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Copyright © Olly Richards 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

About

Hi, I’m Olly Richards and I’m the creator of the I Will Teach You A Language blog.

When I was 19, I went to live in Paris. There was one small problem, though. I didn’t speak French. Not one to back down from a challenge, I decided to learn it. Within six months, and after a lot of trial and error, and ups and downs, I was conversationally fluent.

I had caught the language bug!

I went back to London, and continued to learn new languages. Since then, I’ve become fluent in seven of them, including some of the world’s hardest languages, like Japanese, Cantonese and Arabic.

One day, I decided to start writing about how I do it, and started a blog.

These days, I continue to learn new languages and spend my time producing the highest-quality educational material out there to help others replicate my success.

With hundreds of students, and more than a smattering of success stories, I’ve discovered that anybody can become fluent in another language with the right guidance.

To find out more about me, why not visit the blog, or check out this interview with me, filmed in Cairo, Egypt!

Best wishes,- Olly

KEY POINTS

1. Learning vocabulary is the most important element of making quick progress in a new language

2. In order to do this you need an efficient system for learning

3. Flashcards with “spaced repetition” are one such system and are extremely effective for learning vocabulary

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IntroductionOf all the challenges facing you in a new language, learning enough vocabulary is probably the biggest of them all.

It’s disarmingly simple, when you think about it.

Whatever else you do, whatever else you learn, however else you study, often your ability to understand someone, or to make yourself understood, depends on one simple thing: Do you know enough words?

For me, there are two important implications of this.

Firstly, learning new vocabulary must be your number one priority when taking on a new language.

Secondly, you need an efficient system for learning that vocabulary.

You often hear people talking about the importance of enjoying the learning process and having fun with the language, and this is absolutely true.

However, it’s also true that a certain amount of “heavy lifting” is needed if you’re to get anywhere with the language.

Given that we’re all busy people, often with limited time for language learning in-amongst other commitments, any “heavy lifting” that we decide to do has to count!

This guide is all about how to do that “heavy lifting”.

It’s about how to learn foreign language vocabulary quickly, and not forget it.

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If you’re looking for an easy-going, relaxing, pencil-and-paper method for learning vocabulary, look elsewhere.

The flashcard system that I describe in this guide does not claim to be particularly fun.

However, it does claim to be effective.

By the end of the guide you will know exactly how to use spaced repetition technology to memorise vocabulary, how to make sure you don't forget it, and even better, how you can learn in such a way that you have all that vocabulary ready on the tip of your tongue when you come to speak with someone.

It’s a bold promise. But after learning seven foreign languages myself, it’s the most effective and efficient way I know to grow a solid vocabulary core quickly, and to start speaking fluently in months rather than years.

It is nonetheless true that some people do find flashcards boring and dislike using technology. Rather than simply saying: “This is not for you”, however, I wanted to offer a solution to people who feel this way, such that they can still benefit from the huge advantages of spaced repetition technology.

If you fall into this category, you should pay particular attention to the advice in sections 5 & 6. Although the basic study methodology will be the same, by being highly selective about the vocabulary you attempt to

memorise you can drastically reduce the amount of study time required every day.

By keeping your study time to bite-sized chunks, you can benefit from spaced repetition to help you learn the most important vocabulary of all quickly, whilst still leaving you time to study in other ways and do the things you enjoy the most.

Lastly, this guide has been kept deliberately short.

I’m a huge proponent of the 80/20 rule, which states that 80% of your gains will come from only 20% of the things you do. Learning vocabulary with flashcards is no exception.

I could have easily included five times the amount information, such as more advanced learning strategies, or tips on adjusting flashcard settings, for example, that, whilst very interesting, are not particularly important in the grand scheme of things.

80% of your success in using this method for learning vocabulary will come from following a few simple principles properly, and it’s these principles that are covered in this guide.

Good luck, and if you have any questions or feedback for me, you can reach me any time at: olly@iwillteachyoualanguage.com

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CHAPTER 1

Key Success Principles for Learning Vocabulary with Spaced Repetition

KEY POINTS

1. Spaced repetition is a system for learning information based on our understanding of human memory

2. You input new vocabulary into flashcard software and indicate how well you know each word

3. Vocabulary is then shown to you at strategic intervals (unknown words more often) so it enters quickly into your long-term memory and you don’t forget it

4. By studying in this way, you spend more of your time studying vocabulary that you don’t yet know well, thereby making learning extremely efficient

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What is spaced repetition?Spaced repetition is a system for learning information based on our understanding of human memory. It is often used by flashcard software, to make the learning process more efficient.

