Resources for Anki

[z1bbo]

Hi,

 

Japanese learner/speaker here who is preparing to start learning Chinese. Is it normal here as well do one card/deck for Hanzi and one for vocab?

 

For the 漢字 I would want a deck that contains the 5k+ most common simplified characters with fields:

• simplified character
• corresponding traditional character/s
• all readings
• frequency (for sorting purposes)
• English meaning/s
• 2 or 3 example words in which the character appears

Is there anything like this or close to this? The best thing I've found so far is this list here, it just misses the corresponding trad. characters and example words. Does anyone know how to set up a web scraper or something that gets that additional information? I'd also convert the reading1234 thingy into the thing with the bars over the readings, that seems kind of easier to read (what is common opinion on this?).

 

 

 

For the vocab there is a deck called "Timo's HSK" that looks really good, but it seems to only have 5000 words. What I'm looking for after that is a way to add Anki cards containing audio on the fly while reading web articles etc.. Pretty much what the Rikaisama "Anki Real-Time Import" feature does. It creates a vocab card with what info you want like word, audio, meaning, reading + sentence.

Best way I've found so far to do this for Chinese seems to be saving the words in a txt with a popup dictionary like zhongwen, downloading it, manually importing it into Anki, then moving the cards into the vocab deck +adding audio with some Anki-Addon. Or is there any better/faster way? And what source for audio has the best quality? I can't really tell how authentic voices are right now.

 

 

Sorry for all the request, I'm really exited about Chinese right now and want to create an environment with maximum efficiency ...

[Shelley]

If you are really used to using anki then I guess all that might seem easy to you, as a Pleco flashcard user, it all seems like a lot of work. You do need a tablet or smart phone for Pleco.

 

if you are not familiar with Pleco I strongly suggest you take a look here http://www.pleco.com/

 

You can look up a word in the dictionary and with one click add it to your flashcards, you can then choose from lots of different card variations and even customize them to your needs.

 

There are also lots of topics about Pleco on these forums so you can get a good idea of how people use it.

 

Welcome to the forums and the amazing journey you are starting by learning Chinese.

 

 

[Flickserve]

There is a Chinese plugin for Anki. Add the hanzi and add in any of the fields you want. Run the plugin and it will fill in the missing fields including traditional chinese character (iirc).

It will also automatically fill in an audio file. I used google for the Chinese audio. It gives a rough approximation of the audio which helps jog the memory of how to pronounce the word and its pinyin.

I then used an audio program to cut up audio files of words/phrases which then can be used to replace the Google voice on the corresponding Anki card. It does not add example sentences - those you have to add yourself.

For best audio, I don't think the mass generated audio is too great. That's why inserting your own audio MP3 as you go along gives the best quality. So the options are to either get a native speaker to record the file for you or find a better online dictionary (I have a link for one but need to be at my computer).

As an anecdote, I got a bit dizzy with the vocab thrown at me at the start of learning mandarin. I decided to go back, concentrate on pinyin and basic words. So personally, I haven't been using anki so much recently, and that's after putting a lot of effort trying to understand the program.

For adding words on the fly, I haven't tried this but your can look up the words in Pleco, save them, export them and then import into anki.

[LaoDing]

Sticky Studies will get you decks with sound (though only single characters, not words or sentences), choice of traditional or simplified, practical vocab and sentences at the bottom, and tons of example sentences, though all intermediate or advanced. Also color-coded for tones. Divided into the HSK categories. Great tool. Can't remember if I had to pay for it or not. If I did it must have not been that expensive or I would remember!

[XiaoXi]

If you are really used to using anki then I guess all that might seem easy to you, as a Pleco flashcard user, it all seems like a lot of work. You do need a tablet or smart phone for Pleco.

 

if you are not familiar with Pleco I strongly suggest you take a look here http://www.pleco.com/

 

You can look up a word in the dictionary and with one click add it to your flashcards, you can then choose from lots of different card variations and even customize them to your needs.

 

There are also lots of topics about Pleco on these forums so you can get a good idea of how people use it.

 

Welcome to the forums and the amazing journey you are starting by learning Chinese.

 

Pleco is amazing but the flash card function doesn't support images. That's where it gets beaten by Anki. Images are extremely important.

[Shelley]

I am happy to do without images for the ease of use with Pleco. I don't trust making cards myself, if I make a mistake then it very hard to unlearn it, I also don't have time to make cards.

 

I also don't trust ready made decks, I noticed they vary in style, content and character font.

 

If you like anki fine, just as long as the OP was aware of Pleco and could then choose what is best for them.

[z1bbo]

 

 

If you like anki fine, just as long as the OP was aware of Pleco and could then choose what is best for them.

 

thanks, I've just had a look at Pleco and it looks pretty good for a smartphone app, but it doesn't seem to have a desktop version and the flashcard functions don't even come close to being as good as Anki.

[imron]

and the flashcard functions don't even come close to being as good as Anki.

I think the exact opposite.  Firstly though, you should note that there is free Pleco, and then real Pleco.  If you don't have the flashcard add-on and at least one decent paid for dictionary, you're probably talking about different things from what the people raving about Pleco are talking about.

 

Anyway, although Pleco flashcards are not as customisable as Anki, where they make up for it is integration with the dictionary and other add-ons, which reduce time taken to create flashcards to zero.  Just press a single button when you look up a word and you can automatically create flashcards in any combination of front/back with or without audio (if you have the audio modules) and a whole host of other options.  They are also more flexible if you want to do drilling of sets of words outside of scheduled reviews.

 

You don't have pre-made decks with Pleco, but pre-made decks aren't necessarily a good way to go about learning.

