A love letter to flashcards • Hacker News Board

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#81

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 1:14 AM UTC

deviation wrote: post #35

stets wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really curious exactly how you learn things like chess with flash cards. French makes sense as I would guess you just have a word or phrase in both languages. What do you do for topics like chess?

Sure, I can explain - it's a little complicated, but I maintain a small-ish catalogue of ~1000 positions for the following topics: - Checkmates-in-one - Checkmates-in-two - Defensive technique (avoid checkmate/material loss) - Winning material - Endgame patterns - etc (~5 more) ... That I got by scraping the Lichess database, favoring common patterns that appear within +- 600 of my current Elo. From there, I have Cla…

[deleted]

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#82

Post by SamBam » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 1:16 AM UTC

rsanek wrote: post #52

> Some people also use LLMs to generate flashcards. And of course, the result will be those impersonal, mediocre cards. > I won’t say LLMs are useless for this. But from my trials, I get about 1 card that’s useful to me out of 10, and even that 1 card still needs rewriting. I don't know the specifics of how the author tried to do so, but from what I've seen the majority of attempts are, let me drop a chapter of a tex…

I think the objection about AI-generated cards, or decks found online, is that the context of the card creation is lost.

What made you write the card? How did you find the answer/translation/whatever? What was all the learning around the card that the card is supposed to represent?

If you're just doing simple word translations into a new language maybe that's ok. But if you're trying to learn a concept in organic chemistry or SQL, then you're more likely to memorize the card itself than learn the concept.

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#83

Post by frostlynx » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 1:44 AM UTC

hintymad wrote: post #50

For language learning, I wish there was an audio-first flashcard app that changes up the example sentences every time. Right now, I'm using Anki to learn Japanese vocabulary from N5 to N3[1]. I know the words and the example sentences well enough to read N3-level text, provided I know the grammar. But when it comes to listening, I struggle to understand even N4-level spoken Japanese. Anki just doesn't offer enough va…

IMHO Anki (the software) has very little value now with coding agents. The spaced repetition algorithm is quite simple and just 100 lines of python (or even less). Every coding agent can write that for you in minutes. The value of Anki comes from (1) its flexibility, and (2) the pre-made decks, but building an app that’s tailored to you is better, and you can find a lot of word lists online if that’s what you need.

If you have a Claude (or similar) subscription, you can build yourself a language learning app that’s better for you than most products out there, in a small number of days. TTS, dictionary lookup, you name it, the AI will build it. Azure TTS has a generous free tier, so all you need is the AI subscription (one month is plenty) and a place to host your app. It’s a simple prompt to ask the model to modify cards so it plays the audio first before showing the text. Off the top of my head I don’t have a good idea for your specific issue of having audio for the same word in multiple contexts. Maybe for this you could use LLM-generated sentences.

About your footnotes, personally I think vocabulary becomes more important with progress, because you just won’t be exposed often enough to some rarer words (e.g. politics or economy), or learning words in groups can help you better understand them. And flashcards can help not forget them. But don’t learn words with flash cards, learn them in context.

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#84

Post by timr » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 2:18 AM UTC

hintymad wrote: post #50

For language learning, I wish there was an audio-first flashcard app that changes up the example sentences every time. Right now, I'm using Anki to learn Japanese vocabulary from N5 to N3[1]. I know the words and the example sentences well enough to read N3-level text, provided I know the grammar. But when it comes to listening, I struggle to understand even N4-level spoken Japanese. Anki just doesn't offer enough va…

> Right now, I'm using Anki to learn Japanese vocabulary from N5 to N3[1]. I know the words and the example sentences well enough to read N3-level text, provided I know the grammar. But when it comes to listening, I struggle to understand even N4-level spoken Japanese.

You need to listen to people, ideally in actual conversations (I am conversational in Japanese, somewhere around N2).

Spaced repetition won’t help you here. The fundamental problem is that you can’t hear the words, which is not a matter of memorization. The only thing that will fix it is exposure to lots and lots of native input.

Fortunately, it is easy to find native listening input today! If you’re a beginner and not in a classroom setting, you should be spending at least half your time listening to native material. The best option is a native tutor and/or friend(s), but failing that, get thee to Youtube and Netflix or even Instagram. There are tons of good teachers on those platforms, posting content for free. Nihongo no mori, Takoyaki_senseiyade, nihongo_camp, and miyu_to_nihongo are just a few I follow on instagram who tend to post serious learning content, mainly in Japanese.

Also, spaced repetition is more valuable at the higher levels, not less. You do need to spend more time reading and listening to native input, but the volume of things to learn grows exponentially, so efficiency is essential. At N5/N4, I could have used paper flashcards and been fine.

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#85

Post by wisemanwillhear » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 2:54 AM UTC

j45 wrote: post #70

wisemanwillhear wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad the article acknowledges that flashcards are just one small part of learning. When I first got into spaced repetition, first with the Mnemosyne Project and later switching to Anki, I discovered that the efficiency I imagined was partially illusory. * Memorizing things often takes much more time than learning things naturally as you use them because it takes extra time out of your day. * I often lacked the as…

Memorizing becomes easier after understanding. My guess is understanding things, not just what they mean, but how they work, or interact with other concepts, speeds up repetition quicker because that is what's firing when renewing it.

