Using both Anki flashcards and Pleco at the same time

[Laban]

I would like to share how I study Chinese and get some feedback / advice from other learners.

 

Background: I am 54 years old and have been self-learning Chinese for a few years.  I am somewhere early-HSK5 level (at least vocabulary-wise), but I have never really followed an HSK-path, so I have a lot of non-HSK words as well.  I do traditional Hanzi (my wife is Taiwanese).

 

Learning resources: Now days, I mainly use podcasts (like "Learn Taiwanese Mandarin with Abby") and Taiwanese TV series.  There are usually quite a few new words and colloquial words and expression in these that I then add to my flash card decks. For every new word or phrase, I usually try to find and add 2-3 example sentences (on their own cards).  All Anki flash cards have English, pinyin, Hanzi and recording by native speaker (either something I find online, or ask my wife to record for me).

 

Initially I was only using Anki flash, but for the last several years, I have been using both my Anki deck and Pleco deck.  Mainly because: 

1. More exposure, which hopefully helps me remember more words
2. The character font in Pleco is very different from the square-ish font in Anki, so it helps me get used to not just one character font.
3. Even though the words in the two decks are about the same, the example sentences are usually different 
4. It is very quick and easy to add cards with words and sentences to Pleco.

 

I try to do most of the the flash cards while exercising / taking walks / while in the restroom / on hold on the phone, etc. ("gap time") and it has been working quite well for me. 

 

However, with about 8500 cards in Anki and 6500 cards in Pleco, it is becoming a bit much to keep up with every day (maybe 400-500 cards per day) and I am considering stop doing the Pleco deck.

 

Some feedback on using two overlapping flashcard decks as well as on my general study approach would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Laban

 

Ps. A word about results: Reading and listening work quite well.  Writing (using pinyin & keyboard) is harder, finding the correct character in the list of candidates for a given sound.  Speaking works well with my wife (she knows roughly what I know and what I don't know), but when speaking to other native people there is more pressure, and it often takes too long to think of the right words and formulate a proper response (and sometimes I even go blank on stuff I normally know quite well).  Another difficulty with speaking is that tone 2 often comes out like tone 3.

 

[jannesan]

On 2/24/2024 at 11:08 PM, Laban said:

maybe 400-500 cards per day

 

That sounds very heavy, and I am an advocate of SRS that enjoys the daily routine. My aim is about 100 cards max to review just for comparison.

 

On 2/24/2024 at 11:08 PM, Laban said:

More exposure, which hopefully helps me remember more words

 

I would suggest to pick one flashcard app only and use the time you gain to do more reading. That’s going to be more effective because you get exposed to words in context.

 

You should also consider one of two approaches to keep deck sizes manageable:

 

- delete your decks every 6-12 months

- aggressively delete (or suspend in Anki) cards that are not relevant to you anymore

 

The main goal is to just flashcard words that are important to you at the current time, it is a waste to spend a lot of time to review words you never use in practice and when they eventually become important that is the moment you can add them to your deck again.

 

You can search previous threads about flashcards, there is a lot of advice posted by many people.

 

On 2/24/2024 at 11:08 PM, Laban said:

The character font in Pleco is very different from the square-ish font in Anki, so it helps me get used to not just one character font.

 

You can change the font in Anki to any you like by downloading a font in the right format, putting it in the media folder and style the cards to use that font. May be a bit hard for someone without some programming exposure, but I bet you can find a guide on how to do this easily.

[cncorrect]

On 2/24/2024 at 11:08 PM, Laban said:

Writing (using pinyin & keyboard) is harder, finding the correct character in the list of candidates for a given sound. 

You can try typing only the first character's pinyin and then use the initials for the remaining characters.

[lordsuso]

I would stick to just one app.

 

1. I don't see the point of more exposure, if anything you should do less flashcards. I like to review the exact same amount of flashcards everyday, so I just set a limit, I think consistency is key to maintain a routine. If you set a limit, I wouldn't worry too much about the amount of flashcards you have, as you know more words you need less reviews anyways.

2. I understand, if you read digitally what I do is set different fonts for different ebooks. I guess printed books also have different fonts?

3. Can't you put all the sentences together in just one app?

 

On 2/24/2024 at 4:08 PM, Laban said:

Another difficulty with speaking is that tone 2 often comes out like tone 3.