Let’s imagine you’re trying to learn ten new words. After inputting them into your flashcard software, you will indicate how well you know each word.

At the beginning, each new word will be shown to you quite often, so that you have plenty of opportunities to memorise it.

As you study, you will naturally start to remember two or three of the words, and you will tell the software which ones. Those two or three words will then be shown to you less frequently.

The better you know the words, the less frequently you will see them, until it gets to the point where you might only see some words every 6 months in order to “keep them ticking over”.

Certain words, however, you will find harder to learn. You will keep telling the software that you don’t know them yet, and you will see them more often - as much as every five minutes!

This is controlled by the spaced repetition algorithm of the software, which knows, based on the “forgetting curve” how often you need to see a word for it to enter into the long-term memory.

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This system, then, is similar to the paper flashcards that you might have used in school to remember geography facts or dates in history.

The big difference, though, is efficiency.

With paper flashcards, there is no system. You waste huge amounts of time reviewing cards that you already know, at the expense of unknown cards that you really need to see more often.

With spaced repetition, however, you automatically spend more time on things you don’t know, and less time on things you do.

The result, when applied to learning foreign languages, is that you can learn new vocabulary many times quicker, by a two-step process:

1. Seeing unknown vocabulary more often, so you learn it quicker

2. Reviewing vocabulary that you know better at strategic intervals so that they enter quickly into your long-term memory

As long as you keep using this system to study over the long term, all vocabulary (however well you know it) will be brought back automatically for you to revise at key intervals, meaning that you never forget it.

It’s no wonder, then, that spaced repetition has become such a huge part of learning foreign languages. It’s an example of a situation in which technology has been a genuine game-changer, and made the dream of become fluent that much easier.

By this point, hopefully you are sold on the potential of spaced repetition as a language learning tool.

If you’re like me and you want to dive right in, you might like to go straight to Chapter 2, download my recommended software, play around a bit, and then come back to the rest of this chapter later.

If it’s your first time using flashcards, familiarising yourself with the software first might help you make more sense of what’s to come.

Otherwise, we’re going to get stuck into the nuts and bolts of exactly how to use spaced repetition flashcards to learn foreign language vocabulary effectively.

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KEY POINTS

1. You should use your flashcard software as the one place where you “store” all your new vocabulary - no more old notebooks!

2. By doing this, the software can keep track of all your new vocabulary, make sure you keep reviewing it, and that none of it gets forgotten about

3. Making flashcards is easy - simply write word or phrase in the target language on one side, and the equivalent in English (or your mother tongue) on the other

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Getting started with spaced repetition flashcards

In order for any system of learning vocabulary to work, it can’t involve too much extra work. This is especially true of a system involving technology. After all, technology is supposed to make our lives easier, not more complicated!

Now, the main principle in any system of learning vocabulary is this: You need a place to store new words and phrases.

In order to memorise new vocabulary, you need to go back to it over and over again. If all the new vocabulary you want to learn is scattered around in different places (notebooks, random bits of paper, Skype chat boxes, etc), you’ve built your foundation on chaos.

What you’re going to do from this point on is simplify everything.

Here’s what the inside of my flashcard app looks like, and what you’re looking at are different “decks” of cards.

Inside each deck are a lot of cards. What they represent is all of the vocabulary that I’ve set about learning over the last year. (Naturally, there is other vocabulary that I’ve learnt

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incidentally, but everything in these decks is something I’ve intentionally tried to learn.)

Now, here’s the important bit.

After having a language exchange, after reading a book, after watching a movie, after hearing something new on the street, I transfer new words and phrases that I want to learn immediately into a flashcard deck.

I put the target language on one side of the card and English (my mother tongue) on the other.

This flashcard app becomes my one place for organising all new vocabulary that I have any intention of trying to learn.

It’s all in one place.

No more scraps of paper and random notes on my iPhone...I have one centralised place where all my new vocabulary goes.

As a result, two things happen:

1. I can use the search function to immediately find any word I’m trying to remember

2. All my new words and phrases take their turn in the spaced-repetition system, so the software does all the work of deciding when I need to review them next

Can you see how, by organising your learning in this way, the task of actually learning vocabulary is reduced to one simple job?

Simply open the app and review your flashcards each day.

You don’t need to worry about which method you’re using, you don’t need to fret about words that you wrote down somewhere and might forget about, you don’t need to worry about that notebook you filled up 6 months ago and is somewhere on the shelf...it’s all there under one roof.

This is the first and most important part of simplifying your language learning (80/20) - simply remove all the unnecessary parts and focus on doing what matters - memorising the vocabulary.