I think that's a good observation (your mileage may vary), but the time that flashcards are the must needful is when your first learning. Yet my first Chemistry university professors pointed out that, although most people imagined it was easiest to get started in a new field and harder to learn when you made it to me advanced classes, in fact, it's hardest to get started when the concepts are new and foreign and easier later when your just adding a deep understanding to what you have already fought to learn.

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#86

Post by cwnyth » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 3:11 AM UTC

SubmarineClub wrote: post #55

cwnyth wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem with Anki is that it's very, very inefficient. It will take much more time and effort to memorize the vocabulary words you learn, and losing those words is very quick. It's much better to use SRS with actual and varied sentences.

You know you can just…create Anki cards with sentences, right? Anki doesn’t force you to make cards with vocab words in isolation.

That's why I used the word varied. But at the end of the day, you're still memorizing sentences, rather than how the word actually functions. It's inelastic.

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#87

Post by cwnyth » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 3:14 AM UTC

pferde wrote: post #63

cwnyth wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem with Anki is that it's very, very inefficient. It will take much more time and effort to memorize the vocabulary words you learn, and losing those words is very quick. It's much better to use SRS with actual and varied sentences.

I have the exact opposite experience with Anki. I use it to memorize vocabulary of a language I'm learning, a language completely different to other languages I know, and my retention before and after I started using Anki is night and day. Frankly, I was floored once I realized how much faster I was learning, and how easily I can recall even words I last practiced or used months ago. I make and maintain my own cards/…

Well, I should have qualified my statement: Anki is inefficient compared to better methods, but more efficient than haphazardly trying to memorize things. Yes, it's better than nothing, but there are better SRS implementations, including most readers.

I saw a lot of this from personal experience. I had to learn not only Latin and Greek, but also French and German just for my doctorate, and I learned Russian, Thai, and Swedish separately. And then I taught Latin and Greek for years, inquiring often how my students were learning. Anki (vel sim.) is fine, but there are better ways (and none of those ways start with the letter D and end with the letters lingo).

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#88

Post by socalgal2 » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:31 AM UTC

cwnyth wrote: post #87

pferde wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the exact opposite experience with Anki. I use it to memorize vocabulary of a language I'm learning, a language completely different to other languages I know, and my retention before and after I started using Anki is night and day. Frankly, I was floored once I realized how much faster I was learning, and how easily I can recall even words I last practiced or used months ago. I make and maintain my own cards/…

Well, I should have qualified my statement: Anki is inefficient compared to better methods, but more efficient than haphazardly trying to memorize things. Yes, it's better than nothing, but there are better SRS implementations, including most readers. I saw a lot of this from personal experience. I had to learn not only Latin and Greek, but also French and German just for my doctorate, and I learned Russian, Thai, an…

> including most readers.

Can you be more specific? Do you have any recommendations?

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#89

Post by mimo84 » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:34 AM UTC

I find using flashcards very stimulating, however to reach this status it took me quite some time and some trial and error. So if you're new at using flashcards don't quit just yet! Keep using them. My morning ritual is now coffee and anki.

Like the author said, understanding the card you're writing in your deck is fundamental. In my case, I would add, this is even true of when you add language cards. For example, I once added the word `thwart`. This card doesn't "cleanly" translate to my native tongue, and I was failing it at all times, I was confusing it with other words such as stifle, stymie etc because have a close meaning but not quite the one in thwart. Only after I grasped the exact definition and usage of it I started to not block on it anymore. I now attempt to be better at it by trying to also recall or make up the antonym of a certain word.

Also I started to create decks for:

1. Emacs commands, including custom shortcut which I use daily, or trying to drill new commands or features that I leant.

2. passages from books I read, mostly for those I use cloze deletions.

3. simple arithmetic, in order to be quicker at doing those without having to use a calculator at all times with me

4. shell commands, for example less frequently used git commands, grep or rg options.

A final note on using LLMs for flashcard creation. Sometimes the LLM can come up with some useful examples, or memory hooks, which help in retaining the information. Yes, I agree here with the author: out of 10 cards created with the LLM you're probably going to retain just one, and even that one will need rewriting.

Re: A love letter to flashcards

#90

Post by jvvw » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:50 AM UTC

digital_ghoul wrote: post #19

PandaRider wrote: post #2

> From this perspective, fields that require deep understanding, like math, require memory just as fields with a breadth of shallow knowledge do, though in different ways. I'm interested in understanding how others use Anki for conceptual subjects like pure math or physics. I believe many fundamental rules in Spaced Repetition (e.g. like keeping cards concise) are thrown out the window for conceptual subjects.

I took my first real analysis course last semester, and I made flashcards with pen and paper for every single non trivial definition, theorem, lemma, and corollary that we covered in lecture. Analysis definitions and theorems get really complicated with intricate and difficult to follow logical chains, and there are a lot to remember. These definitions and results don’t mean much on their own without exploring their…

I am a fan of Anki for lots of things but it always puzzled me people trying to learn analysis and group theory by memorising lots and lots of parts of their lecture notes.

I would test myself on the main steps of some of the proofs before exams but that was the nearest I got to memorisation. It felt like if you needed to memorise definitions then you hadn't used them enough. Even 30 years later, not having done maths for most of that time, I could still tell you the most of the definitions and could still do an epsilon-delta proof - they feel like conceptual things rather than memory things.

Perhaps I was in a way doing spaced repetition just by trying to solve lots of problems and looking things up if I didn't know them but it didn't feel like a memorisation process, more a process of trying to really really understand the mathematics.