ANKI is a free digital flashcard program that can be used to learn vocabulary. Because it employs spaced repetition to aid memorization, it has found widespread application among students of foreign languages. What does "more efficiently" mean? We need to commit new vocabulary to long-term memory as soon as feasible.
You have not even heard about ANKI? Well, there are so many tools out there to help you learn vocabulary; nobody can know them all. But why am I writing about a tool that is regarded as rather "old school" and, admittedly, does not look very appealing? And I can also not say that it is very intuitive when you want to start. Please give me a chance to tell you why I think it is absolutely worth trying.
What is Spaced Repetition?
I think Wikipedia has a beautiful definition:
"Spaced repetition is an evidence-based learning technique that is usually performed with flashcards. Newly introduced and more difficult flashcards are shown more frequently, while older and less difficult flashcards are shown less frequently in order to exploit the psychological spacing effect. The use of spaced repetition has been proven to increase the rate of learning".
So, basically, you make a card for each word you want to remember, and the software does the organizing for you and will ask you again in due time. In ANKI you can choose between:
again (10 min)
hard (15 min)
good (1 day)
easy (2 days)
The more often you get it right, the bigger the interval until the next time you see this card again.
App or Web?
Anki is also a versatile tool that can be used to learn other types of information, such as historical dates, scientific concepts, and more. What I like about ANKI is that you can import different types of files, like
audio
pictures
text
and also modify the HTML code.
It is available on desktop and mobile devices, so you can study your flashcards anywhere.
The Start
It is good, but it is not necessary to start on the web version. If you want to import different file types or copy information from other sources, the web version is just more practical.
I can recommend watching some YouTube videos to set up ANKI if you want to make more sophisticated flash cards. I remember watching a tutorial by a medical student who prepared for the anatomy exam with ANKI. His flashcards made me envious. Take a look at the tutorials available in your language and with the content you like. That is very personal.
How Many Cards Per Day?
That is the one-million-dollar question. Your learning objectives and available study time will determine how many cards, if any, you should study each day using spaced repetition software. When learning anything new, it's a good idea to begin with a manageable set of cards (say, 10–20) and expand your deck as your knowledge and confidence grow.
It's crucial to strike a balance between examining enough cards to make progress and not overloading oneself with too many cards at once. Different researchers have different opinions on how many successful recalls are necessary for long-term memory retention; some say 3, others say 7.
How many flashcards you should study each day is, however, up to you and your own personal learning preferences and objectives. Finding the optimal set of integers requires some trial and error.
What NOT to Do
When you start, you might be tempted to import sets (= card collections) that some users have made public and that you can simply copy to your collection. Nice idea, but what is in there for you?
The decision process of which card should be created in ANKI is already part of the learning project:
you have decided to learn this word,
you create the front and the back side of the card, this is time you spent with this word,
you know where you picked this word up (context!).
I have not yet met any student who stayed motivated for more than one week to study other people's vocabulary. In the end, you will spend more time deleting flash cards you are not interested in than creating your own, or, even worse, you will stop using the tool for good.
Why I Stayed with ANKI Over the Years
I have to admit, I did not find ANKI very intuitive at the beginning. But I had heard a lot of good things about it, so I was determined to give it a try. According to my sources, ANKI has just the best interval calculation, and this is how I feel about it, even though I have no proof.
It seems that ANKI knows me, and it knows when I should study which card again. With other systems, the time until I would see a card again never felt right for me. There are the initial days, where you see certain cards every day, then every second day, but what happens after 2 weeks? This was, for me, the difference from other tools. Again, I have no proof that this is correct and that other tools do not give you long-term success, but for me, ANKI feels right.
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