A language learners’ forum

How's it going?

I think that gold list is more effective than anki for beginner/intermediate stages (provided you're getting your words from stuff you actually read/heard) since sometimes people anki words they don't need to anki since they can't tell how useful/common the word is. I was thinking in general for the beginner/intermediate stage you'd advance faster not using anki (making the cards, doing the cards takes up time and that time could be spent reading/listening) due to how common the common words are (you get natural srs because the words are that common). I do personally love using anki and I was thinking that anking after knowing about 5000 words or 2000 words some other big number is worth it.

Sayonaroo wrote:I think that gold list is more effective than anki for beginner/intermediate stages (provided you're getting your words from stuff you actually read/heard) since sometimes people anki words they don't need to anki since they can't tell how useful/common the word is. I was thinking in general for the beginner/intermediate stage you'd advance faster not using anki (making the cards, doing the cards takes up time and that time could be spent reading/listening) due to how common the common words are (you get natural srs because the words are that common). I do personally love using anki and I was thinking that anking after knowing about 5000 words or 2000 words some other big number is worth it.

But then surely you could use a pre-made deck in Anki and unsuspend the words as you encounter them (which is what I do). I've never agreed with the popular advice of making your own decks from scratch because it is very time consuming and yields little benefit. Surely for most learners, the time would be better spent engaging in the language. It is for this reason that using a most common words pre-made deck is the way to go in the beginning. It seems people forget that you can easily personalize these decks however you want. Add pictures/sentences/context etc.

The other argument in favor of using Anki right from the beginning is that it's portable, so you can use it in what would otherwise be dead-time. E.g. on a busy train, driving (using a bluetooth controller), waiting in a line etc. I'm not sure if the same could be said about the list methods.

4valor wrote:But then surely you could use a pre-made deck in Anki and unsuspend the words as you encounter them (which is what I do). I've never agreed with the popular advice of making your own decks from scratch because it is very time consuming and yields little benefit. Surely for most learners, the time would be better spent engaging in the language. It is for this reason that using a most common words pre-made deck is the way to go in the beginning. It seems people forget that you can easily personalize these decks however you want. Add pictures/sentences/context etc.

The other argument in favor of using Anki right from the beginning is that it's portable, so you can use it in what would otherwise be dead-time. E.g. on a busy train, driving (using a bluetooth controller), waiting in a line etc. I'm not sure if the same could be said about the list methods.

Time consuming? Depending on the nature of your cards (Images? Audio? Multiple fields?) and how many you add. For a bunch of cards from a typical lesson, plain L2-L1, I just copy/paste the contents into a tab-separated text document and then import it. It may take a minute or two. I'm now reviewing stuff that I've already been studying, so no random list of fruits or kitchen utensils. That's the main benefit of a self-made deck (or goldlist), I think.

The point of this thread is precisely to EXPERIMENT to see which method is better, to save you the trouble of going My method is better, No mine is better, No if you use your method poorly then my method is better, No my... no... mine... no...

Finally throwing in my 2 cents. I started Goldlist when the challenge started. Plus I use regular flashcards and Memrise.

I love Goldlist. The calming effect, the perfect notebook. The tranquility of it all.

Has Goldlist helped me to move words into long-term memory? Sadly, not at all. Not a single word. And I can't honestly imagine doing it all the way through the Gold notebook--18 weeks--to learn a word (if then) when it manages to get drummed in in Memrise or carrying around a flashcard in a matter of days.

But I do like the group Facebook posts with the guy that does his list in a bakery with all the cakes.

So for me--Memrise, flashcards, and I'm going to go find the explanation of Iversen's method that I found interesting but haven't tried yet.

How's it going?

zenmonkey wrote:24 Jan 2018

4) 60, 120, 180 days in, do a recall test on a limited sample from the original list. Sample test should not interfere significantly with the following tests.

I wonder what the 60th day test results are!

CarlyD wrote:So for me--Memrise, flashcards, and I'm going to go find the explanation of Iversen's method that I found interesting but haven't tried yet.

You can find an explanation of my wordlist layout here (as chapter 2.6 of my guide to language learning). There is also an article on a wiki somewhere, but the chapter in the guide is more up to date - I have changed my opinions of revision methods a bit since the wiki was written).

smallwhite wrote:How's it going?

Sorry! SORRY!

Ok. I'll make a short update now and a longer one later.

Basically for me Gold List was a bust.

I found that I could not retain words for an A0/A1 language with a new script without a much higher frequency. Not only did this result in poor recall but issues with transcription to oral production also arose. And the psychological factors of not having a tool to *restack* what was due just made consistency a larger issue. Again - my own issues were more apparent with this method.

Surprisingly - I did find some success with my B2/C1 tests and sentences. More later when I have time to also present the math.