Learning Tips#
Study Tips#
- Study consistently: Daily practice is more effective than long, infrequent sessions
- Speak out loud: For pronunciation cards, always speak the answer aloud
- Use the audio: Listen carefully to native pronunciation on all audio-enabled cards
- Don’t rush: Take time to recall the answer before revealing it
- Be honest: Mark cards as “Again” if you couldn’t recall the answer quickly
Adjusting Deck Options#
Avoid learning too many new cards per day because it might quickly become overwhelming. The default value of New cards/day of 20 is a good start.
We strongly encourage you activate burying to make your learning most efficient. Otherwise you may for example be asked to do Reading for a word that you just completed Pronunciation for, which makes it too easy. This would hurt your long term progress since a few weeks later you no longer have the Pronunciation context and will fail. Also in real-life situations when you need to read a word you lack that context.
Enabling FSRS (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler) is also a good idea because it calculates more optimal review intervals.
Consider not imposing any particular order on the cards since you are trying to learn for the real world where you also need to remember words in isolation. Set New card gather order to “Deck, then random notes” and New card sort order to “Random”.
See Anki’s documentation for detailed settings guidance.
Card Types#
Most AnkiLangs decks use four complementary card types to help you master vocabulary:
Pronunciation#
See the source language word and speak the target language word aloud. Focus on accurate pronunciation.
Example: If you are an English speaker who is learning Spanish you see English text “the eye” and after thinking for a few seconds say out loud “el ojo” in correct Spanish pronunciation.
Listening#
Hear the target language word and recall its meaning in the source language. Trains your listening comprehension.
Example: If you are an English speaker who is learning Spanish you hear an Spanish audio for “el ojo” without any written text and after a few seconds you remember that this means “the eye”.
Reading#
See the target language word and recall its meaning in the source language. Trains your reading comprehension.
Example: If you are an English speaker who is learning Spanish you read the Spanish text “el ojo” and after a few seconds you remember that this means “the eye”.
Spelling#
See the source language word, hear the target language pronunciation, and spell the target language word. You could write it out on a piece of paper, do it compeletely in your head or use the whiteboard/scratchpad features in the Anki mobile apps.
Example: If you are an English speaker who is learning Spanish you read the English text “the eye” and hear the Spanish audio for “el ojo” at the same time. After a few seconds you remember that it is spelled e-l-SPACE-o-j-o.
How to Skip Spelling or Reading#
Not everyone wants to practice all four card types. You can suspend card types you’re not interested in. This may be the case if you mostly care about speaking and understanding the spoken language (not reading or spelling) or if the alphabet of the target language is unfamiliar. You can always learn those things later!
How to suspend card types:
- Open your deck in Anki
- Click “Browse” to open the card browser
- Select the deck in the left sidebar
- Filter by card type (e.g., search for
card:Spellingorcard:Reading) - Select all cards (Ctrl+A / Cmd+A)
- Right-click and choose “Toggle Suspend” or press Ctrl+J / Cmd+J
Note: You can always unsuspend cards later if you change your mind. Suspended cards don’t affect your progress on other card types.
Minimal Pairs Decks#
For minimal pairs decks specifically:
- Listen carefully: Focus on the subtle differences between the sounds
- Repeat out loud: After revealing the answer, practice speaking both words
- Use the audio repeatedly: Play each audio multiple times if needed
- Practice regularly: Daily short sessions are more effective than long, infrequent ones