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KEY POINTS

1. Learning vocabulary with flashcards is not a stand-alone language learning system

2. It should be seen as a supplement to a good, well-rounded language learning approach

3. Don’t try to learn every new word you come across. Instead, be selective and choose a small number of words and phrases that you think would be really useful for you to learn right now.

4. Then, use flashcards to focus only on these. By limiting what you try to learn, you ensure it has maximum impact and doesn’t become overwhelming.

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Integrating flashcards into your language learning

In the last section, I gave you an overview of the flashcard system that I use.

Hopefully it seems pretty straightforward and manageable, because that is the aim - simplicity. However, having showed you what the system is, I want to talk a bit about what it is not.

Using flashcards in this way is not a stand-alone language learning system. The idea is not to cram in every word you can get your hands on until you know them all!

As you will quickly discover when you start to experiment with flashcards in a spaced-repetition system, your decks of cards can easily become bloated, unwieldy, and get right out of hand if you don’t have a system for selecting what goes into them.

Flashcards should be used primarily as an add-on to a good, all-round language learning approach. If you make flashcard study your sole focus, you may well learn a lot of words, but you won’t know how to use them.

So the thing to do is to use small amounts of flashcards in addition to other things to quickly learn key vocabulary.

Here’s how I’d best describe what I’m suggesting:

1. Your main strategy should be to learn your target language by getting as much quality input as possible. This means: using good textbooks, reading interesting material, listening to natural language

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through TV or music, having conversations with native speakers, and so on. This is real language, and there will never be any substitute for that.

2. From all that reading, listening and studying that you’re doing, there will be certain words and phrases that you’ll want to memorise above all. This is where flashcards come in. You can take this important vocabulary that you really want to learn, store it in your flashcards, and use the power of spaced repetition to review it every day until you have it memorised.

It’s like saying: “In amongst everything I’m learning, there’s some vocabulary that I absolutely must learn. I know the flashcard system works, so I’m going to use it for the vocabulary that really counts to make sure I remember it!”

As I’ve hinted at above, the most important mindset of all is not to do so much of it that it bores you, but to do small, targeted amounts of flashcard study in order to learn the most important stuff as quickly and effectively as possible.

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KEY POINTS

1. Don’t try to learn single words on their own. Instead, learn the complete phrase that the new word came in.

2. Put complete phrases into your flashcards (not single words).

3. Learning whole phrases is not usually much more difficult than learning single words...

4. ...but it is considerably more effective, as words in context are much more memorable.

5. Studying whole phrases gives you much more exposure to the target language (as opposed to single words).

6. Keeping your vocabulary in context also teaches you how to use your new words.

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Working with vocabulary in full sentences

The biggest mistake I see people making is trying to learn single words, where complete phrases are much more beneficial.

Let’s look at an example.

Imagine you heard the following phrase from your teacher in your target language: “I have some time in-between lessons,” and that the word in-between was new for you.

You might be tempted to write down the word in-between in your notebook and try to learn it.

The approach I recommend is different.

In this situation, I recommend writing down the whole phrase: “I have some time in-between lessons,” which, of course, includes your new word right there in the middle.

What you’ll do later is transfer your paper notes into your flashcards. When you come to make your flashcards, it is the whole sentence that goes on to your flashcards, not the single word alone.

It doesn't much matter where these phrases come from:

• From your textbook dialogues

• From your environment (eg. train station, TV, movies, street signs)

• From your teacher/tutor/exchange partner (e.g. on my favourite tutoring service iTalki)

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• Proactively thinking what you want to learn and asking someone how to say it

Pretty much any time you hear or read something in your target language there’s plenty of new vocabulary for you to learn.

- - - -

Let’s talk about why I recommend doing things this way.

Why avoid learning single words? Well, clearly, if it’s a choice between learning a single word or nothing, then learning a single word is fine.

However, if you focus all your learning on single words, then you will end up thinking (and therefore speaking) in single words.

But, of course, language doesn’t function in groups of single words. Language is spoken in chunks - set phrases, if you like - such as: "How are you?", "Do you think you could...", "If I were you, I would...".

All words exist in context with other words, and so when you learn them you have to keep that context. By treating them as single words, you are depriving yourself of much of the meaning and usage of those words.

This is why the phrase "context is king" is often repeated.

At this stage, you may be thinking: “But how can I memorise entire phrases? Surely that’s much more difficult!”

That may be the case if every word in the phrase is new to you, but in all likelihood, unless you’re an absolute beginner, you will probably know many of the other words.

As such, it's usually not much more difficult to learn an entire phrase than it is a single word.

This sounds counter intuitive, but give it a try!

