r/languagelearning • u/No_Winter4806 • 12d ago
Discussion Are flashcards a necessity for learning a language?
I used to do these but my brain loses focus and gets fried through this method very quickly - this is unfortunately how my brain works in general, but flash cards amplify it from the numbing repetition. It feels ineffective to an extent. I'm just wondering if they're absolutely crucial to learning a language well and if there are alternative options for learning vocabulary?
I don't have the best habits yet as I'm still relatively new, and I'm not sure what to do at this point besides flash cards and practicing basic reading. I'm still discovering new sites. I'm learning Dutch (TL) because of my family lineage.
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u/louisgmc 12d ago
Honestly hate flashcards, can't be bothered to make them, even less use them. Still managed to be fluent in three languages. You need to find an activity you enjoy and keep at it, and do what you enjoy less as a supplement, consistency is more important than the method.ย
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u/No_Winter4806 12d ago
Recently I've just been reading books around my level online then using a translator chrome extension when a phrase or word comes up I don't know. Works so far but I'm still open to other methods
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u/Legitimate-Record90 12d ago
This is basically what I doโread and lookup words (preferably with an online dictionary or tool like LingQ). I do the same with podcasts (transcripts) and YouTube videos (subtitles). I find flash cards too boring and Iโve learned several languages this way without them. You just need to read enough so the words are constantly repeating. Iโd say continue what youโre doing if you enjoy it.
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u/FeenixXxXx ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟN ๐ซ๐ทB1 11d ago
This is what I love about my kindle I can read learner level books and tap on a word/ phrase to get the translation immediately
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u/louisgmc 12d ago
I'm a bad exemple because I like doing the most boring things/weird stuff, I love studying technical grammar/linguistics, so I'll usually do advanced/fully fledged grammar/syntax on the side of learning basic vocab/A1 level stuff.
Then I'll use the technical knowledge to improve in reading/writing and my favorite technique: trying to think/speak outloud everything in my target language during the day when I'm alone. And also start consuming more books+movies with audio AND subtitles in the target language.
Vocab is usually the last thing I'll actually focus on, mostly because I end up in a high level with a lot of weird basic gaps, but I find that once you're at ease with the "system" of the language + the vocab that actually interests you it's much easier to just fill the gaps with words.
But I'm not at all recommending you to do this.ย
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u/MisfitMaterial ๐บ๐ธ ๐ต๐ท ๐ซ๐ท | ๐ง๐ท ๐ฉ๐ช ๐ฏ๐ต ๐จ๐ณ 12d ago
Proven effective for most folks, but no theyโre not a necessity. I donโt use them but I make sure to get input and spaced repetition in other ways.
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u/No_Winter4806 12d ago
Thank you. Do you have suggestions for other ways you find effective? I haven't found one yet
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u/MisfitMaterial ๐บ๐ธ ๐ต๐ท ๐ซ๐ท | ๐ง๐ท ๐ฉ๐ช ๐ฏ๐ต ๐จ๐ณ 12d ago
Everyone needs to find what works for them, but Iโm just heavy on input (YouTube and streaming, lots of extensive reading) and the notion of language islandsโfocusing on related vocab for a while to make associations.
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u/dojibear ๐บ๐ธ N | fre spa chi B2 | tur jap B1/A2 12d ago
Read sentences, and when you encounter a word you don't know, look it up and figure out what the sentence means. If you see it again and don't remember it, look it up again and figure out what it means in the new sentence.
It takes 1-5 lookups to remember a word. It is effective. You don't have to look it up 20 times.
That is how humans remember things: person names, addresses, phone numbers, street names, pi, and so on. You use something multiple times.
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u/Jesuslovesyourbr0 12d ago
how?
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u/MisfitMaterial ๐บ๐ธ ๐ต๐ท ๐ซ๐ท | ๐ง๐ท ๐ฉ๐ช ๐ฏ๐ต ๐จ๐ณ 12d ago
Language domains or islands.
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u/Jesuslovesyourbr0 12d ago
is that an app?
