Hello; sorry if this has been asked before. I have the core 2k/6k optimized vocab deck. What pained me to do it was of how long I would take or how easily I would forget something.

The cards had;

Front : English meaning - Japanese sentence; empty space for vocab
Back : English sentence meaning; Japanese vocab

This made it annoying for me to do. I read something about having only Japanese in the front; and English on the back. I've changed it around so it's now like this.

Front : Japanese vocab word - Japanese sentence
Back - English meaning - English Sentence

I'm going through cards faster this way; and it's also easier to understand and memorize the sentence. The way things are going; I don't have to guess the Japanese word. I only have to guess the English meaning; which is not hard at all.

Would this be hindering my knowledge? Should I go back to the other card format? Am I somehow not even going to learn the Japanese words because of this?

Also if this is confusing; I am so sorry !! I don't know how to put this into words.

In case you weren't confused enough already, here is a curve ball:

4 decks covering the same material.
Deck 1:-
Front: English meaning, English Sentence
Back: Japanese Kanji/reading, Japanese sentence with furigana

Deck 2:-
Front: Japanese Kanji, Japanese Sentence
Back: Japanese Kanji/reading, English meaning, Japanese sentence with furigana, English Sentence

Deck 3:-
Front: Japanese vocabulary word audio, Japanese Sentence
Back: Japanese Kanji/reading, Japanese sentence with furigana, English meaning, English Sentence

Deck 4:-
Front: Japanese vocabulary word audio, Japanese vocabulary sentence audio
Back: Japanese Sentence, Japanese Kanji/reading, Japanese sentence with furigana, English meaning, English Sentence


The above wasn't a recommendation, by the way, just another example of how different other people can set it up for themselves. No, I don't think you format is going to "hinder your knowledge", unless you are forcing yourself to take shots ever other cards, or hit yourself with a hammer, or something detrimental to cognition. Learning anything about what you have set out to learn about- even the tiniest bit is still an increase in overall comprehension.

All that said, it isn't until you are reading native material and have developed a decent listening comprehension, that the real learning takes place. Drilling vocab, etc. is just training and warming up before the actual event.