Is reading better than Anki? - Ask Ethan

In this episode of Ask Ethan, he answers the question: Can I substitute an SRS for reading?
Are SRS programs really necessary for immersion, or is reading sufficient. When you read a large body of work from a single author, you'll find they tend to favor specific words.
The truth is, yes, of course it's possible -- but is it a good idea? Are words repeated enough in text for you to remember them? Does that even matter? Tune in to find out!
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[@jonamachado]

I'm with Luca Lamparielo on that. He endorse reading as a natural SRS and has a tough position against Anki. I've tried Anki enough myself and with my students to make chorus with him on that matter.

[@papercliprain3222]

I used Anki till I knew about 5000 words then fell behind and kept trying to get back into it but was unsuccessful and think I’ve burned myself out on it so much I will never go back. So now I just add words I want to learn to google docs with the furigana and definition next to it and then I look at the list whenever I add a word. I’ve been doing that for a few months and it’s going well, I like to read books and like you said in the video typically authors repeat the same phrase and words a lot. I definitely think that Anki is worth it till you can learn from denser content like books and podcasts but once you can do that you don’t have to force yourself to use Anki if you don’t like it.

[@Daniel-qi1ld]

How long did it take you to know 5000 words?

[@Retog]

I’m in the exact same boat as you. Burned out after 5k words and can’t get back into it

[@paulwalther5237]

The biggest advantage with SRS is that you can control the words you study but just reading books you only learn whatever they use. But instead of word/sentence mining you could just make flash cards for stuff you want to use. If you're starting output you will quickly figure out stuff you want to say but can't. You could just make cards for these things. And it shouldn't add up to thousands of cards or anything. You may not even add to the deck for several days at a time. I'm playing with this idea with my Korean right now too. I'm thinking of just making flash cards for things I really want to say and just immersing for the other vocabulary. I'm a bit concerned that the "other vocabulary" won't grow as fast but it might work out really well too - I haven't tried it. I did learn German/French/Spanish before just through reading and listening but I wasn't concerned about output at all or how fast I learned. At that time I didn't know about spaced repetition either and I definitely wasn't disciplined enough to do an SRS system on my own without something like Anki. However studying European languages is a lot different than languages with a foreign script. You can get up to speed reading a language with the latin alphabet much faster and therefore benefit from immersion faster. Memorizing the Korean Hangul alphabet is one thing but being able to read books at a decent speed is another thing entirely.

[@GytisStankevičius-y8o]

The bottom line is that SRS is helpful to build the basic vocab foundation in the language like up to B1, max B2 level, but after that.. maybe a very limited use would be useful? But at the B2 level and beyond you might as well read more, try to use that word in writing, or just try to connect that word to what you already know, like focusing on trying to link to the synonyms you already know, or trying to learn more about the word itself, its origins or cultural implications. I think that's more active and engaging than just trying to rote memorize using Anki. In addition, anki is mainly about passive recognition, or just a tool to help you not forget, but not necessarily helping you to use the word in the real world. It has its place, but it has also its limits.

[@coolbrotherf127]

I used individual words with the JP1K deck then I'm creating my own sentence cards with my immersion materials. I spend probably 10x more time immersing than using SRS, but the SRS with sentence cards has been really helpful for review.

[@SoarseX]

Who dropped SRS, give a thumbs up. I dropped SRS in the middle of stage 2B, it is hard to recognize what is relevant to mine and my reviews are hard to be done.

[@Shibby27ify]

I use Anki right now, only for words and grammar points that I have difficulty with in my speaking, many of the cards I make are very simple things, but things that trip me up in my output. But I also do sort of an SRS with my reading, everyday I take a page of any random page of a book that I've read and slowly read it and look up any word I don't know. Then I re-read a page of a book that I've read read before. I mark and tally every page that I've re-read. So everyday I'm re-reading and I'm introducing more pages that I've intensely read into the mix. It's more random than a pure SRS but it really works.

[@Pedro94-dp]

So i gonna stick with Anki because i don't read books!

[@ThePhilologicalBell]

I think the big factor is how much of a hassle one finds it to look up a word. Let's say to learn a word I'll have to either review it five times in the SRS, or look it up five times. In my personal experience, reviewing it five times is much more comfortable, because looking words up interrupts my immersion flow etc. Also when looking it up you tend to only look up the one word, so all the time spent searching is repeated each time. Whereas with an SRS because you tend to review more than one word in a single sitting, you review things much faster. And personally I quite prefer the ability to just read things without needing to use a dictionary. Am willing to put in the hours with an SRS to make that happen.

[@huesophie299]

Hi, there’s a research paper about that. It’s by Paul Nation and it’s called How much input do you need to learn the most frequent 9000 words

[@gamalielbontilao3679]

I only use Srs like once a week lmao. It's a chore.

[@Pedro94-dp]

How many words do you learn once a week?

[@gamalielbontilao3679]

@@Pedro94-dp I don't count. Should be around 10-20.

[@KaruMedve]

They were wrong, ANKI was not around 1412. The first signs of ANKI can be traced back to around 3400 B.C. in an area called Sumer near the Persian Gulf (^_^)

[@georgeallen7487]

SRS is the easiest way for me to be engaged with simple/elementary content. It has to be a game for me to spend a significant amount if time with the language at that level.

[@georgeallen7487]

The SRS is my favorite part of my German day. I only use audio cards to get more bang for my buck.

[@noriller]

What helped me learn english was comics/manga. The visual aid made me understand a lot more than just text. (Also games, because you really want to understand what the missions are!)