Vocabulary memorization is the foundation of English language learning, and Anki is the best way to memorize vocabulary. There are good ways to use Anki, and bad ways to use Anki. Let’s get better at memorizing new words and look at 9 do’s and don’ts of making English Anki cards!
If you don’t know how to get started with Anki, please read the beginner’s guide to making Anki cards for vocabulary, and if you already use it but struggle with making flashcards for difficult words, please read How to Make Anki Flashcards for Difficult English Vocabulary.
Do Use Pictures
One of the most important keys to memorization is using pictures. Pictures help us grasp the meaning of the word so much better than just words. As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words (which is the idea behind our 1pic1000words lessons!). Without pictures, we memorize things blindly.
See how memorable it is? If you see this picture regularly, you will never forget the meaning of “criminal”.
Don’t Use Ambiguous Pictures
An ambiguous picture is one that could have multiple meanings. It isn’t clear what the exact meaning is. If the card comes up in your review and you can’t remember exactly what the meaning is, then you’ll also struggle to remember the word, and in a real-life situation you won’t remember either one!
Like this image. Does it mean “capture”, “criminal”, “handcuffs”, or “prisoner”? It really isn’t clear enough to have one meaning. When making English Anki cards, make sure the pictures aren’t ambiguous.
Do Use Audio
If you want to learn to speak English, and not just read it for tests, you have to hear what it sounds like. Add audios to every single vocabulary card you have. This way, you can train your listening and pronunciation. We learn language first through listening, and so we ought to have audios on all our cards.
Not sure where to get audios? You can ask an English native if you know one, or better yet, go to Forvo. Forvo is the best online audiobank for learning languages. You can find almost any word on it, and if you sign up you can download them for free. You then put the audio on the card so you hear it regularly.
Hearing the words like this regularly will definitely improve your memory, listening, and pronunciation!
Don’t Record Yourself and Don’t Have Long Recordings
It’s tempting to just use your own voice, but the problem is that you don’t have native pronunciation, and you won’t improve your pronunciation at all. You have to set the standard at native so that you can improve the way you sound.
Can you hear the difference? Listening to this version of the word “criminal” is simply not the best.
I’ve also made the mistake of having long recordings on my cards, with sentences on each card. The problem with this is that it slows you down. After a while, I got sick of hearing the sentences and just skip to the next card before the sentence is over. I thought it was a great idea at first, but then I stopped later.
Do Make Meaning Cards
A meaning card is where you are supposed to think of the meaning based on what you see, hear, or read; then say the word. This trains your brain to connect the meaning with the word. Your English Anki cards should be based on meaning.
That means you also can’t be given the meaning. There should be information that is missing from the card, that you have to fill in. It’s a little test for your brain to see if you have memorized the word correctly.
See how this picture is obviously trying to get the meaning of “efficiency”? To make it test the meaning, have the picture on the front and the word on the back.
Don’t Make Translation Cards
I can’t tell you enough, learning vocabulary through your own language is the least effective way. That’s why I don’t recommend systems like Duolingo or Mondly, but strongly recommend Rosetta Stone. Using translation is the easy way out that doesn’t get you very far. If you want to master a language, you have to learn it through submersion. If you learn through your language, you will never learn to think in the new language and that will always prevent you from communicating clearly. Trust me, I’ve had hundreds of students struggle with this.
Sorry, this isn’t doing much more than teaching you a little information. These language learning systems are usually free because they are unbelievably cheap to make, and they’re popular because they make you think you are learning the language. Don’t do this to yourself by making English Anki cards that rely on translation!
Do Give Hints
Sometimes, we need a little hint to help us remember the word or phrase. That’s fine, especially because sometimes it’s hard to see exactly what the picture you used is trying to get across. Or maybe you make a listening or reading card, and the word has more than one meaning. You can give a hint then to help you figure out.
This Korean word means both “car” and “tea” and it sounds exactly the same for both. On your listening or reading card, you could give a little hint, like an emoticon 🛞 to help you know which one it is. But don’t give the answer, which is the next don’t.
