Flashcards are a way to practice recall on a schedule. They are a poor way to meet a language for the first time. Read or listen enough to find words worth keeping, then use cards to make those words available later. A good card asks one question you might need in real use. A weak card copies a dictionary entry and hopes recognition will turn into speech.
When a card helps
Use a card for a word, a short phrase, or a sentence pattern you have already seen in context and want to produce again. Skip cards for things you can already use without effort, and skip cards for words you cannot imagine meeting. If a grammar point needs a paragraph of explanation, study that explanation elsewhere, then card only the piece you mix up, such as the preposition or the verb form.
One fact per card
If the back of the card lists four meanings, you will remember that a list exists and not the meaning you needed. Split senses. “Charge” as a fee and “charge” as rush forward are two cards, each with its own sentence. The extra cards take less time than one card you always half-know.
Write a prompt that forces an answer
Decide what you want to be able to do, then hide that part.
- Production: the front is your language or a short definition. The back is the word. You must say the word before you flip.
- Recognition: the front is the word in a sentence with the meaning covered. Use this for words you only need while reading.
- Collocation: the front shows “depend ___” or “a set of ___”. The back is the missing piece plus the full phrase.
- Form: the front gives the base word and a cue such as “noun”. The back is the form you confuse, such as advice rather than advise.
Say the answer aloud or type it. Thinking “I sort of know it” and flipping is how a deck turns into a slideshow. If you were wrong, read the back once, look away, and answer again before you move on.
Example sentences
Put one sentence on the card, short enough to remember. Prefer a sentence you might say. “The train was late” teaches more everyday language than a literary sentence you will never reuse. Mark the word you are learning so the rest of the sentence can act as a clue.
Check that the sentence really needs that word. If you can guess it from the other words every time, the prompt is too easy and the interval will grow before you have learned anything. Change the sentence or ask for the word from your own language instead.
Pictures and audio
A picture helps when the word is a concrete object and your language has no clean equivalent, or when you want to avoid translating. A picture of “bank” will not tell you whether you mean a riverbank or a financial bank. Use the picture as a support, and keep the sentence.
Audio is worth adding for words you must pronounce. Listen, then say the word before you flip to any written answer. Do not let audio become a passive playlist. The card still needs a question.
What a study session looks like
- Review due cards first. New cards wait until reviews are under control.
- Read the front. Look away. Answer.
- Flip. If you missed, note whether the card is unclear or you simply forgot.
- Rewrite unclear cards after the session, not in the middle of a rush.
- Add a few new cards from something you read or heard today, each with one sentence.
- Stop while you can still imagine doing this tomorrow.
Ten focused minutes a day will beat a monthly hour. The schedule only works if the gaps stay roughly intact. The spaced repetition guide explains how those gaps should grow and shrink.
Cards you should delete or rewrite
- You have known it instantly for many reviews. Let the interval get long, or suspend it.
- You miss it because two meanings are on one card. Split it.
- You miss it because you do not care about the word. Delete it.
- The example is so long you are memorizing the sentence, not the word. Shorten it.
- The card tests spelling of a word you only need to recognize. Change the prompt.
A small deck to start
Make one collection for a single goal, such as words from this week’s reading. Add eight to twelve cards. Include at least a few that ask you to produce the word, not only recognize it. Study them the same day and the next day. If the session is still pleasant, add more. If you are avoiding the app, the deck is too big or the cards are annoying. Fix that before you add anything.
Wordmemo Flashcards keeps the collection, the examples, and the review queue together, on the web and in the iOS and Android apps. Create the first collection from the flashcards page. For how many words to add and how to choose them, use how to learn new words faster.