I would focus on fixing this right away, bad habits are hard to change.

 

I know many people create their flashcards manually, but to me it sounds like a very time-consuming (and boring) activity and I would rather read/listen instead.

[Laban]

Thank you all for the helpful input!!

 

Here is what I decided to do to start with:

1. Created a new Anki deck "Chinese - Old" and moved a lot of the older, no longer very useful cards, from my main deck to it. 
2. Downloaded a few few nice traditional Hanzi fonts and installed in Anki.  This way I can easily switch the Hanzi character fonts every now and then.  The new fonts look great! Thanks jannesan!
3. I will stop using the Pleco deck.

 

Regarding the tone 2 difficulty: this is something that I most often do not even hear myself - it is my wife (native Taiwanese) who points this out.  I tend to practice with her whenever we have time, but so far it has not been easy.  It is not that tone 2 alone is hard, it is with certain words or sentences where the combination of other tones around it tends to make it hard.  Often it is with tone 3->2 combos or 2->1 combos.  Any advice for how to improve this (preferably on my own, not to have to harass my wife too long or find a teacher)?

 

[Flickserve]

On 2/26/2024 at 2:00 AM, Laban said:

It is not that tone 2 alone is hard, it is with certain words or sentences where the combination of other tones around it tends to make it hard.  Often it is with tone 3->2 combos or 2->1 combos.  Any advice for how to improve this (preferably on my own, not to have to harass my wife too long or find a teacher)?

You need example sentences with the audio recording of those tone combinations. It sounds like you have them in your anki main deck.

 

Anki is quite flexible and you can set the card to play the audio any number of times. I set mine to play the audio five times but you could easily play it ten times. When it plays, I listen first to get the rhythm of the sentence. Then press the replay audio in anki and speak along with the sentence. If you want to take it further, cover the Chinese text, so that you isolate the information with sounds and your voice. That would help you focus your attention on the audio and not get distracted by the text. Shorter sentences are better than longer sentences. 

 

It would be really good to have example sentences where you actually make the mistake in your real life situations and have the correct audio to shadow.  That would help target your practice to those words you use in real life.

 

Starting out, it is better not to use new words but have words that you’re already familiar with because this is purely an aural/voice exercise.

 

My impression is that Taiwanese mandarin is a bit softer with the tones which can be harder to differentiate. 
 

It really is repetitive practice needing a couple of hundred tries in the beginning. 
 

If you’re looking for more exercises in systematic fashion, then this book has them.

 

https://books.google.com.hk/books/about/Intermediate_Spoken_Chinese.html?id=7TAiDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&gboemv=1&ovdme=1&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

[Flickserve]

Just to add a little more. What I found personally after the practice was when I speak aloud a sentence, my ear can ‘hear’ my incorrect tone. I then automatically repeat the sentence with the correct tone.

 

Some days are good days and some days are bad days. If you’re mentally tired, your control of your speech is less tuned in. If you have been using your native language a lot and then try to switch, it takes a bit of time to adjust and get your rhythm again. 

[suMMit]

On 2/26/2024 at 2:00 AM, Laban said:

Regarding the tone 2 difficulty: this is something that I most often do not even hear myself - it is my wife (native Taiwanese) who points this out.  I tend to practice with her whenever we have time, but so far it has not been easy.  It is not that tone 2 alone is hard, it is with certain words or sentences where the combination of other tones around it tends to make it hard.  Often it is with tone 3->2 combos or 2->1 combos.  Any advice for how to improve this (preferably on my own, not to have to harass my wife too long or find a teacher)?

 

I would recommend practicing tone pairs. The All Set learning ones are good, I did them when I  started :

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmQvimdURTY&list=PLoJZIl2vo0U27fFBzlkDoaM4rUvnKSYog&index=10

 

I am with you on harassing the wife, I speak Chinese a lot with my wife, but I try to keep any "teaching /help" to the bare minimum.

 

On 2/24/2024 at 11:08 PM, Laban said:

a bit much to keep up with every day (maybe 400-500 cards per day) and I am considering stop doing the Pleco deck.

 

Yeah, that's a lot. I do around 6 min a day of flashcards, which is what I have set my srs as my "daily minimum". I usually just do that every day and stop there, not sure how many word that is, probably 50. I have only ever used https://www.hackchinese.com/ for SRS.