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Comment by saubeidl

4 hours ago

Yeah, FSRS is much better. For me it was the difference between learning 10 new words of Mandarin a day and learning 20, with the same time commitment.

4 comments

saubeidl

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zelphirkalt  2 hours ago

To me it sounds like an incredible speed to learn even 10 Mandarin words per day, let alone 20. So extreme, that I must wonder, what definition of "Mandarin words" and what definition of "learned" you are using, when you are writing that, or, that you are an extreme outlier in terms of memorizing visual information.

For me really learning a word means:

    (1) Knowing how to say it.
    (2) Knowing how to write it, meaning the Chinese characters, of course.
    (3) Still remembering (1) and (2) after at least a month.
    (4) Being able to actually use the word correctly.

Do you really learn 20 words properly under those definitions? If so, then respect. I consider myself to have quite a good memory for visual information, but if I don't try to memorize 20 words as a full-time activity on that day, and write them hundreds of times, I am fairly sure they won't stick for long, maybe not even until the next day. Some obviously will, and some have good explanations why the characters look as they do, but others don't, and feel arbitrarily constructed.

  • coldblues  21 minutes ago

    You've just admitted that the way you use "learn" is different. It's you who is using it differently from the commonly agreed upon way. (3) is arbitrary, ideally you would want to remember the words for your entire lifetime. A lot of people don't care about (2), myself included. You'd only care if you want to live in the country and are presented with a lot of paperwork.

    You learn the words for a day (you're able to match the sounds and meaning to it). You will forget a lot of them tomorrow, so now you have to re-learn them. This is just how Anki works. You keep learning and re-learning until they stick for a prolonged period of time. It's common for Japanese learners to add between 20 or 30 words to their learning queue.

    If you understand how Anki works, you will also understand how the word learning is used in relation to its flashcard mechanism.

apt-apt-apt-apt  3 hours ago

Does using FSRS result in less retention, due to scheduling less reviews than other systems? Or is it actually more efficient in a meaningful way by cutting out unnecessary reviews?