Using Anki as an intermediate or advanced learner

[zjones]

There is a thread with almost exactly the same name, Intermediate and Advanced use of Anki, but I was saddened to discover that it's actually about using Anki in advanced ways (making pretty cards, coding, stuff like that).

I'm interested in hearing people's ideas for using Anki when you're at an intermediate or advanced level in your target language. Do you use it at all? Do you feel like it's still useful at this stage? If you do use it, what are your methods?

[rdearman]

I think that anki is probably more useful at an intermediate and advanced stage then it is during the Beginner phase. My reasoning is that for intermediate and advanced users you need to know less common words. So you will not encounter them with the Frequency you encounter common words while reading or listening. You are quite likely to encounter common words thousands of times in Any Given book. However you may need to remember subject specific vocabulary if for example you were going to take a driving test or you needed to ask how to repair a washing machine. Very poor examples I know.

[NoManches]

Great topic! I was also saddened to see that the other post wasn't referring to using Anki as an advanced learner.... although that was a great post for those seeking out advanced uses of Anki.

I won't talk too much about Anki...I've talked about it a lot in other posts and probably in my language log(s) as well.

What I can say is that the tempt to use Anki at an advanced level grows greater all the time. There are some words I could really benefit from knowing but do not come across then often enough at the advanced level. I would never (personally) use Anki to learn obscure words in Spanish literature for example. However, I would be inclined to learn words that I would like to produce...words relating to my hobbies and job. Now that I think of it, Anki was always more enjoyable when I wanted to learn words for output purposes, rather than input purposes. There was a period when I used Anki while reading/listening in an attempt to boost my comprehension. This is like a never ending task and I do not recommend it unless you have a ton of time on your hands.

[NoManches]

I have decided to start using Anki again in preparation for the DELE C1 exam which I will be taking in November. I feel like Anki will help my studies tremendously, by allowing me to have greater exposure to more advanced vocabulary.

As part of this new "experiment", I plan on sticking to the following guidelines:

-Limit Anki study to < 30 minutes each day. I plan on doing all of my Anki study in one sitting if possible (although I've always liked the idea of filling idle time in my day with flashcards).

-I will only add words that I come across while reading newspaper articles, educational magazines (National Geographic en Español, Muy Interesante, etc). I will also add just about any word that I fail to produce during conversation with my tutors, if I feel like it is an important word to know for the DELE exam. At this stage in my Spanish, there should very rarely be a time when I can't express myself in Spanish.

-My flashcards will be as simplistic as possible. I will make "basic (and reverse) cards". No pictures. No audio. 1 example sentence will be added when possible.

-For now I will stick with learning no more than 10 new cards each day. I may add to this but am more inclined to lower the number. I'm looking to add good, quality, advanced vocabulary only at this point, since my vocabulary is already quite large (at least I think so ).

The goal here is to get the most out of Anki without putting too much effort into making and maintaining cards. Before I had problems with being an Anki addict, and while it BOOSTED my level of Spanish far above my classmates in as little one summer break, I think Anki should supplement native materials, not the other way around.

I will try to keep track of progress and/or thoughts about Anki in my language log. Hoping to have some better input for this thread when November rolls around.

[mystlg18]

I've tried all types of cards; lately I've come to the conclusion that "cloze" cards either with context, or without context but with a hint in English is the way to go for me. I actually just got through making a post about it after having read that same post you mentioned. I've turned away from English to Spanish and Spanish to English full sentences cards, because I usually don't need to know the entire sentence (already do), and therefore want to focus on the "cloze" part. This also doesn't completely reduce the issue of having my native language on the cards, but highly reduces it. Also, it helps me create cards in the context in which I was exposed to them, rather than have to embed that new word and/or construction into my own sentence on the fly. Thus, I consequently do not have to find an example sentence from a website such as SpanishDict, etc. I really think it is the way to go for somebody at the intermediate/advanced level, however, I have no scientific sources to backup and justify my sentiments. My experience has been purely anecdotal, and in that of itself is sufficient for me.

[zenmonkey]

Good extension to the other thread!

Personally, yes , I think Anki is useful at advanced stages. The content and scope for me varies - more sentences, more drills, less single words, less recordings as I move forward. I also spend time getting rid of learned cards.

An intermediate or advanced learner can probably get more by remembering to delete, delete, delete. Delete the cards you are never going to learn, delete those that are learned and set to 3 years out from now. Focus on using the tool actively and minimizing your wasted time ...

With my current level of German (B2) I’m thinking of cleaning up some pronunciation issues and adding the verbs I don’t know from the top 501 verbs. I’ve been dumping a lot of my movie/song SRS files because they aren’t that useful anymore.