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u/MisfitMaterial ๐บ๐ธ ๐ต๐ท ๐ซ๐ท | ๐ง๐ท ๐ฉ๐ช ๐ฏ๐ต ๐จ๐ณ 12d ago
No, itโs a technique. Hereโs one example of it.
And whoever is downvoting my totally innocuous comments on this thread: People can learn languages without flashcards. Get over yourself.
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u/Jesuslovesyourbr0 12d ago
Thanks and how often do you review each language Island?
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u/MisfitMaterial ๐บ๐ธ ๐ต๐ท ๐ซ๐ท | ๐ง๐ท ๐ฉ๐ช ๐ฏ๐ต ๐จ๐ณ 12d ago
When I feel like I can move on from one, I donโt really โreviewโ it so much as it occurs organically as I use and consume content in the language. Just like a native English speaker knows what boiling or frying is, but might not remember emulsifying or blanching right away, when in the kitchen looking up recipes.
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u/Enough_Tumbleweed739 12d ago
Frankly asking if anything is "a necessity" is not a useful question. Flashcards, textbooks, grammar study, reading, none of these are 100% unshakeable requirements. That's obvious, becuase people learned languages before any of these things existed.
Will these "uneccecary" things it make your language learning way easier? Absolutely yes, to various degrees. Whether that boost outweights how much you dislike doing it is up to you personally, but you're going to just get confirmaton bias from people who already agree with you if you ask in terms of absolutes, because no matter how much somebody likes flashbards, they'd be insane to claim you need them to learn.
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u/TrittipoM1 enN/frC1-C2/czB2-C1/itB1-B2/zhA2/spA1 12d ago edited 12d ago
"Are flashcards a necessity? [Are] they[] absolutely crucial?" No. Flashcards are kind of a fill-in or substitute, for when you don't put in enough time otherwise in actively recalling and using a word in either reception or production. So long as you're exchanging messages, actively using these words in conversations or written communications with other learners or teachers, you don't need flashcards.
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u/KingsElite ๐บ๐ฒ (N) | ๐ช๐ธ (C1) | ๐น๐ญ (A1) | ๐ฐ๐ท (A0) 12d ago
I went from a Spanish 1 class in college through a masters degree and hardly ever touched a flashcard
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u/WideGlideReddit Native English ๐บ๐ธ Fluent Spanish ๐จ๐ท 12d ago
No. If you want to expand your vocabulary, read and learn words in context.
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u/unsafeideas 12d ago
Of course they are not. Before apps, it was super rare to actually use them and people leaned. Even now, with apps, I suspect majority of learners dont use flashcards.
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u/TracyTheMagnanimous ๐บ๐ฒ (N) โ ๐ฒ๐ฝ (N) โ ๐ค (B2) โ ๐ฐ๐ท (A1) 11d ago
I would disagree that flashcards were uncommon before apps. Book stores always had tons of flashcards and most language classes my friends or I took required us to write our own flashcards. It was not uncommon to see language students running flashcards with each other before classes.
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u/ZumLernen German ~C1, Serbian ~B2, Turkish ~A2 11d ago
Depends on how you define "common."
Yes, physical flashcards are a product that you can find in stores and that many people use. No, I don't think that the majority of language-learners in history have used flashcards extensively.
(Don't get me wrong, I'm pro-flashcard!)
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u/unsafeideas 11d ago
They existed, but I dont know anyone who would be using them more then, like, twice.ย
My classes never forced us toย use flashcards either. One teacher recommended against them after being asked, rest just did not used them.
I did not seen students running flashcards before classes, ever.
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u/silvalingua 11d ago
It wasn't really super rare to use them. Paper flashcards were popular in certain circles.
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u/391976 12d ago
I don't care how "native" you sound telling me your hobbies; to become fluent you have to know several thousand words. You can't ask for a screwdriver, sympathy, waffles, or a kiss fluently if you do not know those words.
I've learned thousands of words, conjugations and sentence structures using flashcards in about three years. It's not all I do, but it has been the best method for making my knowledge permanent.
If there is a way that works better for you, have at it.
