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How to maximize an Anki deck ?

 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies Post Reply
24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2
michaelmichael
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5248 days ago

167 posts - 202 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 17 of 24
30 August 2010 at 5:38pm | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
michaelmichael wrote:
The last thing you mentioned, about transitive/intransitive and additional information ... well i guess you could always use more information, but i don't use anki to learn usage, that's what grammar books are for. In order to worry about, transitive, intransitive, if it takes a preposition if it's next to a verb, if it can be used reflexively, if it has an irregular past participle, etc......., I need to know the word first. While reading, i can noticed the neighboring elements around demander and get a sense of structure, but if i don't know what demander is, i won't have the luxury of worrying about structure.

Whether "demander" needs a direct object or some preposition cannot be infered from any grammar rule -- it's part of the verb's requirement, just like "for" in needed for the English equivalent (ask for). If you want to learn to recognize the word first, and then hope to learn how to use it when you come across it in context, then fine, but why not do it all at once?


Hehe, wouldn't that be nice if there was a rule, where looking at a word would tell you if it's transitive, intransitive, etc... but no, that is not what i was talking about. Most grammar books do however have a page on verb constructions, in my french books, they tell me...

which verbs take an indirect object in English but not in french,
attendre (to wait for) , chercher (to look for)
which verbs take a direct object in English not in french
obéir à
etc....

As for why not ? sure why not ! there is no disadvantage per se of putting in transitive/intransitive, if you are willing to. I do ,however; have a complaint against putting an example sentence as stated in my last post. If I can deduce the meaning of the word from the example sentence, then I don't know if I really know the word. Thus if you really want an example sentence, maybe it should be on a separate card.

Edited by michaelmichael on 30 August 2010 at 5:44pm

1 person has voted this message useful



chelovek
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6078 days ago

413 posts - 461 votes 
5 sounds
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 18 of 24
10 October 2010 at 9:36pm | IP Logged 
I only learn words in context. I usually find an article on the internet and go through it with a dictionary, copying phrases and fragments onto flashcards whenever I don't know a word.

For instance, today I came across the phrase, "Мы испытываем мобильный интернет..." I didn't understand the verb in this context (it means "to test" here), so I copied the entire phrase to one side of a flashcard, put the target word in bold, and put the English equivalent on the other side of the card.

My first few reviews are English (L1) to Russian (target language), and then I switch. I find that forcing yourself to recall the new foreign word requires more attention and thought, and thus helps the word's form and usage become more strongly rooted in your mind. Furthermore, since studying an entire phrase offers you contextual clues, recalling the foreign word is generally a challenging but manageable task. Your mind is an intricate web of interconnected concepts, so the more connections you make, the easier it will be to remember something both passively and actively.

If you only associate "test" and "испытывать", you've got a weak, lonely connection floating around in your brain. But add in the context from the article, "testing mobile internet", and your target word suddenly becomes associated with a half-dozen new things: internet, mobile phones, the person who was doing the testing, why they were testing it, where you read the article, and so on and so forth.

So, OP, instead of writing "apple (n.)", try writing "He bit into fresh, sweet apple." I think you'll see a big difference immediately.

Edited by chelovek on 10 October 2010 at 9:46pm

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Lucky Charms
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
lapacifica.net
Joined 6940 days ago

752 posts - 1711 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 19 of 24
11 October 2010 at 8:42am | IP Logged 
michaelmichael wrote:
is if you choose an example sentence where you can deduce/infer what the word is, you might not really know the word, or not actively anyways.


That is where the 'cloze deletion' comes in handy. You have the context, but you have to actively recall the word.

If I were a native French speaker trying to learn the English word 'apple', my card might look like this:

----------------

FRONT



I bit into a big, red, juicy [-].

BACK


I bit into a big, red, juicy apple.


-------------


Besides the sentence, you will need one more element on the front of the card to distinguish it from other words (e.g. pear, hamburger, etc) that might also fit. This extra element could be an image (which I always choose whenever possible), might be a simple L2 definition ('a hard, red fruit which is often used in pies' or whatever works for you), or if you are a beginner and cannot yet make/understand such definitions, the word in your native language (ie Pomme). I agree with others who say there is not much point in putting your native language on the back of the card - you should be actively trying to recall the word. After you recall it, be sure to re-read your sentence with the word in context (rather than just say 'apple' and be done with it).