The reason is that other words in the phrase give you something to "anchor" the new word onto - something to help you remember what it is.

Trying to recall a single word that you're struggling to remember can be very difficult. But if you've learnt is as part of a phrase, it's much easier to recall because you've got multiple points of reference - other words in the phrase that act as a kind of memory trigger.

For example, I've recently been trying to remember the Egyptian Arabic word for change, as in small change. I struggled and struggled to remember the word. Every time I needed to use it in a shop or in a taxi, I would draw a blank.

However, one day, I went into my local shop with a friend, and he asked the shopkeeper: "Can you give me some change?"

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I never forgot the word after that. The reason is simply that the phrase as a whole was much more meaningful than the word change on its own.

By learning words in context, you are much more likely to remember them.

The broader point to remember here is that, if you are constantly dealing in phrases rather than single words, you increase your exposure to your target language by 4-5x or more.

Think about it. There are usually at least four or five words in a sentence (often many more). If you’re always looking at sentences, you’ll be looking at 4-5x more of your target language than if you were just looking at single words.

Thats one thing. The other (more important) point is that you learn to use new words much more naturally because you get to see how to use them in context.

This is a big deal.

If you follow my whole flashcard strategy from this guide but only implement it with single words, you will find it much harder to grow your vocabulary.

As I said, it can sound counter-intuitive and much more work to memorise phrases rather than the words alone, but please give it a go and see for yourself!

For a video showing you an example of working with complete phrases, click here: http://youtu.be/wkddc5gubf4

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KEY POINTS

1. It is crucial to keep to manageable amounts of study. 20-30 new flashcards per week is a good place to start.

2. If you make too many flashcards you will end up with a large backlog that is impossible to get through.

3. Aim for five minutes of study per day.

4. 5-minutes is a short-enough amount of time to trick your brain into getting started, but you will almost always do more once you get started.

SECTION 5

How to study with flashcards

The single most important thing to remember about studying with flashcards is that you must keep to manageable amounts of study.

The spaced-repetition system brings back unknown cards on a regular basis - five minutes, 1 hour, 2 days, 1 week, 6 months.

Cards become "due" for study at these points. If you make too many flashcards and don't keep on top of them, you will quick amass a huge backlog that you won't be able to clear.

This also means that you will never reach the latest cards you put into your deck because you'll be too busy clearing the old ones.

By contrast, if keep it to manageable amounts, and stay on top of studying the "due" cards, then you will avoid getting caught in the backlog, learn the cards more thoroughly, and also be able to revise the more recent cards that you add to your deck.

As a starting point, I suggest adding no more than 20-30 new cards per week, and studying them for five minutes a day.

This may seem like a small amount, but 20-30 new items of vocabulary per week, thoroughly learnt, can be very powerful.

Is five minutes enough?

Try it and see. You'll be amazed how much progress you can make.

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Now, in all likelihood, you will do far more than five minutes.

The hardest part is getting started, and so finding a way to get started is your top priority.

Once fire up the flashcard app on your phone, review a few cards, and feel the enjoyment that comes from learning, you'll find it hard to quit after only five minutes.

The 5-minute rule is a strategy I've been using for a long-time to make a lot of progress in my languages. If you're anything like me and have trouble getting motivated to work, try out this simple trick to fool your brain into getting going.

"Only five minutes? Sure I can do that, then we'll get back to the TV!"

30 minutes later, you're still going!

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KEY POINTS

1. Your daily study target is five minutes

2. You’ll almost certainly do more once you get started

3. It is more effective to study a few times throughout the day than to do one longer session

4. If you find this hard, aim for short bursts of 1 minute each

5. The most flexible and convenient way to study flashcards is on your smartphone

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Consistency - The key to success

Five minutes is one half of the equation, but daily study is the other.

Whatever language learning strategy you're talking about, 80% of your gains come from the fact of studying a little bit every day.

I can't underestimate the importance of this. Commit to doing five minutes of flashcards at least once a day, but preferably at regular intervals throughout the day, keep it up every day for a couple of weeks and you'll be amazed at the progress you're making.

Some people find it easy to make resolutions like this and stick to them, but others don’t. I certainly fall into the latter category.

What I’ve found helpful in the past is to set trigger points throughout my day, which remind me to do whatever I’m focusing on - in this case a short burst of flashcard study.

You can think of a trigger point as a rule, which says: “As soon as I ____, I will ____.”

Without these trigger points, I often find that I get distracted by any number of other things around me, forget to do what I’ve committed to, and before I know it the day is over. Sound familiar?

