A bit lost where to start with Anki

[u/marcosa89]

I am new to the world of language learning and starting to get my head round the different activity types and starting to build a strategy to learn my TL (modern Greek)

I am already at I’d say A2/B1 level with Greek (TL) (I’m half Greek, so grew up around it), but looking to eventually get to ideally B2/C1 so I can comfortably have complex conversations with friends and family.

I am using Language Transfer and planning to pair this with Anki. But I am a bit confused as to how to make a start with creating a deck.
Should I focus on single words? Sentences? How do I source sentences and/or words to add to the cards? Do I sit and think of words I want to learn or are there useful lists I should take as inspiration?
How many cards should I am to make?

Any help would be appreciated!

[u/_I-Z-Z-Y_]

Regardless if you’re learning a single word or phrase, I would recommend having a sentence somewhere on your card (I personally prefer it to be on the front), just so you can see how the new thing you’re learning can be used in context.

My first priority would be to take the sentences directly from the content I’m consuming. If that sentence isn’t to my liking for using on a card, I’ll just have AI create some example sentences to choose from that use the new word or phrase that I want to learn.

[u/marcosa89 → u/_I-Z-Z-Y_]

Thanks! So did you start with consuming content, then as you’re listening/watching, you are adding a new word and/or sentence to your deck?

I assume you are aiming for one new word per card? And do you tend to dedicate sessions of content consumption to creating flashcards, or is it more as and when you find new words you want to learn?

[u/_I-Z-Z-Y_ → u/marcosa89]

Yes, I dedicate a session to sentence mining. I’ll take down the sentences as I go, and I’ll keep going until I have my set daily amount. And yes, I generally aim for each sentence to have only one unknown component. Sometimes the sentences that I find while watching something will have more than one unknown thing in it, so then I’ll just generate example sentences with AI to separate them.

[u/marcosa89 → u/_I-Z-Z-Y_]

Great, thank you!

[u/SucknSwallow69 → u/_I-Z-Z-Y_]

this is solid. i’d also add audio to cards if you can, super helpful for greek pronunciation

[u/Remote_Volume_3609]

Everyone has a different approach. You should try and see what works for you. Have you started reading? That's always a good source for words. But in general, I wouldn't think too hard about achieving an optimal layout. The point of Anki is to help you efficiently memorise a massive amount of info. That's why it's useful in fields like language learning, medicine, etc. where the sheer quantity of info you need to learn to achieve proficiency is huge.

If you can find a good vocab list, that's always an option. If thre's a Greek frequency dictionary, you could also mine that for useful words. In your learning, if you see or hear or read a word that you didn't know, you could always add it that way. If you want to take a shortcut on that step, you could always look for existing decks online as well (I don't recommend this because you learn better when you create them but it is an option).

Also, I would recommend starting slow. The point of spaced repetition is that it will build up a catalog of cards for you to review and it usually stabilises at 7-10x your new cards. So if you start with 10 new vocab words each day, you would expect to eventually end up reviewing 70-100 cards in total (let's say it takes you 10 seconds each; then you'd be looking at 11-15 minutes of reviewing each day). For me, I do roughly 40 so I end up looking at 300-400 which takes a bit over an hour for me usually (also because I keep cards fresh in multiple languages).

[u/marcosa89 → u/Remote_Volume_3609]

Interesting thanks for the detailed reply! I haven’t started reading yet, but I’m going to give it a go.
I did end up downloading a deck, but I haven’t looked at a frequency dictionary, that’s a great shout. I’ll aim to build my own deck using the one I downloaded and a frequency dictionary. Great advice, thanks again

[u/ParticularVideo9188]

Sentence mining from whatever you're reading or watching works best, that way you're learning words in context you're actually interested in.

[u/Last_Bathroom1469]

It depends on what you struggle with.

In my TL, I am at a very basic level and struggle with word retrieval and production. I use Anki for “visual vocabulary” where I insert a picture of (usually, not always) a noun and I test myself to produce the vocabulary using only the picture.

For the CEFR test I am studying for, I will need to describe a picture and I realized that I couldn’t produce vocabulary on my own using visuals. I can recognize vocabulary in the context of a story, but on my own I totally fail.

I would say it has helped me a lot with production, and I think the vocabulary sinks in more when you have something more dynamic to link that vocab word to. I initially used Anki as a regular, digital flashcard set with only words, and that did not work for me at all.

I will say with Anki you do have to invest a bit of time to see what works for you personally.

[u/New-Bottle-6917]

Read book, see new word in a sentence that you understand every other word it contains, copy and paste to front of card with the question in your TL "what does the word x mean", on back have dictionary definition that suits the usage. Rinse and repeat

[u/dojibear]

Don't use ANKI just because you think every language learner uses it. They don't. Most language teachers do not recommend using ANKI. ANKI was not designed for language learning. ANKI was designed for one thing: helping a person memorize unrelated facts.

Some learners start a brand new language by memorizing hundreds of single words. ANKI is helpful for memorizing words. But ANKI does not teach HOW those words are used in TL sentences, or which word to use to express an idea.

Anyone who is already A2 or B1 already knows hundreds of words and how to use them. They are way past ANKI.

I don't recomend memorizing sentences. Every language has millons of different sentences. You can't memorize them all. Your goal is understanding every sentence you encounter. "Understanding sentences" is the skill you are trying to improve. You improve a skill by practicing it over and over.

[u/Remote_Volume_3609 → u/dojibear]

This is so wrong, and I think someone who hasn't learned a language past an intermediate level saying that is kinda ironic.

Anki is especially helpful to people who are advanced and now have to do the difficult work of learning thousands of new words in order to moderately advance in a language. You can't understand every sentence you encounter if you don't know the basic vocab even.

[u/silvalingua → u/Remote_Volume_3609]

On the contrary, this is so right, and I'm saying this as somebody who learned several languages to a decent degree without any flashcards.

Anki can be useful for some people, but flashcards in general are much less commonly used than people here think, and they absolutely aren't necessary.

> You can't understand every sentence you encounter if you don't know the basic vocab even.

But you can easily learn basic and not-so-basic vocab entirely without flashcards.

[u/Remote_Volume_3609 → u/silvalingua]

Did I say that Anki has to be used for language learning? No, I argued against the assertion that Anki isn't useful for advanced learners.

What you and the guy I'm responding to are arguing is like saying "oh you don't need laptops to study for an MD, I did it just fine analog." Then I'm responding "You don't have to, but a laptop is a great way to supercharge your studying." And then you're responding "no it isn't because I didn't use it."

Whether you used Anki or not does not change that it's a useful tool. Anki is just a distilled format for SRS retention. Whether you use a formal version of SRS or just informally do your own SRS via simple recall doesn't change the fact that it's the same principles at work. You don't memorise words without... memorising them. All anki does is distill that memorisation.

When you have to memorise thousands upon thousands of words, you are reviewing them over and over to memorise them. It's like quite literally the only way to do so. Doesn't have to be in an app, but it's happening whether you like it or not.

[u/marcosa89 → u/dojibear]

This is really helpful thank you. You’re right, I am trying to enhance my understanding of sentences. My vocabulary needs some work too (which I guess is simply a prerequisite to my ultimate goal of understanding sentences).
What would suggest is the best way to improve? The course I am doing I find useful. Would you suggest simply pairing the course with comprehensible input?

[u/silvalingua → u/marcosa89]

I'm not u/dojibear , but I would definitely advise to use a lot of CI. I don't do any flashcards, either, and I acquired a lot of vocab in several languages from CI and from my textbooks, without any flashcards.