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Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

apps.ankiweb.net

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Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#141

Post by edwintorok »

jamesbvaughan wrote: post #83
edwintorok wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The system described here is in many ways similar to Incremental Reading [1], which also uses an algorithm to schedule when to read the URLs provided. (the Anki addon is fairly primitive though, would rather use a browser plugin that remembers how much I read from each webpage instead) Also worth paying attention when reviewing flashcards, as described in [2]: And when I rush through my flashcard reviews, I’m not thi…

Have you found any good tools other than Anki for Incremental Reading?

Not yet, there is a project here that is worth keeping an eye on though: https://github.com/burtonator/polar-bookshelf

Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#142

Post by galfarragem »

laurieg wrote: post #128
ehsankia wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are awesome tips. Could you give a bit more detail into the actual process you follow, beyond those tips? What is your process / do you have a specific routine you follow with the cards?

The basic process is: 1. Read an article. 2. Encounter a word or phrase you don't know. 3. Keep reading! 4. If the meaning of the word or phrase "clicks" for you, put it into Anki. If not, look it up in a dictionary. For words you have to look up, think very carefully about putting them into a dictionary. There are no hard and fast rules but err on the side of leaving them out. Review the cards whenever you have time…

> Learning a language is like walking through an orchard. Pick the ripe fruit and leave the rest. If you try to grab everything you won't be able to carry them.

Great analogy, it really resonates with my experience. Your Anki language learning tactics also.

Before Anki, I tried to learn Polish with Memrise and it didn't work. With public decks you will waste time on irrelevant words for your usecase and soon you'll get bored. You MUST do your decks. My tactic is to digest everyday one or two headlines from a Polish newspaper and create 2-3 cards with relevant words/expressions (3 x 365 = 1k+ cards/year!).

I used to agree with the traditional SRS criticism: learning is not memorising stuff. But after trying it I reshaped my beliefs: learning is understanding and memorising.

Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#143

Post by cyborgx7 »

kazinator wrote: post #104
jameshart wrote: post #91

I'm always a little confused when I see articles on the internet extolling the virtues of spaced repetition learning. I don't doubt that it's a good way to memorize things; it's just that I have never really found that memorization was ever an obstacle to my ability to learn something. I've always found that retention proceeds from understanding . Time spent flicking through flashcards for vocabulary or formulae or c…

> poor substitute for time spent reading material that uses the vocabulary You can't effectively read material without having enough vocabulary to cover at least some 80% of it. My most recent language learning experience is Japanese. The difference between trying to read before cramming on an ~8000 word vocabulary and after is night and day. And the comparison basis here is not reading hardcopy, but electronic text…

>electronic text with the help of an instant dictionary lookup tool (hover the mouse over anything to get to the reading and meanings instantly)

Can you tell me what text you were reading and what tool you were using? This sounds like exactly what I have been looking for my japanese learning.

Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#144

Post by OriginalPenguin »

mrmondo wrote: post #113

$39AUD for the mobile app with no free / demo version is more than a little steep IMO.

The desktop version is free and open source. You'll want to start with the desktop version anyway, because it's easier to make your cards on a computer than a phone.

After a while you'll know if it's for you or not. Then you can buy the iOS version.

The Android version is made by a different set of people, and it's completely free as well. It's called AnkiDroid.

Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#145

Post by aasasd »

inetsee wrote: post #74
nathanasmith wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried just going to the website https://ankiweb.net/decks/ and reviewing your cards there? It should work on any device with a browser including your RasberryPi.

I tried going to the Anki website and I discovered another thing that I don't like about Anki. I went to one of my old decks and tried one of the cards; the spacing options for this card were <10 minutes, 1, 2 and 6 YEARS. I'd really like more control over the spacing of the card presentations.

You could set the maximum time in the deck options: e.g. set it to 1 month, and all cards will have that as the next interval if you answer them right. After you work through the cards, you can increase this maximum. There's a chance, however, that after all this time you'll have many of cards reset back to beginning.

Or, you can fire up the desktop card browser and reschedule all the cards in those decks—choose "return to the learning queue" so they pop up like new, or set some interval like, again, a month. Then you can do a “custom study” to work through the cards right away. (I haven't tried this method, though, so not sure it will work.)

Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#146

Post by mikekchar »

ramblerman wrote: post #139
laurieg wrote: post #84

I've used Anki over the past 8 years or so very successfully. I strongly recommend it to anyone learning a language. Here are some tips to get the most out of it: * Only put things you know into Anki. An individual Anki card should feel a little too easy when you make it. * Put in words with a good amount of context. Avoid single words as much as possible. The quickest way to do this is to just input the sentence fro…

I love Anki, but when it comes to language learning imo it is only great for bootstrapping a language and getting the first 250 - 500 words under your belt. Beyond that it is like trying to learn how to ride a bike by putting facts about balance and motion into your Anki deck.

Take example sentences from your grammar book in Anki. Quiz from your native language to target language only. You'll be surprised at how useful it is.

