Are flashcards inconsistent w/Assimil? (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Are flashcards inconsistent w/Assimil?
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16 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

learnvietnamese
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Message 9 of 16

12 September 2011 at 6:33am | IP Logged

Flashcard is a complimentary-but-highly-recommended tool for enhancing vocabulary retention.

In that light, I think it can be an add-on to any course/philosophy you follow.
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Solfrid Cristin
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Message 10 of 16

12 September 2011 at 10:40am | IP Logged

leosmith wrote:

misslanguages wrote:

Flash cards are always useful!

Only on the 7th planet from the sun. On Earth, they aren't of much use to someone who has reached her goals, for
example.

I disagree with you, but you gave me a good laugh. Thanks for that :-)
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joanthemaid
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Message 11 of 16

12 September 2011 at 11:23am | IP Logged

Personally I don't have enough patience for flashcards. So for me: learning the basics, and then, reading, reading, reading. Takes a long, long time and can be frustrating at first, because it's only worth it if you want to get to actual fluency and pretty useless in the mean time, plus you'll eventually have to go to the country or take convo courses for the active phase, but I think it's the most natural way and probably the easiest psychologically (though not the shortest).
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leosmith
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Message 12 of 16

12 September 2011 at 3:35pm | IP Logged

Solfrid Cristin wrote:

leosmith wrote:

misslanguages wrote:

Flash cards are always useful!

Only on the 7th planet from the sun. On Earth, they aren't of much use to someone who has reached her goals, for
example.

I disagree with you, but you gave me a good laugh. Thanks for that :-)

When you reach your goals, you continue to use them? I prefer to merely use the language at that point, but to each
her own.
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Jeffers
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Message 13 of 16

13 September 2011 at 12:05am | IP Logged

leosmith wrote:

Solfrid Cristin wrote:

leosmith wrote:

misslanguages wrote:

Flash cards are always useful!

Only on the 7th planet from the sun. On Earth, they aren't of much use to someone who has reached her goals, for
example.

I disagree with you, but you gave me a good laugh. Thanks for that :-)

When you reach your goals, you continue to use them? I prefer to merely use the language at that point, but to each
her own.

People have different ideas of what it means to reach a goal. I knew a language professor who always reviewed 20 vocabulary cards every day as part of his study routine, as well as much more time spent "using" the language. Just because you've reached your goals, it does not mean you should abandon basic training. The greatest musicians still play scales.
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leosmith
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Message 14 of 16

14 September 2011 at 6:01am | IP Logged

Jeffers wrote:

I knew a language professor who always reviewed 20 vocabulary cards every day as part of his
study routine, as well as much more time spent "using" the language. Just because you've reached your goals, it
does not mean you should abandon basic training. The greatest musicians still play scales.

Regardless, based on previous polls, I think most plan to abandon flashcards at some point.
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Javi
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Message 15 of 16

16 September 2011 at 10:57pm | IP Logged

Footnoted wrote:

I am using Assimil for about 75% of my French study and while I am
enjoyiing it I have to say that there is
not enough repetition for me to truly absorb most of the lessons. I find that making
flashcards for key
vocab and idiomatic phrases helps me tremendously as does writing out the lessons, but
then I wonder if
this means my learning style must not be suited to the Assimil's philosophy and maybe I
should focus on
other programs. Any comments would be appreciated.

Well, if it's just making a few cards for some key elements like you said, then there's
probably no harm, but with more than that you will most likely be overusing the course
and wasting a lot of time. It's just my opinion, but I don't think that Assimil is
meant for you to gain an active command of all its content. If you come to a point
where you can listen to a lesson and understand it without having to think or
translate, and then you do the exercises, you'll have absorbed pretty much everything
there is to it. If you still don't feel satisfied, try to read the lesson aloud, but
I'd stay clear of flashcards at this early stage.
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Javi
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Message 16 of 16

16 September 2011 at 11:27pm | IP Logged

leosmith wrote:

Jeffers wrote:

I knew a language professor who always reviewed 20
vocabulary cards every day as part of his
study routine, as well as much more time spent "using" the language. Just because
you've reached your goals, it
does not mean you should abandon basic training. The greatest musicians still play
scales.

Regardless, based on previous polls, I think most plan to abandon flashcards at some
point.

Which is idiotic, because it's in the very nature of computerised flahscards to be
abandoned, only that automatically, like everything else with these programs. What I
mean is that, if you're using a good piece of SRS, once you've reached your goal and
learnt a word, it will be scheduled so far into the future that you'd waste more time
deleting it than reviewing it for the rest of your live. I've got plenty of cards that
are not due for more than 10 years. I consider those to be learnt and deleted, because
who knows where are you gonna be in 10 years time? On the other hand, if you haven't
reached your goal and that happens with too many words, then you should perhaps
reconsider why and how are you using this kind of software to begin with.

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