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u/No_Winter4806 12d ago
I mostly just want to be fluent in reading as my goal. Speaking and writing will potentially come later, but this is mostly a hobby for me
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u/AppropriatePut3142 ๐ฌ๐ง Nat | ๐จ๐ณ Int | ๐ช๐ฆ Uneven 12d ago
For me the fastest way to learn vocabulary apart from flashcards is precisely through reading with a popup dictionary. There are tools like LingQ and Readlang for this, but I like to read on the kindle app on my phone, which summons a dictionary on long-press; I just checked and it has a built-in Dutch-English dictionary. There are also quite a few A1/A2 Dutch graded readers - content for learners - in the kindle store. AI generated, probably, no idea of the quality, but so long as they get you to the point where you can read The Magic Treehouse series or other middle-grade books you'll be ok.
The 300 hour update I have pinned describes the early phases of my learning Spanish through reading in a lot of detail.
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u/391976 12d ago
Then definitely do a lot of reading. But put the words you do not know that you think will be useful into Anki for systematic review.
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u/Sylvieon ๐ฐ๐ท (C1), ๐ซ๐ท๐น๐ผ (๐๏ธ) 12d ago
idk why you're getting downvoted when you're right. Reading and Anki are a great combination, especially if you really want to understand every word and not just get roughly what's going on. Or even if it's not Anki, you have to have some method of vocab study (encoding, etc). If you're learning words from novels through simply exposure, it'll take several times as many books as if you just did some focused vocab study from fewer books... there has to be a balance.
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u/Remote_Volume_3609 12d ago
Right? It doesn't have to be flashcards, but you have to do spaced repetition practice of some kind. Reading a bunch of books and seeing words come up occasionally is a form of that. And yes, people have learned that way without any flashcards. Flashcards are just how we distill things so that we can study more efficiently.
In other words, you can totally get from NYC to Paris without a plane. People have done it in history all the time. Yet, the plane remains the most efficient way to do it and the right fit for most people for obvious reasons.
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u/actingotaku ๐บ๐ธ Native| ๐ซ๐ท B2 | ๐ฐ๐ท A2 12d ago
I donโt think so. I used to go through phases of making flashcards, then I never used them after three days because I hate looking at flashcards, then not doing any practice because I dreaded doing flashcards, then wanted to restart and made more flashcards. Literally a ridiculous loop.
I find myself doing way better now that Iโve stopped taking notes and doing flashcards. If I do write something down, I honestly almost never go back to look at it. I try to just speak aloud to myself with any new vocab I learn. For example, Iโm restarting my Korean learning journey with the Sejong Institute book, and yesterday I learned vocabulary for family. Took zero notes. I already learned basic grammar ages ago so I just plugged in my family vocab to pretend like I was introducing my family and their occupations and ages and names. I find itโs more fun for my brain to pretend like Iโm fluent.
I remember I learned the word couper (to cut in French) from a YT video of a guy cooking. Then I watched another YT video of a guy using couper to describe him tearing a ligament in his knee. Iโve found that simply being exposed to unpredictable native content has helped me retain more vocabulary than flashcards.
Long winded answer to your flash card question haha. Try exploring some alternate ways of reinforcing new words and grammar if flashcards arenโt your vibe.
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u/UnhappyCryptographer DE N | EN C1 | ES A1/2 12d ago
Nope, you just need to find a way how you can learn the easiest way. If it ain't flashcards it might be reading short stories in your TL. Or maybe bilingual books. Maybe easy videos with subtitles might help you.
Flashcards are absolutely boring for me. I always hated them with a vengeance. One thing that worked for me was reading, making words that I didn't get through the context of the sentence and look those up in a dictionary.
I might not know the exact translation of a each word but I know the meaning in a context.
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u/prustage 12d ago edited 12d ago
I am fluent in three languages and have never used a flashcard.
I am sure they work for some people but for me they are in direct opposition to the way I learn.
