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In praise of Byki | ||
Tags: Spaced Repetition (SRS) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5262 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 1 of 15 17 January 2010 at 11:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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This program doesn't seem to be mentioned all that often here, but I must say I think it's brilliant!
I'm using it to study Georgian right now, and I've found it so valuable to make my first steps in the language. It's basically a flash card program, so if you're not keen on flashcards then it's obviously not for you, but it makes sure you learn each word extremely thoroughly, both recognizing and producing, and it supplies a keyboard for different alphabets (although not characters for Chinese and Japanese, apparently). The deluxe version is pricey at 70 dollars, but it provides you with around a thousand words and phrases, keeps track of your progress, allows you to create your own lists with sound files for pronunciation, and gives you access to extra files made by others for downloading to your own program. I have nothing whatsoever to do with the company, by the way, but I think this program is great and worth a plug. Edited by TixhiiDon on 17 January 2010 at 11:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5467 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 15 18 January 2010 at 8:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I use Byki too. When I bought it - maybe two years ago - it was certainly very impressive. However, free-of-cost alternatives (particularly Anki) now seem to be just as good.
The one advantage of BYKI I can think of is that it also comes with an audio-course (essentially a large phrase-book) designed for MP3 players. I found this to be a good supplement to the flash cards. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6380 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 3 of 15 18 January 2010 at 9:39am | IP Logged | ||
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I checked it out for getting started with Cantonese. Unfortunately it just has "Chinese".
Also, it doesn't have SRS, has it? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5467 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 15 18 January 2010 at 10:06am | IP Logged | ||
Yes - it does have spaced repetition. However, there is no control by the user over how well it works. There are only two ways to "answer" a flashcard on BYKI: you can either type in the answer, or you can say "yes" or "no" based on whether or not you recognised it. This means that BYKI (unlike Anki for example) has no idea whether you found a particular card easy or difficult (merely whether you got the answer right or not). As a result, with BYKI I often find it repeating cards at frequencies I am not totally happy with. Edited by Splog on 18 January 2010 at 10:07am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5262 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 5 of 15 18 January 2010 at 10:29am | IP Logged | ||
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I downloaded Anki also, but I found it rather difficult to use compared to Byki. It is also a very heavy file at 90MB. I also found it far more straightforward to create my own lists with Byki than with Anki.
Of course, for free software Anki is great, but I think Byki beats it in quality and user-friendliness. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5809 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 6 of 15 18 January 2010 at 7:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's a while ago now, but last time I tried out BYKI I found several inconsistencies or errors, as well as having the whole problem of US spellings.
OK, so BYKI does let you amend or add alternatives to a card, but that's something I'm unwilling to do as a learner. There's a good piece of software at the heart of it, but as a whole package it doesn't quite live up to its pricetag. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| davidwelsh Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5327 days ago 141 posts - 307 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, Norwegian, Esperanto, Swedish, Danish, French Studies: Polish, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Pali, Mandarin | Message 7 of 15 18 January 2010 at 9:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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I use BYKI a lot, for a variety of languages, and I'm also a big fan! I don't think that the lists that come with the program are necessarily all that great, but I find making my own lists works really well.
Also, people upload lists they've made to BYKI List Central so there's loads of stuff (of varying quality naturally) that you can download for free. The basic "Express" version of the program is free. With this you can download and use any of the lists made by the company that produces BYKI, as well as any lists uploaded by other users. The only big difference with the paid "Deluxe" version is that it allows you to create your own lists. There's a lot you can do with the free version, and it will give you a good idea of whether you want to invest in the Deluxe version. I know $70 isn't worth as much in Norway as it is in most countries, but I'm very happy I bought the Deluxe version, and I think it's probably the best value for money I've got from any language learning tool I've ever invested in. (NB. I don't work for the company either!) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5940 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 8 of 15 15 February 2010 at 5:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I use BYKI almost every day, but my version is a bit older... I have version 3.6 Deluxe, which I bought a few years back for only about 30 or 40 dollars. So I see they have raised the price, and I am wondering what the new features of the program are...
I almost never use the lists that came with the program (for Greek), but instead use it to make my own lists. It has the five familiar levels of study: Review It (look over both sides of cards without being quizzed) Recognize It (see L2, think/say L1) Know It (see L2, type L1) Produce It (see L1, think/say L2) Own It (see L1, type L2) I really only use the last three levels when I use the program. The first two are pretty worthless to me. I think I've heard that they have done away with some of the levels in the newest version and there are fewer... How exactly does this work? I think I've also heard that it works more like Anki now, in that it tells you which lists you should review. That would be very convenient, since my current version does no such thing. Just wondering what the updates have been in the past three years or so since I bought the program. :) EDIT: typo... Edited by ellasevia on 15 February 2010 at 5:36am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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