Vocab is a grind no matter how you do it, but the best place to be is being able to read books. This will allow you to have a natural repetition in context and get you will easily and enjoyably acquire the vocabulary. However, once you're past the most common 3000 words or so, new vocabulary often shows up at pretty rare frequencies. So if you're free reading and you encounter a rare piece of vocab it's quite useful to jam it into SRS software like Anki and review it until you are up to about 1 month frequency -- which will probably be when you encounter the word naturally.

Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#147

Post by aasasd »

inetsee wrote: post #51

I really like the idea of spaced repetition learning, but it's the little details that are driving me crazy. I cannot get Anki working on Raspberry Pi. (I have a Raspberry Pi connected to a TV in front of my rowing machine so I can study while I'm exercising.) I tried Mnemosyne but I can't get the sync server working, and I'm disappointed in the formatting options provided. I tried org-drill but adding images to card…

There's a third-party web client mentioned elsewhere in this thread: https://ankimono.com/

I haven't tried it so not sure if it syncs with AnkiWeb and really works as a full-fledged client, but it sounds like a fitting solution for your stack.

---

By the way, there are bluetooth remotes/joypads for one hand, e.g. Zeemote or mini gaming pads [0] — they may be more comfortable to use with Anki and the TV while exercising, compared to the keyboard and mouse. Afaik people are using them with Anki in text-to-speech mode on phones. And media server apps like Kodi have “big picture” interfaces suited for such remotes.

[0] https://i.imgur.com/EM8HQr4.jpg

Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#148

Post by Timpy »

afro88 wrote: post #111
laurieg wrote: post #84

I've used Anki over the past 8 years or so very successfully. I strongly recommend it to anyone learning a language. Here are some tips to get the most out of it: * Only put things you know into Anki. An individual Anki card should feel a little too easy when you make it. * Put in words with a good amount of context. Avoid single words as much as possible. The quickest way to do this is to just input the sentence fro…

Sounds like the way you use Anki is more of a learning supplementary rather than a singular tool? Like you are learning of words elsewhere and entering them into Anki for memorization once you have learned about them? I’m just curious. I’d like to use Anki to get better at reading and playing chords (on keyboard / piano) from symbol notation but I haven’t started yet. Would you recommend learning each chord one by on…

I've tried using Anki for music and I don't think it works very well. You want to drill chords so your fingers don't forget them. If you get the flash card right you will only see it once. Flash cards may help with learning chords, but spaced repetition flash cards will not.

Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#149

Post by mikekchar »

cyborgx7 wrote: post #143
kazinator wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> poor substitute for time spent reading material that uses the vocabulary You can't effectively read material without having enough vocabulary to cover at least some 80% of it. My most recent language learning experience is Japanese. The difference between trying to read before cramming on an ~8000 word vocabulary and after is night and day. And the comparison basis here is not reading hardcopy, but electronic text…

>electronic text with the help of an instant dictionary lookup tool (hover the mouse over anything to get to the reading and meanings instantly) Can you tell me what text you were reading and what tool you were using? This sounds like exactly what I have been looking for my japanese learning.

Not the OP, but the reality is that you can read anything that interests you. Especially when you are starting, the first few thousand common words are incredibly common. So you'll get those over and over and over again. The main problem is that depending on what grammar is present, you may have difficulties.

There is something called the "natural order hypothesis" that states that the order in which people acquire the grammatical structures of a language is roughly the same, no matter what order the grammar is introduced. This is one of Stephen Krashen's hypotheses that has some good evidence in trials.

So the problem is that if you pick a piece that has a lot of grammar that you haven't acquired yet, you'll be spinning your wheels for a long time. The solution to this is simply to move on and find something else to read.

As for tools, the rikaichan plug in in Firefox and the Chromium port (rikaikun) are the main ones. There are lots of children's stories on the internet. Search for 昔話. You'll find lots to read :-) If you're a bit more advanced, then news is always good. TBS news is nice because they always give you both the video and audio along with the text (which is invariably exactly the same as what's in the video): http://news.tbs.co.jp/

But you can even read Twitter or and other social medium. I spent a long time reading the Ruby dev list in Japanese to learn computer terms. Good luck on your studies!

Re: Anki: Memorization with Spaced Learning

#150

Post by aasasd »

emmanueloga_ wrote: post #124

It seems there's a lot of evidence spaced repetition is an effective learning aid. Two things come to mind: First, some times I see ppl calling spaced repetition a "trick" or "hack" (I read "shortcut"), but the truth is, using SRS actually entails a lot of work! [0] It seems a pretty important part of the process is to formulate your own cards, which also puts more emphasis in understanding first and memorizing later…

I see SRS as simply automation of the natural need of the memory: facts have to be repeated to be remembered. It's not like one can just dismiss that neuronal connections get stronger on repetition.

Then, a computerized approach allows for fine control of many variables in the scheduling of individual cards.

Some people use mnemonics to boost memorization, essentially supplying context and associations where there's none—hijacking another natural tendency of memory. But you can't invent many mnemonics e.g. for geographic facts, and rote memorization is the primary approach there. (And IMO mnemonics are fragile and unreliable due to their nature of being invented out of thin air.)

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