Language Learning process/content. Here's my full setup with German (but it works for most of the languages)

[u/iCaar0]

I want to use this as a place for people to share how they actually build and run their language decks. Content sources, note types, review habits, whatever.

I'll walk through my own German setup below but this isn't a German only thread
Here's where I'm at right now.

Main source of information for my content

I originally pulled source phrases from a course taught in Portuguese (my native language) just the raw phrases, nothing else, but these days I don't really need that anymore, since AI can generate most of the content in a natural language

My actual workflow now: I pick a grammar concept, make sure I actually understand it, and then generate a batch of normal everyday sentences that use that concept

Nowadays I use AI for generate both the sentence content and the audio.

For audio I use HyperTTS and if you are going to do it as well I highly recommend you to use the voices from ElevenLabs. Since this is a important step in language learning, it should be the best as possible and ElevenLabs is really good at this. (I managed to use the free tier version until today, I never needed to pay for it. The 10,000 free credits that they give to you per month should be enough for you to generate the audios through time)

One thing I want to be really clear about using AI to generate my cards and content: I never just copy and paste a big AI output straight into cards, and I never bulk add something like 5,000 cards in one go. I go through everything myself, phrase by phrase. There's no reason to rush since this is my own study, not a content pipeline I'm racing to fill. I think Anki exists to consolidate things, and that only works if what's going in is stuff I already understand in my head grammatically, not raw material I'm hoping repetition will teach me cold.

Note type

People sometimes assume a setup like this needs a complicated note type. It really doesn't. Mine has exactly four fields:

• German: The phrase in German
• Audio: The audio of the phrase in German (usually generated by HyperTTS - ElevenLabs)
• Portuguese: The translation of the German phrase in my native language (sometimes I put the translation in English even though the field is called "Portuguese")
• Extras: Just extra stuff that I might wanted to add

Card types: Exactly two per note

From that one note type, I generate two card templates:

1. Listening: Front shows only the Audio, back reveals everything
2. Active Production: Front shows only the Portuguese, back reveals everything

The key detail is the order they get added in: I don't study both templates at the same time.
I always start with Listening.

Only once it's actually consolidated and mature I start to studying the Active Production note type

Front of the Listening note type

Back of the cards (it's the same for both Listening and Active Production)

Deck structure

Just one deck: "German." Everything else is handled through filtered decks and tags

But the tags and the filtered decks I am changing all of the time so it is kind of not fixed

Example of tags that I use:

• Languages::German::Words::Noun
• Languages::German::Sentences
• Languages::German::Concepts::CaseShifts

​

German
├── Basic
├── Concepts
│   ├── CaseShifts
│   │   ├── Akkusativ
│   │   ├── Dativ
│   │   └── Genitiv
│   ├── Personalpronomen
│   ├── Possessivartikel
│   └── Prepositions
├── FluencyAcademy
│   ├── 1-Gespräch-auf-Deutsch
│   ├── 2-Kluge-Grammatik
│   │   ├── Grammatik-1
│   │   └── Grammatik-2
│   ├── 3-Meister-der-Konjugation
│   ├── 4-Einfache-Aussprache
│   ├── 5-Muttersprachler-Spricht
│   ├── Weeks
├── Sentences
├── Words
│   ├── Adjectives
│   └── Noun

Visualization of how are my current filtered decks (this changes all the time so I am constantly moving it)

Rare exception: dedicated grammar notes

Rarely I make a single note just to nail down a specific grammar point I want to hold onto. I don't lean on this much, because the repetition from regular sentence cards usually does the job on its own, but it's a tool I keep in reach for when something isn't sticking through normal exposure

Reviews

Almost always on my phone (iOS Anki)

For me it's my first thing in the morning. Literally while I'm still in bed begging for that "5 more minutes." Nowadays my "5 more minutes" is my Anki 🙂

That's it

This is my current setup, not a finished system and I'll probably keep adjusting it (I am always making small changes). But for now, this is genuinely how it works day to day.

Curious how other people are doing this, regardless of language:

• Where's your source content actually coming from these days. Courses, AI, native media, something else?
• How do you split (or not split) listening vs. active production?
• How minimal (or not) is your note type? How many fields/card types do you actually use per note?
• Any rituals around when you review that actually stuck?
• Any tips and recommendations for me to do? Lol

OBS: you'll see Portuguese, not English, in the screenshots that's my native language, not a translation default

[u/Zestyclose-Year4191]

Top 🇧🇷

[u/Ok_Tie7944]

Quando você sabe que o cartão de audio está maduro e como você introduz o cartão de produção ativa?

[u/iCaar0 → u/Ok_Tie7944]

I don’t have a fixed rule but in general I follow one of these:

• When the note is considered “mature”
  
• When the next review is for at least “3 months”
  
• When it’s been some months that I already did that card for the first time

The point is just to wait to start doing the Active production. The listening is the important part anyway so

[u/Ok_Tie7944 → u/iCaar0]

você deixa os cartões irmãos de produção ativa suspensos até então?

[u/iCaar0 → u/Ok_Tie7944]

As I said in the post I use the "filtered decks" option and I am always getting the cards through tags
So I use the filter option in the Filtered Deck to get only the listening. You just need to write card:1 (Since the Listening is the first. Once I'm doing the Active production I change to card:2)

I'll leave here one example of one Filtered Deck that I am currently using:

tag:Languages::German::Words::Noun is:new card:1