Hi everyone

Okay, so this is one of those weird coincidences and you guys will just have to believe me because if I was doing a PR stunt right now, I couldn't make this up:

I started learning Japanese about 6 weeks ago and had used the time to go through RTK, amongst other things. It was also the time in which I discovered SRS software. I've been using Anki to deal with my reviews and I don't know where I'd be without it.

Now, on November 1st, two things happened: I finished RTK (Yay! Go me!) *and* on a seemingly completely unrelated note, NaNoWriMo started. If you're interested: http://www.nanowrimo.org . The word stands for "National Novel Writing Month". While it's really an international thing, InNoWriMo wouldn't sound very good

Basically what it means is you're supposed to hack out a 50'000 word novel in the time of only one month, no matter how bad it might be. You dno't edit, you don't go back to correct typos (see what I did there?) and you write write write.

The best part of NaNo, however, are the meetups: You go to some place, maybe a cheap restaurant or a Starbucks, and you meet up with fellow NaNo participants from your country. I can't vouch for the other NaNo groups, of course, but the Swiss NaNo group is a heavenly accumulation of very sweet people that the world would be very poor without. Me and my wife love meeting them.

The first meeting this year was yesterday in a Starbucks in Zurich. So, this guy comes in, he's new, we get over the awkward introduction bits. He seems very nice and excited about his science fiction novel he's writing and starts asking everyone about their novel.

Turns out he is a physics student. Some of us go on typing and I finish my 1666 words for the day and stop, seeing as I have a monster pile of Anki reviews to do. (Finishing RTK in 3 weeks means you're not "done" by a long shot just yet, 5 hours of reviews!)

At about the same time as I am taking out my iPad with Anki on it, the new guy starts telling us what he does for a living. He says he's working as a very small enterpreneur and has a company who are producing an SRS learning software right now.

Right as people get interested (because meeting a person like that is pretty cool) and he starts trying to awkwardly explain to a group of newbies what an SRS is, I hold up my iPad with Anki on it and ask him if he means something like that.

He seemed very surprised and excited that I actually knew Anki (because I'm pretty sure not too many people do) and we got talking about his software he's made, how he's been using it himself and how he has tens of thousands of Japanese, Italian, and French phrases, along with physics things he needs for his university studies. I, meanwhile, told him, or tried to tell him, about Heisig. Obviously he was skeptical, as everyone always is, but he was also intrigued and interested.

Anki obviously has many advantages. There's premade decks for it, there's a mobile client (which, however, does indeed cost money, though I'm not sad at all about spending that money) etc. etc.

I asked him why I would use his software over Anki. He directed me to his website:

http://www.flashcardlearner.com/

I took a look at it and found the reason why I probably hadn't ever heard of the thing:

The website, while seeming good at first glance, is from a one man project. I found a typo or two on there pretty quickly, but the lack of a proper design department is probably the only thing holding it back and it's got some pretty good information on it.

The biggest problem I think it faces is the lack of a proper PR. I tried to google the thing and didn't find a single review of it, meaning people just don't know it even exists.

Which is a shame, because from what the developer told me, it's got a better algorithm for SRS than Anki. He said he didn't put that part on his website because knocking Anki would not be a very good marketing move (and I agree, it wouldn't be, especially since he has no beef with Anki and likes it a lot)

Flaschard Learner is not based on Supermemo, but on an entirely new algorithm that takes more information into account and is supposed to be more efficient. You can also do neat things like set your target retention rate, for which I haven't found an option in Anki.

Sounds like marketing talk, but I could see the guy honestly believed it. He said he'd been using both Anki and his own software and comparing them he could easily see the difference. He then went on to offer me a free license of his software to try it out without the trial limitations.

I refused him. I'm using my Anki deck for RTK that I downloaded from somewhere else, I'm already doing it, and right now there's no way to transfer Anki decks over to his software (though he said he might add that functionality, along with offering a mobile app. I have no idea if that will actually happen, though)

The other reason for my refusal is that I might even buy it if I get to the point where I want to start my own decks, because I honestly believe the things the man has said. He just has horrible, horrible PR, and I am hoping to rectify that at least a bit by giving him some word of mouth here.

I hope some of you guys at least try out Flashcard Learner. It's an intriguing thing and from what I can tell it's definitely worth the money.

Last edited by Zlarp (2012 November 04, 1:53 am)