SRS Apps are Smart
Anki allows me to easily answer each card with multiple choices. Choose hard and I'll see the card again sooner, easy and I will see it much later. Not only does this help keep information in mind until it can be bound to long term memory, but it also reduces the tedium of seeing cards you know too well. Another benefit is that I don't toss old cards into a box and forget to look at them again months later when I might have forgotten them.
SRS Apps Reduce Clutter
On a related note...no cards! Cards take up a lot of space and are wasteful. I already have a phone and computer, so using Anki doesn't take up any extra money, resources or space.
Anki Uses Cloud Storage
It only takes one button press to syncronize my cards on my phone with those on my PC. This makes it easy to create cards on a PC where I can easily switch between languages or access the web and then load them onto my phone. It also means I can't lose my cards to a freak mishap.
Loading Media into Cards
I'd be really impressed to see someone load a sound clip into a paper flash card. You can load just about any common media into Anki cards including pictures, sound and video. You can even insert hyperlinks. This goes hand-in-hand with what I think is really the best way to learn anything: bind the terminology with some real, tangible experience. Binding information to stories and imagination works well too as James Heisig found when he came up with his method of Kanji memorization. Getting creative with making flash cards can take a lot of time, but so can memorizing things. Putting in the work up front may in many cases produce better results in the long run.
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How I Make and Use my Cards
What I'm studying lately is a lot of information taken from a standardized test. The first thing I've been doing with my vocab deck is making a card for each entry in my vocab book. That's a lot of cards. Something like two thousand when I'm done, I think. There's far too much material to remember it all through rote memorization. To get it to stick I have to tie it to memories wherever I possibly can. One method is putting some time between studying each lesson and taking the mini quiz. Another is reading a novel every day and taking note when I see words I have learned. If it's one I struggle with, I make a card out of the whole sentence and tag it with the author's name. Sometimes I simply ask a person about the word. Do they actually use it in conversation? In writing? Is it old? Is there a kanji for it? What kind of nuance does it have? How does it compare to its synonyms? Anything that is pertinent and especially interesting will help me remember the word later on. And finally, one of the best ways is to go out of my way to use the word. Use it wrong and people will make a funny face (hopefully) and I can ask why. Use it correctly and the conversation will flow smoothly. I feel good about it and remember it based on that emotional experience.
Memorizing information in bulk is terribly boring. I don't think there is any way around that, but I do think there are many ways to do it as efficiently as possible. And there are ways to set yourself up for reinforcement and encouragement when you read something smoothly, express yourself in conversation, understand key information or simply realize that you aced a question on an inefficient, unnecessary standardized test. Good luck to anyone else taking the test this July! Only three more weeks to go!
