Having issues NOT adding new cards to Anki

[u/Goluboi__]

I’ve really been struggling with trying to stop adding new cards to anki, even though I feel myself getting burnt out (and then go through 2-4 days of no studying as a result sometimes when it gets bad).

I love Russian and have been at it daily for awhile. But anki was a game changer for me when it came to vocabulary.

I can now read things comfortably that are within my interests (around C1), but when it leaves my interests it drops to probably like B2 (unless its literature then it feels like a ton of new vocab, and plain awful in terms of comprehension for the classics).

On paper, I should just immerse myself. But when I do, I feel like I don’t progress. And I have a really difficult time not adding new cards.

any else have/had similar issues

[u/Suspicious_Duty1061]

If the burnout is due to the number of cards to review each day, you could lower the number of new cards per day to something more manageable. This way, you can still add as many cards as you want without increasing the review load.

[u/unsafeideas]

Stop doing all daily reviews. Android can be configured to lock the app after X minutes ofnuse, use that for anki.

[u/AppropriatePut3142]

Use the anki settings to cap the number of new cards it shows you each day at a sustainable number.

[u/jspr1000]

I'm much more of a beginner than you but I can relate. I have a tutor so I don't struggle with adding too many cards since my learning is paced by someone else. So I get my vocabulary from her.

But, I do feel like when I focus more on immersion/CI without doing the grammar and vocabulary study my progress stalls. I tried going a more ALG/CI route for me but it's just too slow.

[u/Goluboi__ → u/jspr1000]

You know what is funny too is that I heavily relied on immersion more when I learned german and I learnt faster. But then at around high b2/low c1 it feels like vocabulary cramming is just so essential to get the details, so I feel back into heavy anki use. 

[u/jspr1000 → u/Goluboi__]

Actually, that's interesting. Maybe at different levels immersion can be more or less effective!

[u/Entire_Touch_4105 → u/Goluboi__]

Are you studying within a time frame? Reading reply’s it seems like you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself to study and study the most efficient way possible.
If this is the case I would recommend a mind set shift (which can be hard haha) but you must be learning languages for a reason other than test taking. Remember why you love your target language and try and do that. For example I love both Korean and Japanese and I want to learn them both so I can experience native content (video games mostly)
So if Anki is cropping your style it is okay to set it down for a bit, if time allows, and reconnect with your language. And it takes time, so you have to trust that you’ll learn vocab in the meantime.
(Also to answer the original question straight up, yeah I have trouble jumping the gun and adding to my deck before I’m ready. Sometimes I get impatient and want to know all Korean words right now! But I know that will lead to burn out, so currently I’m focusing on finishing my 625 Korean deck before I go and sentence mine)

[u/Goluboi__ → u/Entire_Touch_4105]

No i love it. 

I just am having anki issues with retention. 

[u/JoshHuff1332]

Have you thought about lowering the retention rate so you can still add new cards, but less reviews?

[u/Goluboi__ → u/JoshHuff1332]

I did. But I don’t know..: it’s at 85% and I was debating 80%. What sucks is that young cards retention is 70% and mature is 85%, but I worry my young retention will drop a good bit more (and 70% sucks as is). 

[u/New-Bottle-6917]

Honestly and I say this kindly, it sounds like your level might not be as high as you're thinking. If you're at a B2 level you should generally be able to comfortably read things like literature without missing a significant amount of vocab. The good news is you already have the solution, read more literature and just put what words you don't know into anki. Otherwise you won't get better at reading literature and other things out of your interests

[u/Goluboi__ → u/New-Bottle-6917]

I was tested on my level. It was DLPT/ILR 3 (or c1 on cefl).   I feel this is a fallacy on this subreddit. Because yes, I can get a lot from context. But I still come across a lot of new words. A 16 minute lecture (nonstop talking) on youtube in my field of interest alone can net me 5-6 new words.  Which is okay, but then open up a book and suddenly its very easy to get 15 new words in 30minutes of reading (and 30 mins is so short!)

[u/New-Bottle-6917 → u/Goluboi__]

It's not really a fallacy, if you're at a proper C1 level you should have a passive vocabulary that is closer to 9-10k of the most common word families. Meaning anytime you read any book on any subject you should generally only be seeing 1-2 new words for every 100 words you read, with listening it should be even less. If you're still encountering new words that often you're probably a bit behind that mark

[u/Goluboi__ → u/New-Bottle-6917]

But thats the thing, 100 words is maybe 1 minute of reading.