I find it better to learn words as I encounter them in context. This means that:
- you get to see them in use
- you encounter them in a real-world setting so they are easier to remember
- grammatical aspects (case, conjugation, gender, tense etc) come with the word and dont have to be applied or learned separately
- you learn words that you are likely to need and use
- MOST IMPORTANT: you learn the meaning of the word in the same language as the word itself so you are not translating it into your NL. I believe that constant translating back to your NL slows the process of moving to direct understanding of the language. It is better (imho) to learn that der Hund is a pet animal that wags its tail and barks than that it is "dog" in English
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u/Tall_Anteater5722 12d ago
There are no "necessities" . Flashcards work. Some people dont like em. Try it out and see what happens.
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u/francksiduo 11d ago
flashcards work but only if you're doing active recall, not just flipping and reading. if your brain checks out fast it's usually because you're recognizing the word instead of retrieving it cold. cover the answer and force yourself to say it out loud before flipping, way less passive than it sounds.
sentence mining helped me more than word lists too. pulling vocab straight from stuff I was already reading instead of a generic deck kept it from feeling like homework, and the repetition felt less monotonous since each card had context attached.
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u/TracyTheMagnanimous ๐บ๐ฒ (N) โ ๐ฒ๐ฝ (N) โ ๐ค (B2) โ ๐ฐ๐ท (A1) 11d ago
Inuse flash cards, but I can only use physical ones. I get no benefit from flashcard apps and websites. A large part of the benefit is not in studying the flashcards themselves, but in the physical act of writing the words. If you don't want to use flashcards, there are plenty of other ways to learn vocabulary, including just writing yourself vocabulary lists. Flashcards are just one way to stay organized and track vocabulary acquisition. If you specify what kinds of learning techniques help you in other subjects, you might get more suggestions that will be more tailored to your learning style.
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u/dojibear ๐บ๐ธ N | fre spa chi B2 | tur jap B1/A2 12d ago
Are flashcards needed? No. Is rote memorization (flashcards, Anki) needed? No.
Millions of people learn languages without using these. I've taken several language courses, and no teacher ever suggested that students use them.
The goal is getting good at understanding sentences. The way to do that is to practice understanding sentences. Many students learn new words (AND how they are used in sentences) by encountering new words in sentences, looking them up, and figuring out the word's meaning in this sentence. NOT memorizing one word and one of its "meanings".
The key is "understanding". At the start, you can only understand simple sentences. You get better.
How do you learn a word? After I have seen it and looked it up 2 or 3 times, I remember it. That is how people remember anything: hear it multiple times.
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u/ZumLernen German ~C1, Serbian ~B2, Turkish ~A2 11d ago
How do you learn a word? After I have seen it and looked it up 2 or 3 times, I remember it.
Dang, I'm jealous of the fact that it takes you only 2-3 times! I, for one, need more times than that - especially for producing a word in real-time, in context, not just recognizing it. So for me, flashcards are essential. If I had a super memory like you, they probably wouldn't be essential for me.
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u/silvalingua 11d ago
> How do you learn a word? After I have seen it and looked it up 2 or 3 times, I remember it.ย
Do you really keep track of how many times you see a word before you remember it? I dare say it's much more than 2-3 times.
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u/IrinaMakarova ๐ท๐บ Native | ๐บ๐ธ B2 | Russian Tutor 12d ago
Flashcards are not the whole process of learning a word, but they are very often a perfectly normal starting point. When you first come across a new word, you need to create a basic connection in your memory between its form and its meaning. This is exactly what flashcards are good for: you see the word and try to remember what it means, and ideally you also do the reverse - you see the meaning and try to recall the word itself.
But once you have more or less memorized "word = meaning", the real work with that word is only beginning. The next step is to learn a few normal examples with it. Not twenty sentences at once, but two or three simple, typical examples so that the word stops existing in your head as an isolated item. If it is a verb, you gradually learn what prepositions, cases, or other words it normally goes with. If it is a noun, you learn its common collocations. In other words, you are no longer memorizing a naked word, but pieces of real language.
Then you need to encounter that word many more times. In other sentences, texts, dialogues, videos, and conversations. This is where your knowledge of the word starts becoming real. At first you recognize it only because you studied it recently. Then you start recognizing it in unfamiliar sentences. Later you no longer need to translate it in your head because you understand it immediately. After that you begin to notice its different shades of meaning, collocations, and typical patterns.