Here are examples of trigger points that I’ve used successfully in the past:

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• As soon as I wake up, I will review my flashcards for five minutes

• As soon as I sit down in the train on my way to work, I will review my flashcards for five minutes

• As soon as I sit down at my desk after lunch, I will review my flashcards for five minutes

• In bed, before sleeping, I will review my flashcards for five minutes.

I decide which times throughout the day it makes sense for me to study, and I actually write them down in a notebook.

Writing this down may seem like a trivial step, and you’re probably tempted to skip it, but I’ve found it to be surprisingly effective, probably because it’s just an extra level of commitment that makes you more likely to follow through.

I got the idea from research by Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University in California which found that, just by writing down your goals, you are 42% more likely to achieve them.

It’s a small step that takes you less than a minute, but with this kind of data backing you up, can you afford not to do it?

Be sure to decide on trigger points that work for you. The more you can fit these new study habits around your life (rather than bending your life to fit around what you’d like to

happen in an ideal world), the more likely you are to be successful.

It should also be becoming clear to you why I recommend studying flashcards on your smartphone; the flexibility it gives you is huge.

Can’t do five minutes? Do two.

In fact, just do 30 seconds!

It’s worth repeating: Consistency and repetition are the things that will help you retain the most vocabulary. Quick study bursts of 30 seconds done 10 times per day, are more effective than one five-minute slot.

And don’t forget, the power of the five-minutes-per-day rule is that, however much you forget to do it, however tired or busy you may be, you can always fit in a quick five-minute flashcard session before you go to sleep at night.

The system I’m describing to you is designed to be achievable, however busy or lazy you may be. If you think this can’t work for you, for whatever reason, I’d like you to email me right now and tell me why not.

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KEY POINTS

1. Set up your software to display the English side of the flashcard first

2. This forces you to think in your target language

3. ...and this makes you better able to speak by mirroring the process you go through when speaking your target language for real

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Making vocabulary accessible in conversations

So you start to put together your flashcards and you end up with lots of cards - English on one side and your target language on the other.

Now when you come to study them, which side do you display first?

If you display the target language first, and English on the other, is that a good thing?

If you set them up like that, what goes through your head when you study?

(Take a second to think about it.)

Now, if you display English first, and the target language on the flip side, how does this change things?

This may seem rather unimportant. After all, either way, you end up learning the vocabulary, right?

Well, by displaying the vocabulary in the target language first, all you have to do is remember what it means. Flipping the card and displaying the English simply confirms whether you successfully remembered the meaning or not.

This is a very passive way of studying. After a few rounds, it becomes easy and very little challenge for you.

Now let’s look at it the other way.

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By displaying the English first, this is no longer a case of simple recognition. You are forced to recall and produce (say) the phrase in the target language.

So, in this case, rather than simply recognising the new word and remembering what it means in English, you now have an English word in front of you and you have to remember how to say it in the target language.

How many benefits can you see to this?

Although doing things this way round is certainly more challenging, and takes longer to learn the vocabulary well, displaying the English side of your flashcards first is critical.

Here’s why.

Doing it this way is like a speaking rehearsal.

In other words: Think what you want to say in English, then come out with it in the target language!

It mirrors the process you go through when you’re speaking your target language for real.

Why wait until you're in front of a real person to start producing the language? By setting up your flashcards in this way, and revising often, you are constantly practising the act of figuring out what you want to say and how to say it.

After studying in this way for a while, when you come to speak your target language out in the real world you will find

yourself speaking considerably more fluidly, as new vocabulary will much more accessible to you and will come to mind much more quickly.

Note: See page 33 for how to adjust these settings in your flashcard software.

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SECTION 8

Q&A - Studying with flashcards

Q: I’m trying to remember a word in Italian. Should I include extra sides to a flashcards with the word and example sentences? For example, I can create a flashcard with four sides: Side 1 - Italian word, Side 2 - English word, Side 3 - Italian example, Side 4- English example)

A: I don’t recommend this. Having the English and Italian words on their own is unnecessary. Remember, we’re looking to always see vocabulary in context. You should just keep two sides to the flashcard - the example sentences (one in English and one in Italian).

It’s not that seeing the words on their own is objectively a bad idea, but it makes the whole process less efficient, as you’ve gone from two sides of the flashcard to four. This doubles the amount of work you're doing, unnecessarily.

Q: I'm using the Flashcard Deluxe program. One thing I find a little confusing is that when I load say 30 cards in, it seems like several days go by before I ever see many, even most of the cards. Is that how it's suppose to/you prefer it to work?

This is a result of the spaced repetition settings. You can choose how many new cards you need to learn before moving on to the next ones. The default is 10, and that works fairly well for me.

