Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

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ASleepyGuy
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Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby ASleepyGuy » Mon May 15, 2017 4:10 am

I was reading an article on how best to make flashcards (https://fluent-forever.com/create-better-flashcards/), and one of the important takeaways was to use images to speed up understanding. Now, Googling an image for every piece of vocabulary seems like a daunting task - though something I'm considering.

First, do you reckon this is worth the effort?
Second, what do you suppose is the most efficient way of tracking down pictures? Do you know of any picture dictionary that has a uniform image size? Has anyone already done this, and have a zip file?
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Re: Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby mcthulhu » Mon May 15, 2017 11:38 am

I think it's probably worth the effort - I think that site may even suggest that the process of choosing the right image for a word helps to fix it in your memory.

For what it's worth, you don't need to do a separate Google search for each word. The query "tree OR dog OR cat," for example, as in the advanced query, will give you separate images for each word within the same result set, as opposed to pictures of a dog treeing a cat. I don't know what the maximum query length might be, but you could test it.

Also, the Google Images advanced query lets you specify the approximate image size you want. You could also try the Image Downloader extension for Chrome, which I think lets you filter by exact width and height, etc., and may make downloading images easier. Filtering by size wouldn't even be necessary, though, if you also used a bulk image resizer after downloading, to set the whole collection to whatever dimensions you wanted at the same time; I think there are a few of these utilities around that you could Google for.
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Tomás
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Re: Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby Tomás » Mon May 15, 2017 7:20 pm

I like srs, and I like visual flashcards, but I would not do this beyond the first thousand or two words. After that your time is better spent on reading and listening.
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Re: Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby zKing » Tue May 16, 2017 12:50 am

I did this for the Fluent Forever Italian vocab list (~600 words IIRC).
I just searched www.google.it and copied them into Anki one by one. Didn't really worry about image size at all.
It did take a while, and it was sometimes frustrating picking a good image, but I also felt like I learned a bit "extra" by seeing all the images associated with a word. (e.g. "punto" is more than a dot, it is also a common model of small car.)
I also "bonded" with the images as I picked some funny/interesting ones that I liked.

Was it worth the effort? I'm torn...
Yes, I learned those words.
Yes, the words seemed to stick faster/better with the images.
Was is SO much better that the extra time to find the images was worthwhile? I dunno.
If you find it "fun", it is probably worthwhile, but I suspect it is a wash... I could have been doing a lot of reviews in the time I was creating those image cards.

I will say, I would never do it for more than the first 1000 words or so (in fact, I'm not a fan of SRS grinding more than about 1000 single words, and only to bootstrap the language.) After you get a foothold, there are just so many better ways to keep learning. (my definition of better: more fun, easier to do for longer, less stressful... not necessarily more efficient)

Bottom line: IMO, the real value of these gimmicky methods is in their ability to hold your interest and keep you from quitting. I don't think they provide a noticeable difference in efficiency over the long term. If you find it more fun, do it.
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Re: Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby DangerDave2010 » Tue May 16, 2017 11:34 am

I had written a Python script that would take a wordlist and get images for all of them automatically. I'd post it but it is currently non-functional due to changes in the pages.
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Re: Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby tommus » Tue May 16, 2017 11:52 am

DangerDave2010 wrote: take a wordlist and get images for all of them automatically.

How effective do you think that was? The reason I ask is that I have tried that too, both with software, and manually with Google Images. But I have abandoned that approach.

The problem is that, for a whole page full of images, there may be one or two that represent the meaning of the word, but most do not. And the automatic search probably will not find the best one, or even a correct one. For concrete nouns, such as dog, cat, house, etc., it works well. But such words are easiest anyway. Verbs, adverbs, adjectives, abstract words, etc are much more difficult. And these, especially abstract words, are the hardest to learn. It may take several pages of Google Images to find a suitable representation.

After trying images in various ways, including "visual vocabulary" books, I find that the effectiveness (especially considering the time spent) is very low. And I am a "visual learner". But time spent with a pop-up dictionary while reading these words in context is time much better spent. But people learn in different ways. As they say, your mileage may vary.
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Re: Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby DangerDave2010 » Tue May 16, 2017 10:46 pm

tommus wrote:How effective do you think that was? The reason I ask is that I have tried that too, both with software, and manually with Google Images. But I have abandoned that approach.


I've used this mainly for lists of concrete objects. I would get an excessive amount of images, 10 for each word, and delete those that would not match. These were used with an SRS system that would show a different image on each review. For things and objects that are specific to the culture (such as regional food), the use of images is absolutely necessary. For the rest, it is just nice to have it.

For non concrete words (i.e. bad image correlation), I have found that it is better not to bother to get an image for them.
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Re: Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby polyglotponderings » Fri May 19, 2017 8:27 pm

I have struggled with this approach. When I read the book Fluent Forever, the method seemed to make sense. However, I have tried twice, now, to implement this method, and it just doesn't seem to work practically for me. Maybe because I am using it for Russian...I don't know. Here are a couple of examples.

-лишь - only, merely, just, as soon as. I cannot imagine a picture that would represent this, and apparently neither can google. Also, how would I find a picture that distinguishes is from other words that have similar meanings (e.g. только).

-взрываться - to blow up, detonate. How do I find a picture that is distinctly different from the perfective form (взорваться) with the same meaning or the non-reflexive versions of both?

Also, I timed myself one time to make the kind of flashcards proposed in the book/article. Even using the multisearch tool I was only able to complete around 10-15 in 30 minutes. Most of the time was spent trying to find a picture by using different search terms and looking through many images to try and find one that was even remotely related. At that rate, though, it would take a full workday just to create 250 cards.

Lastly, doesn't using pictures like this to learn words and concepts seem very similar to what Rosetta Stone is doing. One of the criticisms I've heard often of RS is that it's very difficult if not impossible to deduce the word or phrase based on a static image.

I could see it working for basic concrete nouns, but it doesn't seem worth it to me beyond that. While it seems like a very methodical approach, I wonder if you would learn more by just reading and using words. Still looking for the perfect sure-fire method... ;)
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Re: Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby Xenops » Sat May 20, 2017 1:07 am

I've been researching Wyner's methods and have made 200+ cards on Anki for French. I'm also looking at using the method for Japanese.

When people are making cards, perhaps they are focusing too much on "getting the cards ready to learn words in SRS", rather than using the card creation time to cement the words initially. I see card creation time as an opportunity to "date" the word, spend some time on it, see what meanings it can hold, how it sounds, how the culture sees it, etc. If I can learn a word almost immediately rather than wait for the SRS to work it's magic, haven't I accomplished my goal?

In this article I think it was https://fluent-forever.com/japanese-radical-deck/, Wyner talks about using images that mean something to you. That's the difference between making your own cards and using Rosetta Stone: RS has generic cards, but you can make cards personal and meaningful to you. For example, for 大学, "university", I put a picture of University of Idaho, because that's a university that's meaningful to me. I've even cropped portions of my comic pages to illustrate an action, and put this images in the cards.

It's what you make it, I think.
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Re: Finding Images for Flashcard Vocabulary

Postby Cainntear » Tue Jun 06, 2017 10:21 pm

My thoughts are basically "nice in theory, but hardly worth the time."

At the end of the day, for the modest gains in efficiency shown by studies, it's an inefficient use of time, which is why we pay professionals to make our materials for us. There are massive problems with how professionals go about doing that, though, because even digital resources are being designed as though they were intended for publication in books.
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