My 7 Rules For Using Anki (For Language Learning)

In this video I lay out my own 7 rules for using flashcards for language learning, which are the following:
1. Use them sparsely
2. Cap the number of flashcards you add per day
3. Use them only with the most difficult words
4. Only use dead time to check them out
5. Say the word out loud
6. Check them out in an active way
7. Only use them if you are actively studying the language

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🙋🏼‍♂️ WHO AM I:
I’m Julian, a YouTuber, Polyglot, Consultant, and Failed Musician working in Berlin, Germany. I make videos about language learning.

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language learning, polyglot, memory, flashcards, anki, study tips

[ApexMark]

Thanks for the video. I like to edit my cards often. As soon as I gain basic familiarity, I edit the card and make a short phrase out of the word using a new word I'm learning. "Old" becomes "He is old" which becomes "my car is not old" which becomes "why did you say I was old?" and so on. I also speak them, and write them down on paper as I do each one.

[aafrophonee]

2:57 A horrible thing for my roommate to overhear out of context 😂

[u_ok]

4:57 - or you can use Basic (type in an answer) note type so you physically can't look up and know the word before actually answering

[tullochgorum]

The real answer is that it all depends. It depends on your temperament. It depends on how you use them - there's great potential for creativity.

I'm part of a group where folks regularly progress from zero to tested B1 or B2, even in difficult languages like Finnish, in mere months using ONLY flash cards, supplemented with a little listening. I used to hate them - but now I realise how they are so much more efficient than input-driven approaches in the A1-B2 phase, I'm a convert.

Like everything in language learning, there's more than one way.

[cappybenton]

Thanks this was helpful. I definitely need to spend more time on comprehensible input.

[vimster]

My tip is to only add words/phrases to your deck as you discover them in the wild and have context for them rather than just adding stuff for the hell of it. It's tempting to, say, add a load of words to do with the body in one go, but there's no context to back them up.

[mrtoast]

I'm going to ignore all of this advice and learn the entire German dictionary

[paulwalther]

I like Anki and flash cards in general. I think it’s fun to make your own flash cards from material you’re using but to be honest unless it’s a graded reader it probably has vocabulary that won’t be so common the moment I switch to a different author. Which is why I’m trying a frequency list deck out.

I met someone else who told me flash cards didn’t work for him because he lied to himself and told himself he got it right when he really didn’t. That blew my mind but you said the same thing in your video. This gets me wondering how honest the average person is with themself. I mean, it’s just a flash card - really?

[aafrophonee]

Great video! A rule that I like to follow is only add cards for words that I've actually studied/encountered. I've seen multiple people suggest downloading pre-made decks and using them to learn new words (for the first time) rather than review old words. From what I understand, that approach goes against the whole point of spaced repetition where you're supposed to re-encounter words right before you forget them.

[upcareer]

This video is very well made and super informative! Thank you for this!

[javierfernandoagudelogomez]

Thanks for your video, something I´d like to ask you about the 7th advice is, Why someone not interested in a language would spend time in that language?
If I´m not interested in that language I will not lose my time with it

[swxldblob]

Great video man, I really like your channel, I'm using anki myself and I came up with a possible rule number 8 which is to put the definition of the card in a language that is neither my mother tongue nor English (German in my case) and the answer in French (which I'm learning right now) so I can practice both at the same time

[paulbytheriver]

so, the problem i have with "comprehensible input", is finding it. by that i mean, most comprehensible input videos ive seen are in fact incomprehensible. your mind can't process new information fast enough, you're not speaking, absorbing, repeating, making use of it. your mind knows what you need and dont need. a visceral relationship has to be established, or your mind won't bother keeping it around long.

[haroldbridges]

Some good advice here, but I disagree on several points. My current target language has a large number of cognates with my maternal language, but there are a lot of false friends as well. For that reason I add as many new words as possible to the deck, because although I might well understand a new cognate when reading it for the first time, I won't necessarily be able to use that word when I am speaking.

The second point is that, as an older language learner, I know that my memory is not as good as it was. When I was younger I would learn new words faster from context without having to make an effort to remember them. Things are different now, but I still need to be able to recall a word very quickly when I want to use it to say something. So, older language learners need to do more Anki than younger ones, in my experience.

Finally, in my two target languages the orthography of the word dictates how it is pronounced. For that reason my decks prompt for a typed response and flag misspellings.

[gabriel-cor]

I am totally folowing you dude just because you are from Uruguay, I am from Argentina but very far from buenos aires.

[StarChild]

Make flash cards by hand on 4x6 index cards, yet another pathway to cementing info into the brain, in my opinion. Especially for lamguages not using roman letters as in English or.any of the ok ther romance languages.

[davidseagalmusic]

Excellent video and very well spoken! And just wondering, what is your musical instrument?

[highway]

Can you please tell me what anki settings you use for your language learning

[theuruguayanpolyglot]

From those seven rules, what is the one that you deem to be more relevant? Let me know on the comments below 👇

[jairo_F]

10% with flash cards and.. others 90% ?? What to do?