This is the basic format for my cards. It might not be the best for everyone, but if you have no idea what will work for you, I think this template is a darn good place to start :D

Edited by Lucky Charms on 11 October 2010 at 8:43am

3 persons have voted this message useful



Emme
Triglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 5338 days ago

980 posts - 1594 votes 
Speaks: Italian*, English, German
Studies: Russian, Swedish, French

 
 Message 20 of 24
11 October 2010 at 11:29am | IP Logged 
I’m feeling rather stupid, because I’ve been trying to solve this problem for some time but I haven’t succeeded yet. I’m trying to learn some advanced vocabulary in English. I’ve found SAT and GRE decks online, which give the words and their definitions. I’ve managed to add a third field for the Italian translation, but now I’ve come to an impasse and despite searching everywhere I couldn’t find a solution (I’m almost illiterate when it comes to computers and software).
These are the 3 questions I’d like to set up Anki to ask me:

1.
Question: English word
Answer: Italian translation

2.
Question: Italian translation
Answer: English word

3.
Question: English definition
Answer: English word


There’s probably a rather obvious solution, but I’m lost right now. Can anyone help me with easy to follow instructions? Thank you in advance!

1 person has voted this message useful



staf250
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Belgium
emmerick.be
Joined 5688 days ago

352 posts - 414 votes 
Speaks: French, Dutch*, Italian, English, German
Studies: Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 21 of 24
11 October 2010 at 9:08pm | IP Logged 
I will give it a try ;)
1 person has voted this message useful



Javi
Senior Member
Spain
Joined 5972 days ago

419 posts - 548 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*

 
 Message 22 of 24
11 October 2010 at 10:28pm | IP Logged 
Lucky Charms wrote:

That is where the 'cloze deletion' comes in handy. You have the context, but you have
to actively recall the word.

Besides the sentence, you will need one more element on the front of the card to
distinguish it from other words (e.g. pear, hamburger, etc) that might also fit. This
extra element could be an image (which I always choose whenever possible), might be a
simple L2 definition ('a hard, red fruit which is often used in pies' or whatever works
for you), or if you are a beginner and cannot yet make/understand such definitions, the
word in your native language (ie Pomme). I agree with others who say there is not much
point in putting your native language on the back of the card - you should be
actively trying to recall the word. After you recall it, be sure to re-read your
sentence with the word in context (rather than just say 'apple' and be done with it).

This is the basic format for my cards. It might not be the best for everyone, but if
you have no idea what will work for you, I think this template is a darn good place to
start :D

I made a few thousand cards like that in English, but I didn't bother putting a
sentence, just the picture and the word. The main question about this kind of words is
that they are very difficult to learn in real contexts unless you have some visual
clues. For example, if you are listening to the radio and hear the word cheetah, or
read the word cucumber in a book, you'll be clueless about the exact meaning, even if
you've already heard them a hundred times. Fortunately the SRS can help you make up for
the fact that you are not living immersed in your TL.

All that said, I use cloze deletion massively, but mainly with sentences and I call it
gap filling.
1 person has voted this message useful



GREGORG4000
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5514 days ago

307 posts - 479 votes 
Speaks: English*, Finnish
Studies: Japanese, Korean, Amharic, French

 
 Message 23 of 24
11 October 2010 at 11:12pm | IP Logged 
I've tried to use images before, but there are lots of words like "situation", "correspondingly", "continual", that you can't really make images for. Those are the ones which are the hardest to remember as well.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Lucky Charms
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
lapacifica.net
Joined 6940 days ago

752 posts - 1711 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 24 of 24
12 October 2010 at 2:49am | IP Logged 
GREGORG4000 wrote:
I've tried to use images before, but there are lots of words like "situation", "correspondingly", "continual", that you can't really make images for. Those are the ones which are the hardest to remember as well.


Yes, it isn't possible to find an image for every card - and it's probably not even desirable, since it takes time to find, save, resize, and upload the image, which is fine for some cards but would make SRS a huge chore if you had to do it for every one. I would guess that I use images for about 30% of my cards.

When I can't use an image, I still use a cloze deletion (or gap fill) and supplement that with a brief definition instead. So for 'continual' I might write 'ongoing, persisting, current' either in my target language or my native language (depending on my current level in the target language). But the cloze deleted sentence (taken from the original source where I found the word, or else found on Google and sometimes modified to be more personally relevant) is my main means for recalling the word, and the element which I consider the 'heart' of my cards - any other elements (such as images, definitions, translations, etc.) being supplementary.

Edited by Lucky Charms on 12 October 2010 at 2:53am



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