The principle is that you should be confident with the first lot of 10 cards until you move on, thereby ensuring that you

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NOTE

This section is dedicated to questions that I have received from readers about studying with flashcards. If you are new to flashcards, much of this might not make much sense to you at this stage.

If this is the case, don’t worry!

I recommend coming back to this chapter after a few days of experimenting with flashcards, at which point you may well find yourself asking similar questions.

If you have other questions, please email me and I’ll add them to future editions of the guide: olly@iwillteachyoualanguage.com

spend time on what you don't know yet, whilst not overwhelming you at the same time. So, assuming you don't know the 10 “active” cards very well yet, then yes, you won't get to the other cards in the queue until you know these ones better.

However, there is a simple way round this, which is when you start reviewing a deck, you choose "new" cards rather than "active" cards from the popup menu. That should bring up the next lot.

My approach to this is:

1. I want to know my current active cards well before I move on (10 is the default number, but you can change this in the settings - you might prefer 15 at once, for example)

2. If there are some cards that I get stuck on, I usually just "exclude" them because I don't want to waste too much energy on stuff that isn't going it

3. I don't put too many new things into my decks, otherwise I end up with a big backlog, like you're finding now

4. ...and this is why I recommended limiting what you enter into flashcards (only the most important new vocabulary).

It's worth remembering that this isn't an exact science, and the most important thing is to find the system that works best for you.

Q: So one follow-up question then. Realistically how many times a day will you attack a given deck? I'm just curious how the flow works for you. If you say go all out and do it 6 times, then I suppose you will advance forward to new cards more quickly, but on the other hand, I would think the spaced repetition will log all those successful attempts and figure you know the cards well and then reintroduce them less often. So I'm just looking for that balance. I'm looking to tell myself when I get up (I'm going to review X, Y, and Z decks n times today). But I don't know what n is right yet for me.

A: Good question. Here’s the honest answer...

I just do it as and when I can, and fit it around my schedule. I have five minutes in a taxi to and from work, and I have a bit of time waiting for the barista to make my coffee, and then I get a study reminder on my phone at about 10pm, so I do a bit then (usually more).

It has to fit around your lifestyle in order to work. The important thing is to just keep at it. Some days I do the minimum five minutes. Other days I'll have a long taxi ride and do 20 mins. It just comes down to the daily habit, and... whatever else happens... just do those 5 mins!

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Q: What do you think of having gap fill cards, e.g. “Q: The weather is ___ today, isn’t it? A: Muggy.”

A: My view is that this is a waste of time. The reason is that you will very quickly remember which word fills the gap, and the card stops presenting any kind of challenge. This system also doesn’t force you to really produce (say) anything, rather just remember “the answer”, which doesn’t move you forward in your language learning.

Q: Is it important to break down words into individual parts to understand the meaning fully, thus help memorization?

A: You should always understand the meaning of what you’re trying to learn, but it’s not necessary to understand all the grammar in the sentence you’re learning (providing you understand the meaning).

In fact, this is a very good indirect way of learning grammar, because rather than trying to remember rules, you’re learning real phrases that use accurate grammar. After enough examples, you’ll find the grammar starting to “make sense”, even though you haven’t explicitly studied it.

Q: How important is the use of audio when learning vocabulary?

A: Accurate pronunciation is important. Most flashcard software allows you to add an audio recording to individual flashcards, so you can have a native speaker record certain words or phrases that you find difficult, if you want.

I’d say that if you’re comfortable with the pronunciation, then you don’t need to add the audio. If you’re unsure, add it if you want.

Q: How important is the use of visual aids (like pictures) when learning vocabulary?

A: It’s important as you need it to be. They can be helpful, but they certainly aren’t necessary. If you find that a picture helps you remember a word, then by all means add it to the flashcard, but I find that mnemonics (i.e. pictures in your mind/word association) are more effective, because they then live inside your head and will always be there.

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Q: What is your view on pre-made card decks and 3rd party language flashcard apps, i.e., ‘Wordpower’, ‘Visual Dictionary Pro’ with pre-made flashcards with audio, visual aids, etc.

A: You should never use pre-made decks...however tempting it may be! One part of this method is learning vocabulary. The other part, which is just as important, is choosing the vocabulary you want to learn right now.

Pre-made decks have been made by other people, and you’ve had no input into them at all. They are often not accurate, and usually contain single words, rather than complete sentences, which goes against one of the most important principles in this approach to learning vocabulary.

However, above all, as we covered earlier, the most powerful thing you can do to make flashcard study useful and effective is to personally select the words and phrases that will make it onto your decks. In order to keep it all manageable, you can’t throw every new word into your decks, and so you need to prioritise the things that are most useful to you - the vocabulary you feel a burning desire to learn right now!