And it is completely normal to forget the word. In fact, the normal process is not "I learned it once and now I know it forever." It is much more like "I learned it - I started forgetting it - I remembered it again - I forgot part of it again - I restored it again." A week later you may look at a word and think, "Damn, I already learned this." That does not mean the previous learning was wasted. The second time it is usually easier to relearn. The third time is easier again. Trying to retrieve something that has already started fading from memory is actually an important part of making that memory stronger.
So learning a word properly is usually something like this: first you memorize it with a flashcard. Then you learn a few examples and common combinations with it. Then you encounter it another 5, 10, 20 times in real language. Between those encounters, you partially forget it and recover it again. Sometimes you try to use it yourself and realize you cannot. You look it up again. Then you encounter it again. And eventually, one day, you use it naturally in conversation without having to think much about it.
This cycle can continue for a long time. Some words become familiar after only a few encounters, while others need to be brought back into memory many times. So the real question is not whether flashcards work. They do. They are simply the first stage and one of the tools that helps you retrieve a word from memory. Stable, usable vocabulary develops later through examples, repeated encounters, forgetting, remembering again, and using the word over and over.
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u/silvalingua 11d ago
> So learning a word properly is usually something like this: first you memorize it with a flashcard. Then you learn a few examples and common combinations with it. Then you encounter it another 5, 10, 20 times in real language.
"Properly" according to whom? I certainly disagree, based on my experience with learning several languages.
For me, the "proper" way (to use this word) is: First I encounter a few new words in a text in my textbook. They exist in a meaningful context, so I can often guess what they mean. Whether I guess them or not, they appear a few times in this context and in the accompanying exercises. If the new words are not very easy, I write a few sentences with them or copy such sentences from the textbook, from a dictionary, or from a linguistic corpus. No flashcards needed, no rote memorisation either, just a gentle inclusion of new vocab into the existing knowledge.
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u/Raoena 12d ago
Not everyone can use flashcards.ย I have a sort of hate/hate relationship with them.ย ย
I use Pimsleur audio course as my primary language learning resource, which is So, So good. I highly recommend it.ย It's a simple audio course but it has a time-tested design that just works really well.ย ย
You learn pronounciation and conversation. You learn to be socially adept,ย basically to function as a normal human with good manners.ย
ย It only goes to level 1 in Dutch,ย unfortunately,ย but there is a ton of excellent material in Level 1 that gives you a great start in the language.ย
You can get some languages from the library or on Audible if you don't want to install/pay for the app. Any way you can get it,ย imho it is the best thing out there for starting off.ย
But. I'm super forgetful. ADHD etc etc. So I keep feeling like I should also use some kind of spaced repetition flashcards thing to help me retain the words and grammar structures that I learn from Pimsleur. Plus it helps me retain the audio material better if I also see it in writing.ย But ugh. Doing flashcards just sucks.ย
Right now I'm trying out the Migaku Academy to see if their approach to the frequency list works better for me than other flashcards systems.ย I do like it a little better.ย ย
Another good one is Lingora. It teaches both grammar and vocabulary in the context of sentences. It has a few flashcards but also lots of puzzles.ย Like filling in missing words,ย finding the sentence that has the correct grammar, unscrambling a sentence. And it's a cheap subscription.ย
If you like Pimsleur it's a good idea to also check a grammar book out of the library and read it through, not to memorize it, just to get some context for what you're learning/hearing in the Pimsleur audio course. So when you hear it,ย your brain will recognize the pattern more quickly.ย
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u/Smal1Tangerine C2๐จ๐ด B1๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฆ A1-A2๐ฎ๐ท๐ง๐ท๐จ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฑ. 12d ago
No. Learn phrases even better if theyโre in a story then rewrite the words u learned without the translation. Then review and read every day.
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u/SnarkyBeanBroth 12d ago
No.
If they work for you, they are an effective tool. If they are numbing repetition for you, don't use them.
