Core decks vs extensive reading

(2015-12-15, 10:13 pm)yogert909 Wrote: Sentence cards definitely cause me to guess the meaning of the word being tested by accidentally memorizing the sentence.

I've found myself reflexively passing several cards that upon further inspection contained several words that I didn't know because I'd memorized the english translation.  

My other problem with sentence cards is that they take twice as long to review as single word cards.

You test the word first in isolation - only if you do not know or are not sure you check out the sentence. And then it is clear that this word has to be rated as difficult. And if it is just guessing you can rate it as fail.

You test only one word per card - it doesn't matter for the rating(!) if you do not know one or more of the other words of the example sentence.

All cards where you do not read the sentence take exactly the same time as pure single word cards.

(2015-12-16, 12:53 am)SomeCallMeChris Wrote: I -did- find that isolated words didn't do anything for me. First they are annoying because they don't have context. They aren't anything like a majority, but there are -enough- words that have different readings or various meanings depending on context and I never knew how to grade myself on those or what hints to put on the front, and in any case, no matter how well I did in a test situation.... I couldn't actually read the word when I met it in the wild. Of course I would learn the words eventually from repeat dictionary lookups, but it was annoying to study a word and then not be able to actually read it in context.

I do have cards without sentence on the front (or back). It is surprising how naked and meaningless these words appear after a relatively short time. The "retention" curve is actually all about forgetting, so I should no be surprised that even words from interesting reports, films, etc. which once stirred me, stunned me, made me think great, etc. come along as utterly boring total strangers after a while.
=> Yes, you can learn single words, but context on the card helps to anchor the word, gives natural companions for the word (words are never stand alone) and can remind you why on earth you found that word interesting.

So if I wanted to learn e.g. 鈍器 (which I don't) I would if possible add it with a sentence (fragment):

鈍器




大山さんは頭を鈍器のようなもので何度も殴られていたことが分かっていて、