I've been using Anki to study RtK and have been doing great so far. I've just enrolled in a Japanese language class and would now like to also use my SRS to remembered what we've studied in class. Unfortunately it's not simple things like one kanji so I am not sure how to best use my SRS and could use some advice.

For example in yesterday's class we had the following new word. 合図（あいず）. The problem for me is that this represents three new things for me:

1) it's a new word I don't know
2) it has one kanji I haven't studied yet
3) the reading is also something new

What is the recommended way to enter something like this into an SRS (in my case Anki?) to maximize learning and retention?

Thanks!

I recommend looking it up in a dictionary and choosing an example sentence that you like. Then put the sentence into your SRS on the Questions side with all kanji. On the answer side write it in hiragana. When the sentence comes up, try to read it aloud (or in your head) and test yourself if you understand the meaning of the sentence (and word). If so, pass, if not, fail it. Another one I like is to write the sentence in kanji, EXCEPT for the vocab word which I leave in hiragana. Then the answer is to write the kanji and read the sentence.

Setnences.

Typically I would have something like this:

Question: わたしが手を上げて合図をしたら，スイッチを入れてください。
Answer: わたしが手を上げて[あいず signal]をしたら，スイッチを入れてください。

Early on you might also include a full English translation.

If you've encountered the word in class, you should have seen it in use and perhaps used it yourself. I use the following model. (I've taken the example sentence from dic.yahoo.co.jp but you could take one from your class)

Field 1: Expression 合図
Field 2: Definition 身ぶりなどで知らせること
Field 3: Reading あいず（あい図）
Field 4: Example sentence 前進の＿＿＿に手を振った
Field 5: What goes in gap 合図

Card 1 - Gap Fill
Q: 前進の＿＿＿に手を振った
身ぶりなどで知らせること
A: 合図

Card 2 - Reading
Q: 合図
A: あいず（あい図）
前進の＿＿＿に手を振った

Card 3 - Writing
Q: あいず（あい図）
A: 合図
前進の＿＿＿に手を振った

Some points:
-The example sentence is very important. It appears in all three cards. If you don't have context, it's not really worth learning a word. I don't believe in learning word lists, I believe in learning words as I encounter them.
-The definition also came from dic.yahoo.co.jp and isn't strictly necessary. If you find it difficult, make up your own e.g. 体を使って知らせること, use what the teacher says, or just leave it blank.
-The writing card only asks for one kanji. The one you know.
-Since you don't know one of the kanji, you could disable the reading card. You'll probably find it easy though.

wrightak Wrote:If you've encountered the word in class, you should have seen it in use and perhaps used it yourself. I use the following model. (I've taken the example sentence from dic.yahoo.co.jp but you could take one from your class)

Field 1: Expression 合図
Field 2: Definition 身ぶりなどで知らせること
Field 3: Reading あいず（あい図）
Field 4: Example sentence 前進の＿＿＿に手を振った
Field 5: What goes in gap 合図

Card 1 - Gap Fill
Q: 前進の＿＿＿に手を振った
身ぶりなどで知らせること
A: 合図

Card 2 - Reading
Q: 合図
A: あいず（あい図）
前進の＿＿＿に手を振った

Card 3 - Writing
Q: あいず（あい図）
A: 合図
前進の＿＿＿に手を振った

Some points:
-The example sentence is very important. It appears in all three cards. If you don't have context, it's not really worth learning a word. I don't believe in learning word lists, I believe in learning words as I encounter them.
-The definition also came from dic.yahoo.co.jp and isn't strictly necessary. If you find it difficult, make up your own e.g. 体を使って知らせること, use what the teacher says, or just leave it blank.
-The writing card only asks for one kanji. The one you know.
-Since you don't know one of the kanji, you could disable the reading card. You'll probably find it easy though.

This looks good, I'm going to try this soon, as my reading has improved a lot (up to 650 in KO2001) but my kanji production is quite poor.


However, wouldn't it make sense to put the sentence on the Question side of the Reading and Writing?
It doesn't give away the answer, and it will help provide the context to avoid mistaking the word with another (especially for the Writing card, where the reading may have other compounds that could match in other contexts).