Think about the word “nail” in English. It could mean the hard things at the end of your fingers, a long, sharp piece of metal for attaching things together, or to do a good job on something! You’ll definitely need hints to know which meaning of the word you want to recall if you are doing a word-on-the-front-picture-on-the-back card.
Don’t Give Away Answers
For the best learning results, you have to actually challenge yourself. Don’t show the question and the answer at the same time. Show the question and think of the answer. Then reveal the answer to see if you were right. This mimics real life language use much better. It’s like when your teacher asks students in the room questions instead of just saying the answers. It makes a big difference.
For the previous example, a hint like 🚗 is bad, because it tells you the answer. You have the word and the meaning together. This way works a tiny bit, but what usually happens is we turn of our brains and go through the answers, then nothing sinks in.
The worst kind of Anki cards you can make (besides complete nonsense) is to have the English and the translation together on the front of the card. You aren’t training your brain, instead, you’re simply reminding yourself of something.
Do Make Lots of Cards
Anki is so effective and helpful, you should be making lots of cards. Almost every new word you learn should be put into Anki. This helps you to retain everything in the long run. Making lots of English Anki cards makes the whole language a long-term thing, not just the parts you happen to remember or use often.
Anki should be a growing library of information for you.
Don’t Make Lots of Similar Cards
Are there words that have the same or very much the same meaning? How about words like “duplicate”, “double”, and “copy”? If you make similar cards for all three, you’ll find yourself getting confused, and that will slow down your learning and cause frustration.
Either make the three words with three very different cards (each in it’s own context) or put all three words on the same card or only choose one for now and learn the others later.
Do Go Back and Modify Cards
Sometimes, when you learn a new method or realize you made some mistakes, it’s important to go back and modify cards. Maybe the spelling was wrong and you need to fix it, or you didn’t realize you could use audios, so now you want to go back and add audios to your cards.
It’s important to make these modifications because you don’t want to remember things the wrong way or continue in an inefficient method. It’s like maintaining a helicopter so it can continue to fly for a long time!
Don’t Go Back and Rewrite Decks
You shouldn’t go back and rewrite all of the Anki cards you have ever made, though. This will take a lot of time, and a lot of it will be a waste because you are putting in thought and energy into words you have already mastered. Did you already master the word “apple”? Then why go back and add an audio to it?
If you keep restarting every few months, you won’t be making it as far as you should. You’ll be holding yourself back! As a famous YouTuber once said, “Don’t let perfect get in the way of good enough.” (I can’t remember who said it.)
Do Be Creative
Making English Anki cards that are memorable and clear takes creativity. You have to think and put in some hard work. It is important to be creative in the cards you make so you remember better and even have more interest in reviewing. If all of your cards have exactly the same style, you will get bored; but if you use different styles, like drawings, pictures, cartoons, etc., you will find it more enjoyable to review.
A little bit of beauty, humor, and uniqueness in your Anki will go a long way in helping you remember the new words and enjoy reviewing.
Don’t Get Carried Away
It can be easy to get carried away looking for the right picture to be funny for every word. Sometimes we don’t have the time and just need to accept a simple, regular photo. Don’t get carried away with every card or you won’t have enough time to make all the cards you need.
You could also get carried away by making English Anki cards a bit too crazy, a bit too unique or creative. That can be a problem because you might forget what the meaning is when you review.
To remember the word “hand” this is a very unique and memorable picture, but it’s also going to make you think of words like “bridge”, “support”, and “sculpture”, so it probably won’t be good in the long run.
Summary
So, Anki is awesome, but we need to be awesome, too, to make our language learning effective and fulfilling, and whether you are studying for IELTS, the joy of reading English books, general speaking, partaking in English culture, travel, or any other reasons, be careful to make cards the right way, and avoid making some of these mistakes to make sure you are growing straight and strong as an English tree!