Hi,
So, I have been learning Mandarin for close to a year now and have been building my own Anki deck for about half that time. To give you an idea of my level, I would say I am around HSK4. I'm not certified, but I understand most of the grammar and vocabulary items of the HSK4 test, and I scored 93/100 on a mock test I took on my own. The point is, I'm at a bit of an awkward stage in the language learning process. I have a solid enough grasp of the language to be able to make sense of most things but lack the vocabulary needed to progress to the next level. So, when reading or watching native materials, the issue is not necessarily being able to understand the flow of ideas, it's just that I don't know what things are called. Right now, in an effort to increase input and contextual learning, I'm studying the Chinese version of Death Note. This is the approach I am taking:
- Read a chapter in the manga without stopping
- Re-read the same chapter again, looking up everything I don't understand and ignoring that which I can't make sense of
- Re-read the chapter one last time without stopping
- Watch the corresponding episode/section of the dubbed anime without subtitles
- Rewatch the same episode/section with subtitles, pausing to look up words I did not succeed in remembering and relistening to sentences which I am not able to parse fluently on listening
- Rewatch the episode/section one last time without subtitles
At the end of this process, I am pretty much able to understand everything that is said and am definitely learning a lot of vocabulary this way and I seem to be retaining it well. I am confident that if I do this for the whole book the cycle will get shorter and shorter each chapter, I don't really care that it takes a lot of time. What do you guys think? Is there something I could do to make the process more efficient? This is only the study I do in my free time by the way, I also do the boring (but important) homework type study with a teacher in a classroom environment and chat with natives every day. It's also not the only source of input I have, just my most ambitious project.
However, I am totally lost when it comes to the role of flashcards in all of this. My flashcards consist of images and audio and pretty much nothing else. I match images to characters and characters to images. I normally only make flashcards for things which may be difficult to remember otherwise and they are more or less only things which can be represented in a clear visual way. However, a lot of people attribute their success with flashcards to using example sentences and cloze deletion. I understand the logic, but the thought gives me horrible anxiety. Where am I supposed to find these sentences? I do not have high faith in Tatoeba, I already have a very long list of "convert to flashcard" vocabulary items which do not have the accompanying source context, and the idea of writing down the sentences where my vocab comes from as I am noting down new vocabulary, it just sounds like a horrible time sink and makes me very anxious. And what about the flashcards I have already created?
I think the problem is the scope of vocabulary for the intermediate level. Let me explain how I see it with reference to an analogy. If a language is like a body of water and learning it is like crossing said body, then both the beginner and advanced stages are like rivers leading into it, expanding and narrowing respectively. So creating flashcards as a beginner is really good because you do not have the foundation necessary to start acquiring vocabulary, and flashcards are a good way to build said foundation. Flashcards are also good for advanced learners because they can artificially increase the frequency at which they come across uncommon vocabulary, thus strengthening their knowledge of advanced language use. But while you are still making the crossing, the number of vocabulary items is just too great. A lot of it will be acquired and retained in a natural way by consuming input. I think it's perhaps counterproductive to waste time creating flashcards for things which will be easy to remember once you get over the intermediate bump. But there are other people who say using flashcards is the way to learn vocabulary, it's the fast lane to proficiency.
So, what should I do? Trust that my patience and diligent study will serve me or waste time creating flashcards with sufficient contextual information? I do not think reviewing the flashcards I have already created is a waste of time and flashcard use has certainly allowed me to master more vocabulary than I otherwise would have. But right now I feel that more input is what I need, because I do not have a strong enough grasp of practical language use. Appreciate any and all thoughts.
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