Using pre-made decks is the antithesis of this, and I strongly urge you not to use them.

The exception would be decks that have been made to help you learn to write the script of a foreign language (e.g. Japanese hiragana, or the Arabic alphabet). These are

probably ok, since there’s no interpretation required - it is what it is!

Q: Even though you mentioned that grammar will come by its own accord, would it be helpful to know basic grammar rules when learning vocabulary and its usage?

Yes, absolutely. As I cover in my Language Learning Foundations video course, working steadily through a textbook is fundamental, because you will learn the grammatical basics of your target language.

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CHAPTER 2

Quickstart Guide: Setting Up Your Flashcards

SECTION 1

Introduction

There's plenty of flashcard software out there that uses spaced repetition.

The first decision you have to make is whether you're most comfortable learning on a computer or on your smartphone.

People like studying in different ways. Personally, I hate being glued to the computer when studying, but there are others who equally dislike studying on mobile devices and prefer to sit at a computer and concentrate.

It's up to you.

My personal recommendation is to go with smartphones for the simple reason that it's always with you. At any time in the day you can whip out your phone and blast your flashcards for as little as 30 seconds.

As I mentioned before, it's the regularity that really makes the most difference. Three "five-minute blocks" of studying during the day are much more effective than one single 15 minute session at night.

I also don't have the strongest willpower in the world, so sitting down to study for a fixed time every evening doesn't always work for me.

On the other hand, if I can chip away for a few minutes at a time during the day, whilst I'm having lunch or waiting for a train...no problem!

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KEY POINTS

1. I recommend Flashcards Deluxe as the most powerful and user-friendly flashcard software

2. Other good options include Memrise and Anki

3. Study preferences (e.g. desktop or mobile device) and network connectivity will influence your decision

SECTION 2

Which software is best?Unfortunately, there is no single best app or piece of software that integrates well across all platforms such that you can continue your studying seamlessly between devices.

One of the problems is that some of the better websites don't have their own smartphone app, meaning that you're forced to access their website via the browser on your phone.

If you have a fast data connection and an unlimited internet package, then this is not so bad, but it's still slow and a bit cumbersome.

Integrating small amounts of flashcard study into your life whilst you're out and about means that you need a solution that is fast, easy-to-use and reliable. For me, the solution is a smartphone app.

THE WINNER

Flashcards Deluxe has the perfect balance of power and accessibility, making it extremely effective for fast-paced, flexible language learning.

The power is in the simplicity. You can get very technical if you want, and introduce all kinds of features onto your flashcards like multiple choice and countdown timers.

However, what you really need is the basic functionality of simple, clean flashcards that are nice to look at and a spaced-repetition system that's easy to control.

• You can be set up and ready to go in under a minute

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• All your data is stored inside the app itself, meaning it's all off-line and no data connection is required

• Lightning fast, easy to use

• Cheap: $3.99

• Only on smartphone and tablet - there's no website or desktop software

Ultimately, for reasons I've mentioned earlier, keeping your flashcards portable, with quick easy access, is the biggest advantage you have in creating an effective and sustainable language routine, and so I recommend you use this app.

Of course, if you don't have a smartphone, or you're certain that you can only learn on a desktop computer, then you can use either of the two pieces of software below. All the functionality is there, although you will have to work a bit harder to get up and running.

Links

Flashcards Deluxe main website

iOS Devices

Android devices

RUNNER-UP 1

Memrise is growing in popularity and is an extremely good option for those who are more creative. Although you enter your own words and phrases into the software just like flashcards, Memrise does not use flashcards as such.

Rather than simply test yourself on both sides of the flashcard in the traditional way, Memrise prompts you to fill in the gaps, rearrange words in the sentence, translate back and forth, and so on. This engages different parts of your brain and works very well for some people.

There are three major disadvantages to Memrise.

1. The smartphone app requires a data connection to function, which might exclude it as a good option for you depending on your circumstances

2. When reviewing your vocabulary in the software, you are often prompted to manually type in your phrases as a form of review - which is excellent. However, if you're learning a language with a difficult script which doesn't have a standardised way of writing in the roman script (e.g. Cantonese, Arabic), then this makes life difficult, because your answer is deemed "incorrect" if you make even one small variation.

3. The creative, interactive methodology is not direct enough for me. I like the fact that with standard flashcards you get to simply flip the card and test yourself right away.

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Sure, it's not as fancy, but it gets the job done. I find myself getting frustrated with Memrise sometimes and thinking: "Just tell me what it means...I don't want to type it out again!"

