My spouse has been learning Korean for two years on Duolingo, which also uses spaced repetition, with approximately no days missed, and learning has been slow. I think Anki is much worse as a primary language learning tool because it doesn’t remix particles to give you new sentences to chew on.
Where I find it shines for me (I review my cards ~2/week):
English vocabulary
Programming language syntax
Concepts that can be distilled into bite sized info chunks—it doesn’t substitute for understanding, but as a person who’s better at memorization than concept-processing I find that memorizing the keywords and relations of a topic primes me to take in more when I read an article about how all the concepts hook up together. This works for database concepts but not quantum mechanics.
1~3 sentence text designed to change some thinking pattern (e.g. I have an semi-phobia of insects but have had one really nice experience watching one, so I might have an Anki card prompting me to remember that)
Strong preferences my friends have (“Julie really hates spoilers”)
I’d disagree that Anki is worse than Duolingo. Duolingo has some good ideas, but it’s poorly executed in the ways that most matter. I used a program very similar to Anki to build a solid vocabulary in Danish (when I was living in Denmark and learning it as a second language), and while I didn’t use it for grammar, it worked extremely well (but slowly, it took me 8 or so months to really cohere) for being able to know what words to use to communicate what I wanted to communicate. I find building a vocabulary like this in Duolingo is very tedious compared to Anki (while Anki is demanding, it flows very well when you actually do it, unlike Duolingo).
I would recommend a little bit of use of Duolingo just to familiarize oneself with the grammar, but I wouldn’t recommend using it as the main tool for language learning
Just recently in a different setting someone claim Duolingo was not a great tool but I suspect that is dependent on the person. If she has not tried other learning sites she might take a look at TalkToMeInKorean.com—lots of free materials, a large set of books they have published, lots of YouTube videos and very personable teachers that keep things relaxed and generally fun. That has been my primary tool (their books and free materials) but still oh so slowly progressing.
I’ve never used Anki and not sure it will actually improve my performance with Korean (I pretty much replicate the spaced repetition myself) but some of the uses you’ve put it to offer something of a “doh!” moment about a broader use that might make it very worth my getting. Really liked the idea related to the insect experience.
Can you elaborate on how you use it to help install TAPs? I’ve been experimenting with cards with a trigger in a specific situation on one side and the action on the other, but I’m wondering if there are better ways.
My spouse has been learning Korean for two years on Duolingo, which also uses spaced repetition, with approximately no days missed, and learning has been slow. I think Anki is much worse as a primary language learning tool because it doesn’t remix particles to give you new sentences to chew on.
Where I find it shines for me (I review my cards ~2/week):
English vocabulary
Programming language syntax
Concepts that can be distilled into bite sized info chunks—it doesn’t substitute for understanding, but as a person who’s better at memorization than concept-processing I find that memorizing the keywords and relations of a topic primes me to take in more when I read an article about how all the concepts hook up together. This works for database concepts but not quantum mechanics.
1~3 sentence text designed to change some thinking pattern (e.g. I have an semi-phobia of insects but have had one really nice experience watching one, so I might have an Anki card prompting me to remember that)
Strong preferences my friends have (“Julie really hates spoilers”)
Helping install TAPs
I’d disagree that Anki is worse than Duolingo. Duolingo has some good ideas, but it’s poorly executed in the ways that most matter. I used a program very similar to Anki to build a solid vocabulary in Danish (when I was living in Denmark and learning it as a second language), and while I didn’t use it for grammar, it worked extremely well (but slowly, it took me 8 or so months to really cohere) for being able to know what words to use to communicate what I wanted to communicate. I find building a vocabulary like this in Duolingo is very tedious compared to Anki (while Anki is demanding, it flows very well when you actually do it, unlike Duolingo).
I would recommend a little bit of use of Duolingo just to familiarize oneself with the grammar, but I wouldn’t recommend using it as the main tool for language learning
I’m glad it not just me! ;-)
Just recently in a different setting someone claim Duolingo was not a great tool but I suspect that is dependent on the person. If she has not tried other learning sites she might take a look at TalkToMeInKorean.com—lots of free materials, a large set of books they have published, lots of YouTube videos and very personable teachers that keep things relaxed and generally fun. That has been my primary tool (their books and free materials) but still oh so slowly progressing.
I’ve never used Anki and not sure it will actually improve my performance with Korean (I pretty much replicate the spaced repetition myself) but some of the uses you’ve put it to offer something of a “doh!” moment about a broader use that might make it very worth my getting. Really liked the idea related to the insect experience.
Can you elaborate on how you use it to help install TAPs? I’ve been experimenting with cards with a trigger in a specific situation on one side and the action on the other, but I’m wondering if there are better ways.
That’s what I do.