Your Anki deck model(s)

[Hedge]

I was wondering how people have structured their Anki deck model(s)?

Personally I have two Mandarin decks, Hanzi and Sentences.

My Hanzi deck (only single Hanzi) looks like this:

Question side:

(sometimes a picture)

English keyword

Answer side:

Hanzi

Pinyin

Mnemonic story

I only do production, so I get the English keyword, write out the Hanzi and pronounce it.

My Sentences deck:

Question side:

(sometimes a picture)

Audio of sentence either from TextToSpeech or ripped from source

Answer side:

Sentence in Chinese

Pinyin

(eventual notes such as English translation, translation of a word, etc)

Here I also only do production, so I hear the sentence, say it out loud and hopefully understand it. I also usually write the key part of the sentence, i.e. the new word or grammar keyword I am reviewing.

I have been considering some additions/changes, so I'm hoping to see how you guys do it to get/explore some ideas!

Edited March 30, 2009 at 02:38 PM by Hedge

[yersi]

I use a hybrid word/sentence deck.

My cards look like this:

Definition (in Norwegian)

Expression

Pronunciation

Example sentence

Example sentence translation (in Norwegian)

Since many of the words have similar definitions, the example sentences are useful for providing context and making the expressions easier to remember. I also add pictures in the "definition" box for animal and plant nouns.

For production I use the definition and translated example as the question, and then write out the expression in a textbox. The recognition cards are done by writing out the example sentences (to avoid doing them too quickly) and saying the word out loud.

I have about 6000 cards now and I've invested a lot of time in making the deck, but it's definitely been worth it.

Edited March 30, 2009 at 03:48 PM by yersi

[anonymoose]

Answer side:

Hanzi

Pinyin

Mnemonic story

What's the point of putting the mnemonic story on the answer side? Isn't the point of the mnemonic story to help you remember the answer? If you need to use flashcards to memorise your mnemonic stories, isn't that kind of defeating their object?

Anyway, my Anki deck is quite simple. On the question side I just have an example sentence in chinese with a word or phrase replaced by English, and the answer side shows the missing word or phrase, with pronunciation for some characters if needed.

[Hedge]

One thing I should clarify is that the cards in my Hanzi deck only contain single Hanzi.

What's the point of putting the mnemonic story on the answer side? Isn't the point of the mnemonic story to help you remember the answer? If you need to use flashcards to memorise your mnemonic stories, isn't that kind of defeating their object?

Ive been thinking about this, but I feel that having the mnemonic story on the question side would make it too easy. The stories help me remember both how to write and the meaning of characters that aren't yet solidified in my memory. So if I don't remember the story, they wouldn't be much help.

For my Hanzi deck I am considering adding example words to help distinguish between similar keywords.

[exasperation]

Mine is currently:

Expression (Simplified characters)

Expression (Traditional characters)

Reading in pinyin

Meaning in English

I use a combination of words and phrases, with very few single character cards, I strongly believe in learning through context (at least for myself).

I've heard it suggested that once you get to the intermediate-advanced level, you remove your native language all together from the language learning process as much as possible. Thus, you would have both your expression and meaning defined in Chinese, just like how a Chinese-Chinese or English-English dictionary works. Does anyone do this? Does it work well for you?

[anonymoose]

I've heard it suggested that once you get to the intermediate-advanced level, you remove your native language all together from the language learning process as much as possible. Thus, you would have both your expression and meaning defined in Chinese, just like how a Chinese-Chinese or English-English dictionary works. Does anyone do this? Does it work well for you?

Yes, sometimes, but I don't think it makes and awful lot of difference really. I think the key is that one shouldn't be reliant on one's own language in understanding the second language, especially where direct translations of words are not possible. But for the sake of Anki flashcards, as you pointed out, having a complete sentence to put the words in context is useful.

[Guest realmayo]

A Chinese character

B English and (if necessary) pinyin

C English and pinyin, etymology, mnemonic, any other useful info.

One-way: Q: A ... A: A+C ... tests me on recognising a character/word

Reverse: Q: B ... A: A+C ... tests me on writing the character/word

However for chunks or phrases or the odd sentence, I'm simpler.

What's the point of putting the mnemonic story on the answer side?

So, if you get it wrong, you can remind yourself of the mnemonic straight away, for next time.

Have around 10,000 cards (ie over 5,000 facts). Around 2,200 characters, 2,500 words, plus some other bits and bobs. Am starting adding sound, especially to the chunks or sentences. Am not sure whether to add it for every single card.

[AlexBlackman]

Question

Sentance in characters and soundfile.

Answer

Sentance in Pinyin and characters

Chinese dictionary definitions for difficult words

Mnemonics for new characters if needed

Soundfile and at least one picture.

[JenniferW]

I started using Anki about 6 weeks ago, like it, but have so far only used it for recognition (single characters and compounds).

If you use it for production, do you have recognition and production mixed up in the same test session, or do you run two separate sessions? I want to move on to also use it for testing production, but am not sure how best to do that.

[imron]

I've heard it suggested that once you get to the intermediate-advanced level, you remove your native language all together from the language learning process as much as possible. Thus, you would have both your expression and meaning defined in Chinese,

I don't really use Anki that much, but I do however use flashcards with Pleco, and go Chinese-Chinese all the way.

I change the question/answer side depending on what I want to focus on. Currently it's pronunciation, and so the question side has the character and the meaning, and the answer side has the character, the pronunciation and the meaning.