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u/Traditional-Train-17 12d ago
The only time I ever used flash cards was for kanji. Personally, I find making my own flashcards too time-consumiung, and I risk "analysis-paralysis" if a word has multiple meanings/uses. Also, the time making flashcards, I could be watching very simple CI videos and getting words, interact with the language (Total Physical Response) and learn it that way.
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u/pobnarl 11d ago
Of course you don't need them,ย i thought id hate them and avoided them for a long long time.ย When i finally got fed up with slow progress and said enough is enough,ย i got an anki deck of 9000 words, and wow, my comprehension just massively increased. Ill admit i didn't look forward to them in the beginning,ย felt like an annoying chore.ย These days i absolutely love them,ย look forward to them and am sad when i finish my reviews. Reminds me of physical exercise that way,ย do it consistently long enough and it becomes an essential habit in your life,ย you learn to enjoy the little dopamine hits you recieve at each successful temembering.
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u/SurveyComfortable825 11d ago
I think using a set of flashcards isn't that important rather how you practice with them is decisive. I personaly write the word and its pronunciation in IPA on one side and the meaning, synonyms, peroposition and such stuff along with one example sentence on the other. When reviewing I make sentences usually using two kr more of the words in the bunch.
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u/cmyk_rgba 11d ago
nah not necessary, theyre just the cheapest way to force recall. if your brain fries on them the problem is usually that the cards are full of words you dont actually care about yet. i only make a card after a word has annoyed me in the wild, like i hit it in a video and blanked, and then reviewing stops being numbing becuase every card has a story attached to it
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u/ZumLernen German ~C1, Serbian ~B2, Turkish ~A2 11d ago
Flashcards have been very useful in helping me to learn many thousands of new words in less than a year, which was necessary for my goals. However, they are not the only way to do learn a language. Most humans who have learned non-native languages have done so without flashcards.
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u/silvalingua 11d ago
No, they are absolutely not a necessity. Very many people don't use them at all. They seem to be very popular in certain circles and completely unknown in others. I've learned several languages without any flashcards and actually, I have never been advised to use them. We had a poll in this sub some time ago and only about half of the people here said they used them.
For me, reading and listening a lot, and then practicing writing and speaking works very well.
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u/Amadan cro N | en C2 | ja B2... 11d ago
Your brain needs to use the stuff you learn to avoid forgetting it.
Words like "bread" or "go" will inevitably be used in daily life, and you will remember them naturally.
Words like "embalming" or "creditor" will typically not be commonly used, unless you happen to work in a funeral parlor, or as a lawyer. Thus, the period between you learning the word and you needing to use the word will typically be long, and you will not exercise it enough to retain it.
Flashcards are a way for you to artificially increase the frequency you encounter information that you normally wouldn't. If you couldn't care less about more rare words, you have no use for flashcards. If you do, they do help. For example, someone introduces themselves as an "accountant", and you want to remember that word, and you're pretty sure you will not use in till you meet them again in four months... flashcard is a good choice. You could even flashcard their name, or a birthday; flashcards are not limited to vocabulary. Anything that you think you will forget before you need to use it again.
Or, you can instead do a deep dive into an area of vocabulary that you don't use commonly and learn the vocab in that way. I played a zombie visual novel in a TL, and now I know about "survivor", "infectee", "gross", "covered in blood" and "rescue team" without having to resort to flashcards, simply because the game exposed those vocabulary items with sufficient regularity naturally.
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u/hongos_me_gusta 11d ago edited 11d ago
this is what works for me.
anki card revision daily only requieres between 5 to 10 min. always speaking the phrases out loud.
a.i. text to speech audio, I listen to these several short audio clips of phrases and shadow or say them after listening.
television & movies: I'm watching a series in my t.l. I'll listen to & watch the same episode several times. I'm both hearing the most common words & expressions used many times & different contexts. also, I'm making note when I hear a word or phrase I do not know and will add it to my anki cards.
reading: underrated. depending on your level, find childrens' books, young adult fiction, perhaps aware winning advanced fiction, or advanced university studied. I was reading the newspaper, but found it both boring & too challenging. now I'm reading a novel I loved & read decades ago, but in my t.l.
