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Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022)

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Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022)

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice. I jumped straight to FSRS so I can’t compare, but so far I have no regrets. One of my features is I progressively disappear the furigana in the included dictionary and example sentences, as the reading proficiency of the kanji increases (specifically at 99% retrievability) https://github.com/runarberg/shodoku/blob/main/src/helpers/f... This feature was very easy to implement as retrievability is inherent in the…

Very nice to have these modern setups under freer open source licenses. I have all my data synced to the client to work offline, so it's very nice having FSRS available on iOS & elsewhere (+ ability to run the rust one)

I thought I recognized your username from a political debate here a few months ago. I figured you would enjoy the donations page of my app: https://shodoku.app/about#donations

> If you insist on paying for this app, consider donating to UNWRA instead.

Glad to see solidarity among the Japanese learning community.

Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022)

#202
post #188

I wrote a kanji learning app around Anki’s Flexable Spaced Repetition (FSRS) algorithm https://shodoku.app My design principal is that I don’t need to be limited to few words, a sentence, and maybe a picture for each flash card. Instead each flashcard can be the all the relevant parts of the whole dictionary related to the kanji that you are learning. Another design principal (where I deviate from Wankikani) is that…

Random bit of UX feedback. When on https://shodoku.app/decks/add the + symbol means to add the deck, but in the interface even knowing that I accidentally pressed it 3 or 4 times to try and fold back the kanji after having clicked "show".

Thanks for the feedback. I am a UX engineer and frankly I‘m a little embarrassed I was caught employing such a bad UX pattern.

Even without the confusion of toggling a hidden detail, the or-or-off toggle button is known to be bad UX as it is unclear whether the toggler is on or off, unless clarified with a label. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39342649

My next feature is going to be custom decks, which is implemented on this page. I will for sure fix this (by adding labels, and changing the icon to a checkmark for active decks).

Thanks again, this was helpful.

Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022)

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me fluency is lower than C1, but yes. It is a lot effort, I find Spaced Repetition actually very demanding – but effective, that's the point. If you take Paul Nation's math (the famous https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1044345.pdf ) and instead of doing that you mine the hardest sentences you find to an SRS (basically, separating grain from chaff) you save yourself a lot of time, because you will never find a…

Some repetition is good and children in fact often repeatedly read their favorite book or watch their favorite show. However, a key thing to keep in mind with Paul Nation's study is that "repetitions" of a word represented encountering it in different contexts. This is important for three reasons. First is polysemy, which he mentioned. This is words with multiple meanings like fair (reasonable/just / light or unblemi…

"Dialog Challenged" here.

Your essay exposes many unconsidered ideas I can USE

Such as sorting spoken language from written.

*written* has vast Man-Page (Library!) For all languages. From parts of speech to detailed standards for each sort of publication, intended audience.

The only Man-Page (comments) I could find for spoken dialog was "Miranda Act", I better see what we have NOW.

Thanks

Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022)

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A software-based spaced repetition system probably could have made someone appear borderline superhuman in the era before Google. Google cleared a lot of this low-hanging fruit, and then it became "merely" the best way to cram facts into your noggin so you can become an expert at whatever you want, which is still extremely valuable. Your doctor probably used SRS to get through medical school, and now look at how much…

> it became "merely" the best way to cram facts into your noggin so you can become an expert at whatever you want Counterpoint: a noggin full of facts does not an expert make. Makes a good cocktail party trick, or Jeopardy champion. Expert in a subject? Definitely not.

Necessary, but not sufficient. Even the greatest genius can't operate without any raw material in there.

Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022)

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very nice to have these modern setups under freer open source licenses. I have all my data synced to the client to work offline, so it's very nice having FSRS available on iOS & elsewhere (+ ability to run the rust one)

I thought I recognized your username from a political debate here a few months ago. I figured you would enjoy the donations page of my app: https://shodoku.app/about#donations > If you insist on paying for this app, consider donating to UNWRA instead. Glad to see solidarity among the Japanese learning community.

Free Palestine!

Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022)

#206
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Memory is associative. So if you study a topic from different approaches or read other tangential material, that has connections to the topic, you remember it a lot better, thanks to associations. Repetition techniques simply ignore associations. Learning new vocabulary works up until 200-300 words, then it's useless.

It's not all or nothing, you can combine approaches :) And if you're learning an alphabet where before you know 1000-2000 unique characters, you can't reasonably read anything, it's still very useful! Plus who says that repetition techniques can't include context (like sentences for instance?), Bunpro being a pretty good example of this for learning Japanese grammar Obviously don't just use SRS all day, consume media…

Good point, they indeed have a flat and very large set of items, and they have few connections with anything outside the system.

Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022)

#207
post #10

I have been wondering about this in the context of being ready for work in the age of LLM‘s. What nobody can deny is that they memorize information at a superhuman level, so it might reduce the value of having done that myself. On the other hand, “couldn’t you just google that“has been an erroneous retort to the value of space repetition for decades, during which I’ve gotten a lot of value out of doing. has been a er…

In the same way that notation is a tool of thought [1] actually knowing facts paves routes[2] of possibility and impossibility (instead of pausing everything to research or drowning in too many paths).

It's akin to seeing 37*55 and knowing it won't be a 20 digit number, greatly reducing your search space. Imagine feeding someone without knowing what they like (how do you choose something?) vs. "allergic to dairy"?

[1] https://www.jsoftware.com/papers/tot.htm [2] https://alexalejandre.com/programming/forge-deeper-thought/

Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022)

#208
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's a pretty narrow set of people that want or need to be able to memorize and recall a bunch of facts as efficiently as possible. mostly med school students and language learners, where this stuff obviously works.

Working in a fast changing but also wide and deep field like software I think being able to remember quite a few facts can be important.

it's doable I guess. I think it's more productive to learn a concept and be able to derive everything about the concept from first principles instead though
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