Links

Memrise main website

iOS devices

Android devices

RUNNER-UP 2

Anki is perhaps the best-known spaced repetition software around, and is popular in many circles. It's an undeniably powerful piece of software, but there is a steep learning curve and the user interface is horrible.

This is, unfortunately, enough to exclude it as a good option for people that aren't too tech-savvy and want to get started quickly.

What's more, iPhone/iPad users need to pay $25 for the mobile app, although there is a decent 3rd party Android app that is free.

Links

Anki main website

iOS devices

Android devices (3rd party app)

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SECTION 3

Step-by-step: Setting up your flashcards

This is a step-by-step, screen-by-screen guide for getting started using Flashcards Deluxe to learn your new vocabulary right away.

For other software, please refer to the installation instructions provided - they’re usually very good.

Step 1

Download and install the app for your device. Click here for links.

Step 2

This is the home screen you see when you start the app.

Click the “add” sign to create a new deck.

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Step 3

Select “Empty Deck”

Step 4

Select “Deck Name”

Step 5

Enter the name for your new deck, then select “Save”, followed by “Create Deck”.

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Step 6

Inside your new deck, click the “plus” sign to add your first card.

Step 7

Create your first card by entering the vocabulary in the target language into the first box (for side 1 of the card) and English in the second box (for side 2 of the card).

Side 1 here Side 2 here End result looks like this

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Step 8

Go back to the first screen and you’ll see your new deck created at the bottom.

Step 9

Click the deck, and you’ll see the first card you created.

Click the “Settings” icon in the corner.

Step 10

Select “Card Order”

...and make sure “Spaced Repetition” is selected. If you don’t do this, your cards will always display in the same order, making the whole process redundant! :)

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Step 11

Select “Side 2”. This will make sure that the second side of the card will be displayed first.

Note: Remember, what you want is to display the side with English (or your mother tongue) first. If you’ve made your cards differently, you’ll to choose the appropriate side to display first.

Step 12

Click back into your deck and you should find the English side (side 2) displayed first.

At the moment, there’s only one card in your new deck, so you’ll need to add more by following steps 6-7 above (it’s really simple once you’ve done it a few times).

To study a deck use the following actions:

• Swipe down if you don’t know the card

• Swipe left if you’re not confidence with the card

• Swipe up if you know the card well

...and you’re good to go!

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SECTION 4

Conclusion

In this guide we’ve covered everything you need to start learning more vocabulary than ever before...and not forget it!

In chapter 1 we talked about the key principles of how we learn vocabulary, and how to make the most of spaced repetition so that you never forget it.

What I’ve given you is the 80/20 - the small number of really important things that will bring you 80% of your results.

In a nutshell, it’s this:

1. Choose a small amount of really important vocabulary to learn

2. Use flashcard software to store it

3. Record vocabulary in full sentences in your flashcards

4. Use the spaced-repetition system built into your flashcard software to control how often you see each card

5. Review it on a daily basis, starting with only five minutes to make sure you get it done

6. Keep it up over the long term, so that “old vocabulary” is brought back and you don’t forget anything

There is a lot of tinkering that you can do with this system, to be sure, but I encourage you to start by following these simple principles, and getting those right first.

Once you’re up and running, you can start to experiment with modifications to the system to suit your learning style. But just be aware that whatever you do decide add, change, or takeaway it’s unlikely to be as impactful as covering the basics thoroughly.

In writing this guide, my aim has been to make it dead simple to follow. If you found any parts confusing, would like any clarification, or have any suggestions for improvements, don’t hesitate to contact me by email here: olly@iwillteachyoualanguage.com

In fact, why not just drop me a line and say hi anyway! :)

I hope you’ve found this guide useful and now have a clear way forward.

Until then, best of luck with your language learning!

- Olly

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Language Learning Foundations

How to become fluent in any language... without wasting time

If you found this guide useful, then there’s a lot more where this came from!

The best place to start is with my video course, Language Learning Foundations, which teaches you the exact, step-by-step system that I’ve used to become fluent in over 7 foreign languages. It covers everything from finding the best materials and finding native speakers to practise with, to making an effective study schedule and staying motivated.

What’s cool about it is that it focuses on the early stages of learning a new language. You know, that stage where you start to get overwhelmed by all the options and just want a clear path to follow that is guaranteed to bring you results and get you speaking quickly?

Just like this guide, it’s designed to be really straightforward and easy to follow, and many people have used it to make huge strides forward in a new language.

For more information, click here or visit the main blog page and click on “Courses”: http://iwillteachyoualanguage.com

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