AmberUK
Member
From: Hampshire UK
Registered: 2007-03-19
Posts: 128
Website
OK I know this is a personal thing. Or maybe its not? Is there a best SRS?
When I first decided on an SRS (4years+ ago) I tried a few and ended using supermemo. I am quite against the idea of changing. Not least as I have tried anki and found all this %production% etc confusing. Plus I have 7000+ items in SM. I downloaded the Anki deck JLPT level 4 and it seems to test me on the kanji and kana asking for the question. I presume I am ment to change a setting?
But I find I learn things best by putting the work in the first month. That means reviews several times a day for the first few days and then decreasing frequency. I have some vocab I have never used but remember years later using this system. ATM I have to use paper cards to do this. But they are a pain to handle and sort out. Its hard to test as you test by box and then some things get tested more than they should. Then you put them into the SRS and the scores are weird because of testing by card first. I have tried to let the SRS (SM) work from day one and it does not work how I work best.
Anki seems to let you test several times a day if you want (using hard as the mark or review early?) Am I wrong here? Would Anki help with this problem? Or am just looking at fiddling with a nice shiney bit of software as an excuse to avoid getting going on Heisig like I should be doing?
Any advice?
Thanks!
p.s I really think there should be a sticky topic of the pros and cons of each of the SRS bits of software there is a lot out there and when you start new its hard to know what features you need.
rich_f
Member
From: north carolina
Registered: 2007-07-12
Posts: 1708
Anki lets you mess with all sorts of settings, and the program is in a state of continuous development. (It should be over soon, though.)
Watch the screencasts Damien has on his website if you don't know what's going on with the program.
Odds are if you don't like something, you can change it. Or at least find out why it is the way it is. There are a lot of wide-ranging discussions on the Anki message boards that have helped shape the program into what it is now.
I never messed with SM, so I don't have a frame of reference. But I do know that Anki is incredibly powerful if you follow the instructions. Documentation is a bit sparse, but you can always ask questions on the message board over on Google.
Reason? It just works. Cross-platform. Also works on my keitai. It's free, intuititve, and Japanese-friendly. Also spits out readings to kanji. (But that feature is in a state of flux right now as they change some stuff.)
Last edited by rich_f (2009 June 24, 10:08 am)
vosmiura
Member
From: SF Bay Area
Registered: 2006-08-24
Posts: 1085
Supermemo has more advanced SRS algorithms, but it's hard to tell if they help or hinder sometimes. When I used SM2006 I found it over-learned; if you go through a material that progresses from easy to hard, SM will adjust itself so it's perfect for easy level just at the time when you're doing the hard level (doh!).
But anyway, I recommend Anki for various reasons:
#1 There are versions for several mobile devices. This is super important because it lets you review anywhere during idle time.
#2 Flexibility.
#3 It's lovingly maintained, unlike SM which is buggy & hasn't had updates for years.
#4 Useful plugins.
Last edited by vosmiura (2009 June 24, 12:39 pm)
rich_f
Member
From: north carolina
Registered: 2007-07-12
Posts: 1708
The major thing I love about Anki is being able to sync my decks to the Anki servers. It keeps me from losing data, or trashing my decks accidentally. It also lets me study on whatever device I'm using-- phone, computer, laptop, whatever I have that can run it, or access the web. There's a web version you can use if you sync your decks with the server. Very stripped down, but I do about 40% of my reviews on my iPhone that way.
Right now I'm sitting on version 0.9.9.7.9 of Anki until the whole converting kanji to kana thing is completely stable and doesn't require any fiddling with setting things to =TRUE or =FALSE to get the exact features I want. (But I'm being fussy about my workflow. More reasonable people can probably work around the changes.)
I think moving it all to plugins was the right idea, because it makes more sense that way. We just have to wait for all the kinks to get worked out of the system, and for all of the plugins to get caught up. It shouldn't take too long.
Tobberoth
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2008-08-25
Posts: 3364
Anki.
It's free, customizable, open source, made in python, complex and focused. It has plugins, shared decks, an active community.
The only thing lacking in Anki is useability (user interaction wise) and a group or company to back it up, but that's it and it doesn't matter as long as only people who are dedicated to learning it are using it AND as long as the people working on it are actively doing so.
MeNoSavvy
Member
Registered: 2008-05-24
Posts: 131
I find Anki kind of annoying, lately I haven't been using it (just iknow). It is hard to put my finger on the problem with Anki, and it does have some useful features. I just found it non-intuitive to get set-up, and it seems to lack usability. Sometimes I want an SRS where I can just say here are my fields, put these on one side, and put these others on the other side of the card, and if I include a reference to an image or sound clip include that where I specify. Don't try and second guess what I want, don't do any checks, just load the material and start presenting it to me. I think that is why I like iknow, everything is done, and the user interface is quite polished, I just login and away I go.
Having said all that though, I'm not sure of anything better than Anki if you want to create your own cards and so forth.
I wrote this post (first three paragraphs) about the subject...
In short, I'm using Mnemosyne... well not yet, to be honest, but after RtK1 I will be, for sentences.
Of course, I don't know how much Anki has improved since the review was written (March 2008) and I haven't tried it enough myself to be sure... but I just like that my input in Mnemosyne helps science 
Last edited by Whatsifsowhatsit (2009 June 25, 6:55 am)
AmberUK
Member
From: Hampshire UK
Registered: 2007-03-19
Posts: 128
Website
OK, so Anki: confusing to use, but current and bugs being fixed. Also has Japanese plug - ins and features. I downloaded some premade decks last nite and it is so not obvious what you do. I did review and its showing me the kanji and readings and asking for the English.
But my problem about reviewing (essentially at my own rate) in the beginning? I am doing this for the long term. So if my stats are mucked up in the short term because I want to review in my terms at the start. I don't care. But I need that control at the start. Atm I don't have that. So I end up with piles of cards on my desk. And then jobs to convert them into SRS inputs. Will Anki allow me to do this control? Because I don't see how my memory works and is the same as everyone elses. If it was we would all have done or not done Heisig ok (or not). There would not be some of us struggling with some bits and not with others. Esp as part of the book he does the stories.
I thought that my vocab problems was to do with use of words. And fine with words like taberu, iru etc you use all the time maybe. But I have words like ant and fly I learned in a word list once and never used but I remember them and that was years ago. The only pattern I see here is I worked with cards for a month with them and only later added to the SRS. But that is a pain to do and now I am trying to do sentences its even more of a pain.
Would Anki allow me to force myself to learn? But allow me to do ones I have failed more etc? I think when I tested software years back there was one called Stacks (?) that did a box system?
Last edited by AmberUK (2009 June 25, 8:37 am)
