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How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

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Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#51

Post by knubie »

edjrage wrote: post #44

Am I the only one who finds Anki's UI/UX to be absolutely atrocious? I know it's petty, but it's literally the only reason that's always made me not use it for more than just a few days at a time. Is anyone working on improving the UI? Or are there alternative "frontends" out there? Does anyone know how hard it would be do it? (I assume it might not be trivial since Anki has a plugin system, but I don't know to what…

While not a "frontend" to Anki, I built Mochi[0] in part because I was also frustrated with Anki's UI/UX and it supports importing Anki decks to an extent.

It uses a similar scheduling algorithm to Anki, but it's based on simple markdown note cards, and has some features around that as well, such as bi-directional link references.

[0] https://mochi.cards/

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#52

Post by tpoacher »

edjrage wrote: post #44

Am I the only one who finds Anki's UI/UX to be absolutely atrocious? I know it's petty, but it's literally the only reason that's always made me not use it for more than just a few days at a time. Is anyone working on improving the UI? Or are there alternative "frontends" out there? Does anyone know how hard it would be do it? (I assume it might not be trivial since Anki has a plugin system, but I don't know to what…

In the words of the venerable late Steve Jobs: "You're using it wrong."

Personally I find the UI/UX to be exactly what I want it to be. What exactly do you not like about it?

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#53

Post by jacobsenscott »

nomad225 wrote: post #4

Any suggestions for what to use Anki to remember in everyday life as a software engineer?

As a software engineer I spend hours a day in the languages and tools I use. That's more than enough reinforcement for me. I've never felt like I couldn't remember enough in 20 years of programming. What sort of things do you think it would be helpful to memorize?

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#54

Post by jacobsenscott »

I don't find doing things tangential to the thing you want to learn all that effective compared to just doing the thing you want to get better at. Maybe it is just me.

If you want to improve your vocabulary read more books. If you want to improve in a programming language program more in that language. If you want to learn chess openings - play more chess.

Actually doing things you want to learn is way more fun than rote memorization so you are more likely to stick with it.

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#55

Post by RootReducer »

MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #48
RootReducer wrote: post #9

I've been using Anki for about 3 years to learn Korean and it's been tremendously successful. In that time I've learned around 3000 new words (both English -> Korean and Korean -> English with reversed cards) and a ton of grammar (using Cloze cards). I couldn't imagine trying to memorize this amount of information any other way now.

How do you do it? I've been torn on learning sentences or just words as both are difficult in their own right. One helps with speaking, another expands your vocab. It almost feels like to me they're both necessary to stay good at this.

Both! I make a card with English on the front and Korean on the back, and I include a sample sentence in a custom field with the target word highlighted. I always read the sentence out loud after I answer the card.

I also make Cloze cards specifically for grammar where I'll cloze out the conjugated verb and put an English hint, like: 7시니까 댄 씨는 벌써 {{c1::퇴근했을 거예요::I think he left work}}.

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#56

Post by Evan_Hellmuth »

jacobsenscott wrote: post #54

I don't find doing things tangential to the thing you want to learn all that effective compared to just doing the thing you want to get better at. Maybe it is just me. If you want to improve your vocabulary read more books. If you want to improve in a programming language program more in that language. If you want to learn chess openings - play more chess. Actually doing things you want to learn is way more fun than…

I agree with your first paragraph.

But if your goal is purely to expand your vocabulary, don’t you think reading is more tangential than drilling words with flash cards?

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#57

Post by RootReducer »

jacobsenscott wrote: post #54

I don't find doing things tangential to the thing you want to learn all that effective compared to just doing the thing you want to get better at. Maybe it is just me. If you want to improve your vocabulary read more books. If you want to improve in a programming language program more in that language. If you want to learn chess openings - play more chess. Actually doing things you want to learn is way more fun than…

How do you remember the new words you look up when reading books? Making an Anki card for each will make sure those words are permanently etched into your memory.

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#58

Post by ApolloFortyNine »

kazinator wrote: post #31
ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you get cards to an interval of over a year, you have 'learned' the card pretty much. So if your worry is about eventually quitting Anki, it shouldn't be an issue. >I feel like Anki is not designed to help you succeed. Eventually, you'll start missing your reviews. One day you'll open Anki, see that you have hundreds of cards scheduled, and just quit the app. You could also just do it every day, if it's importan…

That is not a given. Just several days ago I lapsed on a 4.5 year card. The interval went down to 2.2 years or so; hopefully I will get it that time around. You will forget stuff over time. What was the leading actor's name in that movie? Aaargh, it was practically a household word in the early 90's .... > You could also just do it every day. Even people who stick with it 7 days a week for 50 weeks could use a 2 week…

Well yea, no program, no method of learning, will make it impossible to forget something. You should have >90% retention on mature cards however (it's what the default settings are configured for). There's plenty of charts that show the diminishing returns of aiming for higher retentions, and surprisingly aiming for 75% retention is actually much more efficient, however your sanity would likely take a hit from missing so many cards.

>Even people who stick with it 7 days a week for 50 weeks could use a 2 week vacation.

Then you'll need the discipline to do ~10x your normal daily volume when you get back (not doing new cards ever day makes it not a clean 14x).

>That is not a given. Just several days ago I lapsed on a 4.5 year card. The interval went down to 2.2 years or so; hopefully I will get it that time around.

The default settings set it to 10% of the interval after an again, so you must have messed with that. You can also configure that to be 0% if it bothers you.

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#59

Post by bronco21016 »

jacobsenscott wrote: post #54

I don't find doing things tangential to the thing you want to learn all that effective compared to just doing the thing you want to get better at. Maybe it is just me. If you want to improve your vocabulary read more books. If you want to improve in a programming language program more in that language. If you want to learn chess openings - play more chess. Actually doing things you want to learn is way more fun than…

I think SRS comes in handy for things where you need to be up to speed now and do not have time to learn through repeated, natural practice.

As an airline pilot I’ve had to learn new aircraft a few times over the last 5 years. The airlines can’t afford to give you 100 hours in a simulator to drive in every little detail. You have to spend time in the manual using rote memorization to be up to speed on things before you’re out in the world operating the machine.

Learning by doing is my preferred method as well and it has its place. Just trying to point out that sometimes rote memorization, and tools to make it easier, are an important piece of learning something new.

Re: How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory

#60

Post by redmaverick »

chrisandchips wrote: post #25

I would recommend Joshua Foer "Moonwalking with Einstein" for those interested in memory. Spaced repition is effective to an extent, but I find the techniques explored in his book to be much more effective. The tl;dr is that you are much better off constructing "memory palaces" in your head. You pick a place you know extremely well (like your family home), and you imagine yourself navigating that space and "placing"…

The memory palace technique is not a silver bullet to permanently remember things. Sure it is fun at first. Eventually, you will have to review your memory palace periodically otherwise you will forget it.
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