 

What I'm looking for after that is a way to add Anki cards containing audio on the fly while reading web articles etc.

Pleco can do this if you are using the Pleco reader.

[wibr]

Personally I don't agree with the notion that you should create those cards for yourself. I find typing Chinese a pain, since I am a reasonably fast typist English/German, so I try to avoid it as much as possible. I currently don't have time to learn those non-phonetic input methods which are the only way to alleviate that. Of course, you should learn things in context but a flashcard list to go along with your textbook is awesome, and I don't think there is any benefit on wasting time typing those on your own. But I think even without a textbook flashcard lists are not that bad. Currently I work through a list of everyday objects, so there is not really much context needed.

[imron]

I find typing Chinese a pain

This is only a problem if you are manually creating your own cards in Anki.  With Pleco, there's not really any typing at all.

[XiaoXi]

I am happy to do without images for the ease of use with Pleco.

 

Well you are missing a LOT. Images don't even have to be relevant to the word to help you remember that word immensely. I love Pleco and have bought just about all the add ons but the flash cards missing images is without a doubt a huge drawback. Pleco is extremely convenient and fast to make flashcards, that easily have definitions and audio......but it really NEEDS images too. If it did it would certainly be unbeatable.

[Shelley]

Images don't even have to be relevant to the word to help you remember that word immensely.

 

How does that work?

 

I am not into mnemonics, I find them extraneous to my learning and extra baggage I just don't need to learn.

 

Pictures are a confusing, I have seen pictures for examples of a person drinking out of a cup sitting on a chair at a table. The word is for coffee, where is the coffee? and how is that not confusing?

 

It may seem obvious once you know but with no clues it easy to get the wrong end of the stick. i suppose it all depends on the pictures used, it could be clearer.

 

I am happy without images.

[wibr]

@imron You are right, my reply was more targeted at the blog post you linked ;-). Lists also have value apart from the direct usage as flashcards though, to track your progress etc, in general I can't have enough lists...

[mikelove]

Pictures should be coming soon, actually, along with a bunch of other types of embedded data - audio, video, GPS coordinates (automatically log your location when you add a word to flashcards or when you encounter it in the wild - really excited about this one since it helps you keep track both of regional vocabulary and of school / host family / cafe / homework / etc usage), excerpts from / links to documents, web pages, etc.

 

(I know I say this a lot but we actually are working on it - the problem is that Apple and Google keep throwing new stuff at us to support, we've spent something like 4 months of programming time this year just on New Android Things and now are running through a batch of New IOS Things before we settle into finally being able to do some New Pleco Things; I miss the days when we were working on the utterly stagnant Palm and Windows Mobile and never had to do much of anything that wasn't Pleco-initiated)

[Shelley]

Pictures? Really? I am trying to imagine how this will look. will look forward to seeing how you handle adding pictures as per my "pictures are confusing..." in post #12

 

Not saying I don't want them, just hope they are clearly illustrating the concept/item without ambiguity.

[Bigdumogre]

Thanks for the updates mikelove, don't know where I would be without pleco. It's great as it is and money well spent (only basic bundle will upgrade down the line). The picture thing sounds good but stated I have tried picture programs before and sometimes they are confusing.

[XiaoXi]

Quote

Images don't even have to be relevant to the word to help you remember that word immensely.

 

How does that work?

It works because you just make an association of the picture with that word. Without any images the flashcard is very lifeless. For example you could have the word 三明治 and the image is of a little girl laughing. Its not the best image to associate with that word but after a few views of the flashcard you just remember it as the one with the little girl laughing. Its like some people even use smells to help them remember stuff in exams. I'm certain the smells had nothing to do with what they were trying to memorise but it just adds something else for your memory to hang on to and moreover, to be stimulated by.

 

Basically it creates a strong bond each in your memory for that flash card each time you view it that it would with just plain text.

 

Pictures are a confusing, I have seen pictures for examples of a person drinking out of a cup sitting on a chair at a table. The word is for coffee, where is the coffee? and how is that not confusing?

 

 

Haha if you're confused that will just make you remember it even more strongly!

 

Pictures should be coming soon, actually, along with a bunch of other types of embedded data - audio, video,

 

You are a legend.

[Shelley]

For example you could have the word 三明治 and the image is of a little girl laughing. Its not the best image to associate with that word but after a few views of the flashcard you just remember it as the one with the little girl laughing.

 

Why would I want to associate a little girl laughing with sandwich? Why not have a picture of a sandwich. All that will happen is I will get confused about a girl laughing and sandwiches.

 

I have 2 picture dictionaries one is a Canadian one and the other is Oxford/Duden one. Here is a sample page from the Canadian one.

 

I find this quite useful.

 

 

PicDic1.pdf

[XiaoXi]

Why would I want to associate a little girl laughing with sandwich? Why not have a picture of a sandwich. All that will happen is I will get confused about a girl laughing and sandwiches.

 

I have 2 picture dictionaries one is a Canadian one and the other is Oxford/Duden one. Here is a sample page from the Canadian one.

 

I find this quite useful.

Yes I'm well aware of picture dictionaries, my website is exactly like that. Obviously its best to have the correct picture associated with the object but what about for words that aren't objects? Or more simply, aren't things that you can see. You still need a picture. What I'm trying to say is, no matter what the flash card is, you need a picture, that's the point. A little girl laughing for the word sandwich is obviously not ideal but its still better than no picture at all.

 

The point is, a picture is ALWAYS better than no picture, even if the picture is irrelevant.

[imron]

I strongly disagree with with this, and while a picture might help you remember a word in isolation in the short term, I wonder about its effect on long term language use to have a whole bunch of unrelated things associated with your vocab.