Audio (TL) -> Translation (NL)

[Notorious MIBG]

I’ve tried a variety of flashcard templates at this point, working toward some happy medium in which I am able to exert the least amount of effort in creating the cards while gaining the most vocabulary/grammar acquisition per unit time committed.

One theme I’ve encountered in my second language acquisition life is the approach of learning the sounds of a language (hearing a language) before reading. This has been justified in many ways. For one, this is how children learn. They hear -> speak -> read/write. For another, it may help avoid drilling bad pronunciation by avoiding approximations of what we expect a word to sound like based simply on its written form, whether or not the script of the language is the same as our native language.

I’m beginning to wonder, and I can’t put my finger on why exactly, whether print on my flashcards, even at the point of feeling a basic comfort with the pronunciation of the language, and even when pairing the print with the audio, is detracting rather than adding to my learning of my second language (In my case, Korean). Currently, my template is this:

Index: [Word or idiomatic expression, which is never shown but just used to index which words/expressions I’ve placed into my deck]
Korean Sentence: [Sentence containing Index word or expression]
English Translation: [Self explanatory)
Korean Audio: [Self explanatory)

This information creates two types of cards

Card 1
Front: Korean sentence + Korean audio
Back: English translation + Korean audio + Korean sentence (in smaller font)

Card 2
Front: Korean audio
Back: Korean audio + Korean sentence + English translation (in smaller font)

What I’m now wondering is, in this nascent stage where I feel as though reading/writing is so much less important to me, somebody who really wishes to hear/speak, whether I should create cards that are like this, instead:

Front: Korean audio
Back: English translation

Perhaps never seeing the text printed in Korean, and listening alone, could be better for me. When the time comes to read I can always grab a big book with an audiobook companion and sit down and teach myself to read at a decent pace, but I’m wondering whether seeing the Korean text is somehow limiting my ability to retain new vocabulary at the pace I’d like, and also my ability to hear these words when they’re spoken (Since I learned them using written as a companion, which I won’t have in spoken conversations).

Ultimately, I can still have the written words in the data of the cards without displaying them, and turn the cards into text + audio cards at a later date.

Is exclusive use of audio-only target language cards for vocabulary building something people have experimented with as new learners of a foreign language?

[Xenops]

This is merely the opinion of a novice learner, but: if I had access to audio with matching text, I would use both together. Especially with French, where the pronunciation of the next letter changes depending on the proceeding letter. I understand that Korean isn't always transparent with its pronunciation either, so I would use the audio with the text until I was in the B-levels at least.

[eido]

I have rudimentary knowledge of Korean, but I know there's sound change rules in this language. They have corresponding spelling patterns. You could memorize these in isolation, but I think reinforcing them with audio would help. Learning like a kid I don't think will necessarily work since you want to be a literate adult - you can't replicate the process of learning the language aurally and then learning how to write it with the same success.

EDIT: I read your post a little more carefully and I see that you want to speak first and foremost. I'd still recommend learning the spellings. What you're going for is almost Pimsleur-like, and it might not suit you unless you really drill it. Also, for the most part the Korean alphabet will help you discern how to pronounce things. It's meant to be phonetic. You just have to learn the rules that go with it. I imagine this would only work well with the standard Seoul accent, but you'd probably have to ask one of the Korean speakers on the forum for clarification.