not work. No word in French means anything in English. The meanings of words are just surveys of the contexts in which they are used, and French words are used in French contexts. Learning that a French word means an English word is just bad information that is cluttering up your brain. If you're learning Spanish, French, German or Italian, try these. https://sookocheff.com/post/language/cloze-deletions/ https://sookocheff.com/post/language/cloze-deletions/ 20,000 clozes, words are repeated all the time, treat them as disposable. Read the sentences out loud and say the answers out loud to keep yourself honest. edit: you don't need AI to generate sentences. There are already sentences available in every language. https://sookocheff.com/post/language/bulk-generating-cloze-deletions-for-learning-a-language-with-anki/ https://sookocheff.com/post/language/bulk-generating-cloze-d...
      - deleted 3mo ago

wordpad 3mo ago

I think deliberate practice is what's really core to improving any skill, including memory. Spaced repetition is an effective way to review things but its biggest benefit is a process that's easy to be consistent with. Somebody else can have equal or better performance with other technique but just like dieting, it doesnt matter as much what method you use as long as you stick with it.

lacedeconstruct 3mo ago
I feel like the actual core mechanic at improving is the actual act of "recall", it doesnt matter what you do if its a form of recall it is effective and very awkward in practice because you just sit there waiting for your brain to do a mysterious thing
- sn9 3mo ago
  "Active recall" specifically (aka the testing effect [0]), as opposed to passive recall like rereading. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testing_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testing_effect

stets 3mo ago

Really curious exactly how you learn things like chess with flash cards. French makes sense as I would guess you just have a word or phrase in both languages. What do you do for topics like chess?

deviation 3mo ago
Sure, I can explain - it's a little complicated, but I maintain a small-ish catalogue of ~1000 positions for the following topics: - Checkmates-in-one - Checkmates-in-two - Defensive technique (avoid checkmate/material loss) - Winning material - Endgame patterns - etc (~5 more) ... That I got by scraping the Lichess database, favoring common patterns that appear within +- 600 of my current Elo. From there, I have Claude build me a script to convert each of those positions into a .png, then create me a deck with all the cards, et voilà. The front of the card is the position, the back is the best move in that position with a small explanation. Every ~2-3 months when I see that most of the cards have matured (according the the Anki spaced repetition scheduler, I build a new deck around my new Elo. I also play a lot. Prior to ~1000 rating I got away with spending 90% of my time in Anki and 10% playing online games, but lately it's been pretty 50/50. In higher ratings, playing real games tends to translate into wins more effectively for me. For studying openings, it's almost the same thing, but the back of each card is the book move for my opening + the name of the opening the opponent chose.
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
- dschwede 3mo ago
  This sounds really helpful. Would it be possible for you to share a few pngs to illustrate how you did this? I'm very curious how you managed depth in openings on this.

wisemanwillhear 3mo ago

I'm glad the article acknowledges that flashcards are just one small part of learning. When I first got into spaced repetition, first with the Mnemosyne Project and later switching to Anki, I discovered that the efficiency I imagined was partially illusory. * Memorizing things often takes much more time than learning things naturally as you use them because it takes extra time out of your day. * I often lacked the associations that would normally help reinforce a concept or fact because I used brute force a-single-super-simple-concept-at-a-time memorization instead of more natural methods where context helped me gain a better understanding. * Breaking things down into very narrow, simple, one concept cards is more difficult than I imagined. * Creating mnemonics is really helpful but can be time consuming, and you don't know which cards where you will need them until you repeatedly forget those cards. Someone on HackerNews about a year or two ago recommended using AI and that did help a little, but it didn't take long before I realized that the AI created mnemonics feel so similar and less connected than time tested mnemonics that I find them less effective. * Since brute force memory is slower I often learn slower, which is less efficient than learning a groups of related things together at a pace where the concepts together give you a better understanding than learning one at a time. (Sometimes you need to slow down because your not getting the concept, but going too slow is less efficient also.) I still use spaced repetition but I realized it's not the amazing revolution that I first imagined that it would be.

j45 3mo ago
Memorizing becomes easier after understanding. My guess is understanding things, not just what they mean, but how they work, or interact with other concepts, speeds up repetition quicker because that is what's firing when renewing it.
- wisemanwillhear 3mo ago
  I think that's a good observation (your mileage may vary), but the time that flashcards are the must needful is when your first learning. Yet my first Chemistry university professors pointed out that, although most people imagined it was easiest to get started in a new field and harder to learn when you made it to me advanced classes, in fact, it's hardest to get started when the concepts are new and foreign and easier later when your just adding a deep understanding to what you have already fought to learn.

IndySun 3mo ago

>now I'm B2 certified in French Did you get there using only Anki? If yes, I need to persevere.

blovescoffee 3mo ago
I used a lot of Anki for spanish on top of classes. I'd say (anecdotally) it can bump you up a half to full letter in the A-C system depending on where you start. I learned far more living in Mexico though. You really need to talk to real humans to learn another language. If you don't, you can have a decent rating in A-C system but not actually converse that well.
- IndySun 3mo ago
  Thank you for that. Living amongst a language is truly an accelerator for learning one.

cosmic_cheese 3mo ago

Another mid-30s guy here, and while the the flash cards and SRS algorithm bring plenty of value, for me probably the most powerful thing that Anki enables is consistency. It's easy and low friction to have a chunk of each day carved out for whatever decks I'm happening to be working on at that point in time — regardless of the topic my routine is always the same, and eventually it feels wrong if I haven't reviewed. It effortlessly pulls itself along. I find that very difficult to achieve with any other method of studying, with exception to content immersion in the case of language acquisition. It also has me a bit spoiled, because now when I have no other option but to pore over typical painfully dry, unnecessarily fluffed up instructional materials I groan to myself. It's so much easier and more time-efficient to memorize a deck with the actually-important bits over a 2-3 week period.