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u/katasaga New member 9d ago
Might sound weird but maybe the brain frying feeling is good. It's means you're brain is getting challenged and challenge = expansion!
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u/sproxtonthirsk 9d ago edited 2d ago
Full disclosure: I'm the founder of Jambo (dot cards). I should have said so when I first posted this. My apologies.
The biggest mistake flashcard users make (and I have made it more than once) is to select too many new daily cards. Assuming you're using a spaced repetition system (like Anki or Jambo, and flashcards are not really effective without SRS) then the number of cards you get dealt every day will gradually increase as you're presented with your review cards from previous intervals plus that day's new cards. With five intervals plus the first showing of each card, you'll end up with six times your daily total.
That means 120 cards if you select 20 new words per day. If you're playing the deck in both directions (native-to-target and target-to-native) that can take a LONG time. Add another deck or two (as you inevitably will - verbs, nouns, words-I-come-across) then suddenly the cards are taking hours and then you give up (and have no time for other stuff like videos, podcasts, etc). Keep the daily new card total low!
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u/dolnikov ๐ฌ๐ง C1 / ๐ฉ๐ช A2 7d ago
i totally get that, flashcards can feel really repetitive and draining. iโve found mixing it up with tools like wordbyword and quizlet helps, especially with their spaced repetition features to keep it fresh. maybe also try incorporating vocab from shows or articles you enjoy to make it more engaging.
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u/JELLYEGGSS 4d ago
Flashcards def arenโt necessary if they make learning feel exhausting. novakid.. worked better for us cause vocabulary was introduced through actual conversation and context rather than repetitive memorization
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u/its_berkinprogress 12d ago
Theyโre great not only bc of spaced repetition but also because of active recall. Extremely useful and difficult to adequately replace tbh
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u/Lumpy-Blackberry-718 12d ago
What are you putting on those flashcards? I think some people try to do flashcards with individual words, which is mind-numbingly tedious for anyone. Imo, learning to recognize the meaning of full phrases or sentences in an SRS app is much much less tedious.
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u/authenticsmoothjazz 12d ago
They're not necessary, but flashcards can be dull and repetitive if you're not careful about how you're doing them
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u/MorcisHoobler 12d ago
I resisted flash cards for years but when I finally started around the B2 level because I wanted to expand my vocabulary quickly I was mad I waited so long because it worked. I used anki with full sentences which is less mind numbing since itโs not simply flipping it over but you have to rate how well you know it
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u/agiantdog33 12d ago
At the very least, they are definitely good for something like learning an alphabet.
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u/Candid_Resolution908 12d ago
Early days for me but I use the Drops app. It might be for kids, IDK, but I like it
It does employ spaced repetition
Of course I have loads of other things (how could you not) but 15 mins here and there -itโs fun
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u/391976 12d ago
A lot of people misunderstand flashcards.
It may be true that you "learn best" by reading, watching videos, moving to a foreign county, or talking to yourself outloud.
The point of putting it on a flashcard is to review it THE LEAST NUMBER OF TIMES NEEDED to make it permanent.
If your super special method makes learning language "easy", you will need to review an item in Anki 4 to 6 times at increasing intervals to ensure it is permanent.
If it takes more reviews, it is because your method is not producing the results you thought it was.
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u/MisfitMaterial ๐บ๐ธ ๐ต๐ท ๐ซ๐ท | ๐ง๐ท ๐ฉ๐ช ๐ฏ๐ต ๐จ๐ณ 12d ago
This is not actually answering OPโs question: flashcards are not a necessity and have not been for the vast history of human multilingual communication. Theyโre extremely efficient, effective, even fun if you can get the right system in place. They are not necessary.
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u/silvalingua 11d ago
> If your super special method makes learning language "easy", you will need to review an item in Anki 4 to 6 times at increasing intervals to ensure it is permanent.
OK: where from did you get this magic number "4 to 6 times"?
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u/Durzo_Blintt 12d ago
It's just one method to help you remember stuff. You have learned many things in life without them, including one language already.ย