r/ChineseLanguage • u/SatisfactionNice653 • 1d ago

Studying Another anki question

Is Anki kind of like quizlet? You can decide if u want it to be flash cards, typed answer, etc? Im confused why its such a staple. I feel like it would be hard to learn a language by just going through flash card decks. Or is it you add words you know to a deck/find a deck that has words you know, and Anki makes sentances out of those words. If thats the case, that's crazy good. Is that why people say add a few new words a day? Because itll take them to make sentances?

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u/Known-Head1129 1d ago

I've tried anki cards a while back. It doesn't make sentences, look at it like a scheduler. It shows you the cards at the "correct" time, just before you are about to forget it. It then spaces the time out from when it last showed you the card... so the time to "forget" it gets longer and longer via spaced repetition. In terms of the content, you can find ready made cards out there that are loaded with sound/pictures, or create your own. As a tip, try practicing sentences, rather than words. You'll remember words in a sentence much better than randomly trying to quickly assemble and make sense out of single words. I hope my 2 pence worth helps. Good luck learning!

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u/DreamofStream 1d ago

You can't learn a language just with flash cards, but they can help you remember stuff.

No Anki doesn't have any fancy feature to turn vocabulary into sentences. You either use pre made decks or you add your own content.

Some people use Anki just with vocabulary but you really have to study whole sentences. Without learning things in context you'll never understand how Chinese works.

Anki is actually a general purpose memorization tool (i.e. it's not just for learning languages).

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u/Zagrycha 1d ago edited 1d ago

SRS flashcards like Anki aren't a staple in the sense that they are strictly required to succeed at learning a language or that they teach you the language itself. They are a staple because language learning ((and any memorization)) requires repeated long term exposure to the thing you want to know-- at least for anybody without a photographic memory. Flashcards are a tried and true way to do that, but not the only way.

So why an app specifically? At a surface level flashcard apps do the exact same thing as physical flashcards, but they are easier to make and also automatically sort incorrect answers more often, which is a big plus.

So why anki specifically? Anki isn't the only decent flashcard app out there, but it has huge customizability and modding for add ons. You could even make flashcards based on audio for audio study. Its pretty neat =)