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I've been using a similar method to learn some German vocabulary for about 8 months now (using Flashcards Deluxe, not Anki, though), and I could specially relat

I've been using a similar method to learn some German vocabulary for about 8 months now (using Flashcards Deluxe, not Anki, though), and I could specially relate to the "Two-way connections" section of your friend's article. For example, my deck is currently German to English. As an experiment, once I reversed the deck for a while (making it English to German) and suddenly it became much harder. Maybe the solution is using two-way decks for vocabulary acquiring, so that you can not only read a word in German and understand it, but also want to - for example - search for something in German on Google and know it. Or, maybe the way to go (for languages, at last) is just set the deck to Source Language* to Destination Language (in my case, English to German). Anyone has experience with that? The linked article about "Why" questions was also a good find for me (http://rs.io/2014/02/25/why-questions-reveal-structure.html http://rs.io/2014/02/25/why-questions-reveal-structure.html). * Actually, English is not even my first language, but I'm comfortable with it enough to consider it a strong enough base to build on another language, mostly because there's more material in English than Portuguese about pretty much anything.

seren 12y ago
I am using memrise.com which works pretty well to learn some vocabulary. You can learn pre-made lists contributed by users, and does not require any set up.
- MLR 12y ago
  Have a look at Duolingo if you like Memrise, it's a more in depth language learning tool that uses the same kind of ideas.
  - riffraff 12y ago
    sadly duolingo has a very limited set of languages, but for thos it had it seemed very nicely done to me.
  - ralmeida 12y ago
    Duolingo is great, I use it too and know people who got results with it. I don't think it particularly shines on general vocabulary acquiring though¹, so that's where Memrise or a spaced repetition flashcard system like Anki or any other enters the picture. ¹Actually, this is sort of covered by the translation exercises, but since there is not a system to manage the reviewing of new words you learn there, I think it's inferior to a flashcard system.
  - seren 12y ago
    I really want to use Duolingo, unfortunately I am learning Mandarin, and it is not available yet. It has been announced, a while ago, that it was in their todo list, but I don't know when it will actually be there. It is not even in the beta language section yet.
- ralmeida 12y ago
  Memrise is fine too. Do you use decks Source Language -> Destionation Language, the other way around, or both?
  - jacalata 12y ago
    Memrise asks you both ways.
carver 12y ago
One of my favorite techniques for enforcing two-way connections is the "Jeopardy technique". Here's an example for a beginner in python: Side A: This library is the de-facto standard for http in python. Side B: What is the "requests" library? This card is easily reversible in Anki, so you only have to write it once and get quizzed both ways. Edit: formatting
mimo84 12y ago
I'm been using Anki in the last couple of years and I got from zero to more than 4000 cards. The best way to effectively learn new words for me it's put the word with the English definition and than the same word with the translation in your original language. Of course not all the words require this.

seren 12y ago

I am using memrise.com which works pretty well to learn some vocabulary. You can learn pre-made lists contributed by users, and does not require any set up.

MLR 12y ago
Have a look at Duolingo if you like Memrise, it's a more in depth language learning tool that uses the same kind of ideas.
- riffraff 12y ago
  sadly duolingo has a very limited set of languages, but for thos it had it seemed very nicely done to me.
- ralmeida 12y ago
  Duolingo is great, I use it too and know people who got results with it. I don't think it particularly shines on general vocabulary acquiring though¹, so that's where Memrise or a spaced repetition flashcard system like Anki or any other enters the picture. ¹Actually, this is sort of covered by the translation exercises, but since there is not a system to manage the reviewing of new words you learn there, I think it's inferior to a flashcard system.
- seren 12y ago
  I really want to use Duolingo, unfortunately I am learning Mandarin, and it is not available yet. It has been announced, a while ago, that it was in their todo list, but I don't know when it will actually be there. It is not even in the beta language section yet.
ralmeida 12y ago
Memrise is fine too. Do you use decks Source Language -> Destionation Language, the other way around, or both?
- jacalata 12y ago
  Memrise asks you both ways.

carver 12y ago

One of my favorite techniques for enforcing two-way connections is the "Jeopardy technique". Here's an example for a beginner in python: Side A: This library is the de-facto standard for http in python. Side B: What is the "requests" library? This card is easily reversible in Anki, so you only have to write it once and get quizzed both ways. Edit: formatting

mimo84 12y ago

I'm been using Anki in the last couple of years and I got from zero to more than 4000 cards. The best way to effectively learn new words for me it's put the word with the English definition and than the same word with the translation in your original language. Of course not all the words require this.