Do you review isolated words, phrases, sentences...? What sort of card models do you think are the more useful for your learning? What sort of info is useful for you when making your cards? From where do you take your input? How much should you use your native language, and how much Japanese should you include in your reviews? What are the best approaches for beginners and advanced learners?
Let's share thoughts, tips and what not on SRS usage.
I'll start with a simple but useful trick that has proven useful - at least for me. I was using English meanings -from Edict- for new or difficult words, but I have an intermediate level of Japanese so I want to move onto J-J cards. Of course, sometimes there are words in the Japanese definitions that I don't understand quite well. I can add Japanese definitions for some of those words, but not for all - I don't want to add the definition of the definition of the definition to each card. But using too much English meanings is not good for long term goals. So, I'm using an alternative approach that has been very useful for me...
First, as for dictionaries, I recommend you the ones used by Yahoo Japan
辞書の種類 設定可能な辞書
国語辞書 大辞泉 大辞林
類語辞書 類語実用辞典
英和辞書 プログレッシブ英和中辞典 新グローバル英和辞典
和英辞書 プログレッシブ和英中辞典 ニューセンチュリー和英辞典
Type Available dictionaries
of dictionary
Kokugo (J-J) Daijisen and Daijirin
Synonyms Practical use synonyms dictionary
E-J Progressive medium-sized E-J dictionary and New global E-J dictionary
J-E Progressive medium-sized J-E dictionary and New century J-E dictionary
Those are very good and reliable dictionaries and include very useful example sentences.
Using these dictionaries - or the ones that you like the most- you can create J-J cards, and you can use Wakan with the "capture the clipboard" option. So, you put your SRS at the top of the screen and Wakan at the bottom. If you want to check the English meaning of a word from your cards, just highlight that word and press ctrl-c, then it will get copied into the clipboard and will be automatically displayed by Wakan.
This way you can use J-J cards and check the English meanings only when you need to. If you use a web based SRS, you can use Rikaichan and get almost the same result.
Let's share thoughts, tips and what not on SRS usage.
I'll start with a simple but useful trick that has proven useful - at least for me. I was using English meanings -from Edict- for new or difficult words, but I have an intermediate level of Japanese so I want to move onto J-J cards. Of course, sometimes there are words in the Japanese definitions that I don't understand quite well. I can add Japanese definitions for some of those words, but not for all - I don't want to add the definition of the definition of the definition to each card. But using too much English meanings is not good for long term goals. So, I'm using an alternative approach that has been very useful for me...
First, as for dictionaries, I recommend you the ones used by Yahoo Japan
辞書の種類 設定可能な辞書
国語辞書 大辞泉 大辞林
類語辞書 類語実用辞典
英和辞書 プログレッシブ英和中辞典 新グローバル英和辞典
和英辞書 プログレッシブ和英中辞典 ニューセンチュリー和英辞典
Type Available dictionaries
of dictionary
Kokugo (J-J) Daijisen and Daijirin
Synonyms Practical use synonyms dictionary
E-J Progressive medium-sized E-J dictionary and New global E-J dictionary
J-E Progressive medium-sized J-E dictionary and New century J-E dictionary
Those are very good and reliable dictionaries and include very useful example sentences.
Using these dictionaries - or the ones that you like the most- you can create J-J cards, and you can use Wakan with the "capture the clipboard" option. So, you put your SRS at the top of the screen and Wakan at the bottom. If you want to check the English meaning of a word from your cards, just highlight that word and press ctrl-c, then it will get copied into the clipboard and will be automatically displayed by Wakan.
This way you can use J-J cards and check the English meanings only when you need to. If you use a web based SRS, you can use Rikaichan and get almost the same result.