Card 1 - Gap Fill
Q: 前進の＿＿＿に手を振った
身ぶりなどで知らせること
A: 合図

Card 2 - Reading
Q: 合図
前進の＿＿＿に手を振った
A: あいず（あい図）

Card 3 - Writing
Q: あいず（あい図）
前進の＿＿＿に手を振った
A: 合図

avparker Wrote:However, wouldn't it make sense to put the sentence on the Question side of the Reading and Writing?

Sorry, that is what I do for the writing card. As you say, it means you don't choose the wrong word. I don't do it for the reading card though. It doesn't even need to be on the answer side for that card and it means you can pass/fail the card more quickly and it's pure test of whether you can read the kanji.

Also, for the writing card, even if you're confident with both kanji in the word, I still advise only testing one of the kanji and not both. This goes along with the supermemo minimum information principle.

I started by always testing all kanji in the word. I've since adjusted just about all of my cards to test just one kanji.

wrightak Wrote:Also, for the writing card, even if you're confident with both kanji in the word, I still advise only testing one of the kanji and not both. This goes along with the supermemo minimum information principle.

I started by always testing all kanji in the word. I've since adjusted just about all of my cards to test just one kanji.

I think using RTK is only going to give you a better understanding of other words, it doesn't magically makes you able to read/understand words using those kanji.

*edit: nevermind, I misread

wrightak-i like your set up-very comprehensive.

Do you fill out all that info in Anki once, and it produces all those different cards?How do you do that with anki?

Musashi Wrote:

wrightak Wrote:Also, for the writing card, even if you're confident with both kanji in the word, I still advise only testing one of the kanji and not both. This goes along with the supermemo minimum information principle.

I started by always testing all kanji in the word. I've since adjusted just about all of my cards to test just one kanji.

I think using RTK is only going to give you a better understanding of other words, it doesn't magically makes you able to read/understand words using those kanji.

I'm sorry, the section you've quoted and your response don't seem to match at all. Did you quote the wrong post or would you like me to explain? I don't understand how your point relates to my Anki model.

zazen666 Wrote:wrightak-i like your set up-very comprehensive.

Do you fill out all that info in Anki once, and it produces all those different cards?How do you do that with anki?

Sounds like that's a question for the Anki forums but yes I do and it's easy to set up. I don't have desktop Anki available here so I can't walk you through I'm afraid. I'll have to wait until I get home.

Totsubu, here's my set-up for vocabulary cards:

Field1: Word - Kanji
Field2: Word - Kana
Field3: Word - English
Field4: Sentence - Kanji
Field5: Sentence - Kana
Field6: Sentence - English
Field7: Picture
Field8: Audio
Field9: Notes

DICTATION CARDS
Question: Word Kana - Sentence Kana; Audio; Picture
Answer: Word Kanji - Sentence Kanji; Audio; Notes; Word English - Sentence English (in VERY small print).

For these I write out just the word in Kanji, failing if I write it wrong or don't know the meaning.

READING CARDS

Answer: Word Kanji - Sentence Kanji; Picture
Question: Word Kana - Sentence Kana; Audio; Notes; Word English - Sentence English (in VERY small print).

Here I just read out the word and the sentence. I mark it wrong if I get pronunciation or meaning wrong.

The above I just down loaded the entire Core 2k and Core 6k series from Smart.Fm. On Anki, I uploaded Core 2k though you have to download photos and audio on your own.

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Now what I have done is suspended all new cards. As new words come up in my sentence mining, I then unsuspend the word should it exist in my Smart.FM deck above. The results have been very, very good. In fact, here's your word

合図 -- 車掌が発車の合図をしたよ。
あいず -- しゃしょう が はっしゃ の あいず を した よ 。
signal, sign -- The conductor gave the signal to depart. -- Core 6000 Step 05 - 045

If you notice, it's in Step 05 word 45. Now, if I were still going sentence by sentence in Smart.FM (I'm not anymore though), it would be the 1045th word (over 100 hours of studying before I even would see it at my pace of study). But with anki, that doesn't matter. Once you unsuspend it, it's in the rotation. In addition, if words in the sample sentence happen to be new, I also unsuspend them. In my case, 車掌 is new to me so I would unsuspend it (it's step 06, word 114). In that sentence, there's no new words I need to add.

I find the above an outstanding method to use with the Core 2k and 6k corpus of sentences. Going through them in order is very boring, but using them as they come up naturally in other areas makes it more enjoyable. The same can be done with vocabulary sentences from Coscom's KO2001, Kanji in Context and Tanuki sentences.