What can I do if I'm not technologically proficient?

[nooj]

I'm technologically illiterate. I tried Anki for the first time recently, but being too dumb for that as well, I guess I'm not getting the best benefit out of it, and I find it more comforting to just use my notebook where I write down notes.

Am I really missing out if I am not technically proficient and don't know how to use these language learning tools?

[jeff_lindqvist]

What are your problems? How to use it? Why to use it? Something else?

[nooj]

A mix of the two.

I made a lot of decks and I just run through them. Then I got a message saying I should have several big decks instead?

One of the big inconvenients for me is that I don't like carrying around my computer everywhere, whereas I do carry around my books.

Also, I can't check all of the vocabulary and find the one that I am thinking about, so I have to go through all of the cards one by one to find it.

I don't know if it's just me, I retain things a lot better when I write things down, letter by letter, instead of typing it or copy pasting. It does take longer, I admit, but it's like when I write stories, I prefer to write on paper rather than to use Word.

[aaleks]

Am I really missing out if I am not technically proficient and don't know how to use these language learning tools?

I've never used Anki etc. and am not planning to use such tools in a near future. But I like to read and at the same time the process of looking up words in a dictionary while reading a book doesn't get me annoyed. Maybe I'm missing something out but I like things the way they are right now.

(and tbh I don't like language learning apps. I don't know why but they usually bore me).

[smallwhite]

Am I really missing out if I am not technically proficient and don't know how to use these language learning tools?

If you're giving up Anki or other technology because you can't use them and not because you can but choose not to use them, yes, I think you're missing out.

Anki has a very well-written Manual:
Anki > Docs > Anki 2.0 User Manual
Even the technologically literate will need to read it to get the best benefit out of Anki. Have you read it? There is also:
Anki > Support
where you can find a forum where you can see other people's questions answered and where you can ask your own questions, and "short intro videos that address some common topics". Have you used them?

[Decidida]

Knowing when and when not to use technology is an ongoing dilemma for me. Many factors change over time, and I have to adapt. There are so many variables to consider, such as what technology you have and what working condition it is in, what language(s) you are using, your physical and mental abilities, your learning style, your study environment, your current educational goals, and on and on. And those variable can change for some of us over time, sometimes drastically.

Any current choices of mine are not choices I consider to be permanent ones. I just fly by the seat of my pants trying to learn as much as I can as fast as I can.

I was recently evaluated by a professional to see what assistance technology could provide for me starting college. I declined some things offered and thankfully accepted others that I didn't know even existed, or didn't know how much they have improved over the past few years, or just hadn't considered in light of how much I have changed.

Choosing not to use Anki this month or this year doesn't mean it is something off the table forever. Most of the time, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Xenops]

I actually learned how to use Anki by watching Gabriel Wyner's videos:


I also have picture-by-picture demonstration of how I make/use cards: https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3897&start=170#p89728

[emk]

Am I really missing out if I am not technically proficient and don't know how to use these language learning tools?

I really, really like high-tech language-learning tools. I've been known to build them.

But that said, the single most useful things I ever did learning French were:

1. Read, listen to, and watch huge amounts of French material during the Super Challenge.
2. Decide to speak French on a regular basis for important conversations.
3. Write 50 to 100 words of French a day for a month and get it corrected.

A while back, I took a bunch of French vocabulary tests, which claimed that I had a vocabulary of around 15,000 words, maybe a bit more. (This is plausible. 15,000 words is supposedly pretty typical for somebody who has been immersed in using French in day-to-day life, full-time, for a year.) For comparison purposes, there were about 1,500 cards in my French Anki deck. Admittedly those were mostly sentence cards, so sometimes I maybe learned two words per card.

But as you can see, at least 80% to 90% of my French vocabulary was either (1) learned from context, or (2) sufficiently cognate with English that I didn't need to "learn" it. Anki was absolutely useful, though, because it helped me learn a lot of less common vocabulary that refused to "stick" just from context.

However, there are other ways of learning less-common vocabulary, including things like Iversen's word lists. At one point, Iversen and I compared the amount of time I spent learning words in Anki, and the amount that he spent learning them with word lists, and it worked out to maybe 3 minutes, total, for each obscure word that we learned. So neither paper nor technology had a clear advantage.

I do think that spaced repetition is very powerful. But you can do it with paper cards, or specially-designed courses with built-in repetition, or just by frequently encountering common expressions in native media.

[Cavesa]

An excellent thread, thanks for it!

I agree with the already expressed sentiment that it is different to choose not to use these things and not being able to. Especially due to the fact that some of them, like Anki, look more complicated than they really are.

Anki: the easiest way is to use it as it is, not change algorhytms and such things. It works well. Making your own card deck is the best, but premade ones are ok too. I also have a lot of decks (I've been recently using Anki more for other studies than languages), and I don't find there any huge inconvenience, as the number of new cards and reviews is an overall number, it is up to you to click on what you need.

You don't need to carry your computer around, if you've got a smartphone or tablet. I found paying the one time fee for the app to be a very good investment. If you don't, but you have wifi in the places you tend to go through during the day, the web version is completely free, just like the desktop one.

The Anki manual is very good. But if you are still confused by something, you can ask either here, on on the support forum. The Anki's creator is very active and helpful.

If you want to try SRS, but Anki still looks offputting, there are other options you might like. Memrise is very good, if you find good courses, which is not that easy. Basically, the best way is to ask around, or look up individual people who share one course with you, and get inspired on their lists, as the official search function doesn't work well. And the official courses are not good, in my opinion.

Or there is Clozemaster, which is much more about context, and it uses typing, just like Memrise, without having to set it up in some complicated way (like in Anki). Free website, free app, option to pay for extra functions. You don' need any technological skills for it at all.

Or Readlang, which is another such option, based on your own texts you upload into it, get translations with one click, and the words are also saved for later studying.

All that being said, I totally understand you may choose to opt out of these tools completely. Vast majority from my French vocabulary (or English) comes from studying with coursebooks and workbooks, and from lots and lots of input. Extensive reading and listening works great for vocabulary acquisition, it just takes time (but the bigger time investment is compensated by lots of other value from these methods). So, SRS based tools are not necessary at all.

Wordlists on paper, or Goldlists are great too and some methods work similarily to SRS, just on paper. Paper also has other qualities: many people learn better from it. It has been proved by neuroscience, that studying even from a book differs for paper and ebook, each activating different pathways. So, opting out of the computer based tools may actually be a great choice for some learners.

[tarvos]

Just so you know, you don't need to carry your laptop around because you can use Anki on your phone.

Dutch universities actually recommend Anki for certain courses (I think a course on Chinese characters recommended students use Anki to learn them).