fredomirek Tetraglot Senior Member Poland Joined 6851 days ago 265 posts - 264 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Japanese
| Message 1 of 15 04 May 2006 at 7:27am | IP Logged |
Have you tried buying ready sets of flashcards? I'm thinking of buying perhaps Italian one, there is a publishing company producing sets of flashcards for a few languages in Poland (its page - www.fiszki.pl - in Polish ;) ). Let me know if any of you has ever bought something similar and found it useful. Perhaps you're inclined to believe that it's better to make one's own flashcards with the vocab found during reading different sources?
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numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6728 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin
| Message 2 of 15 04 May 2006 at 7:45am | IP Logged |
I think for my sake I would be better served by picking the words I want to learn myself rather than going with a predefined set. Having said that, I'm a bit put off by producing flash cards manually, I don't have any office equipment to make the process efficient, so it would take me a long time to cut them up with scissors.
By that it might be easier to just buy blank cards and fill them in, if anyone is selling those.
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tomasus Pentaglot Groupie Czech Republic Joined 6977 days ago 54 posts - 56 votes Speaks: Slovak, Czech*, EnglishC1, German, Russian
| Message 3 of 15 04 May 2006 at 8:10am | IP Logged |
It's definitely better, though not crucial, to make your own flashcards, because producing the flashcards one by one is IMHO an important part of the learning process.
I'm using flashcard software myself. My brother also used flashcard software extensively, but he prefers handmade paper flashcards (he studies Japanese and Korean).
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andee Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7022 days ago 681 posts - 724 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Korean, French
| Message 4 of 15 04 May 2006 at 8:57am | IP Logged |
I make my own... All written and cut by hand. I admit that at first it was a lengthy process but now I have an efficient system that takes nothing away from my study time.
My initial step is to measure and rule the A4 card I use into the card size I want (roughly 2.5cm x 5cm) and once measured out I cut them into strips. I'm left with strips that are 5cm thick and have about 11 or 12 cards marked out. This is the time consuming part of the process but I do it all during ad breaks when I'm watching TV.
Then when I'm ready to make some new cards I just simply snip the strips into cards along the lines I've already marked and fill them in. This part takes no time at all and can also be done during the ad breaks when you're watching TV.
It's all making use of lost time in one form or another.
But to answer the initial question... I personally wouldn't buy readymade flashcards because I don't think I would find all the words useful, whereas in making your own you do get the choice of what to include and what to ignore.
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hokusai77 Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 7097 days ago 212 posts - 217 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Italian*, FrenchB1, EnglishC1 Studies: GermanB1, Japanese
| Message 5 of 15 04 May 2006 at 10:28am | IP Logged |
I wouldn't (and don't) use ready flashcards either. I think it's better to create your own ones, thus strengthening your learning process.
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Niall Gallagher Groupie Ireland Joined 7080 days ago 81 posts - 81 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 6 of 15 04 May 2006 at 11:32am | IP Logged |
You can buy 3" x 5" blank white index cards, perfect as flash cards (8 words per side). Stationary shops also stock coloured cards if you're dealing with noun genders and such.
One method for building vocabulary I've used is getting a book like this, and making flashcards of all the unknown words, going through about 1-2 pages daily. Having just finished yesterday, I've ended up with 61 cards x 8 words = 488 unknown words. As braveb mentioned in another post, taking 5-10mins and creating a little action story for each word per card would work better than rote memorization. You'd also have to redo the "deck" less.
I've used this before and the info just seems to stick naturally while the crutch (the story) fades away. While using one, the other grows strong, kind of like crutches for a broken leg, there until you don't need them anymore. In fact they just switch around. Initially you rely on the story to get to the word. After a while, the word just comes and you have to ask yourself "...what did I use to remember this?"
Edited by Niall Gallagher on 04 May 2006 at 11:38am
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Magnum Bilingual Triglot Retired Moderator Pro Member United States Joined 7062 days ago 359 posts - 353 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian*, French Studies: German Personal Language Map
| Message 7 of 15 04 May 2006 at 2:15pm | IP Logged |
I learn from making flashcards. There is something about writing the words down that helps make the words stick in my memory. If I purchased flashcards pre-made, I don't believe I would learn as well.
Edited by Magnum on 04 May 2006 at 2:16pm
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fredomirek Tetraglot Senior Member Poland Joined 6851 days ago 265 posts - 264 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Japanese
| Message 8 of 15 04 May 2006 at 2:46pm | IP Logged |
Thanks all for the advice, I think I'll stick to making them on my own. It's been working so far, the only inconvenience is cutting them out because my favourite size is 3x6cm and even though I've looked for it's not possible to buy blank cards of this size. I have managed so far cutting them so I hope I won't loose patience ;)
Thanks again
Edited by fredomirek on 04 May 2006 at 2:47pm
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