Do you ever stop "drilling" new vocab?

[PerpetualChange]

My vocabulary is teetering probably between B2 and C1, but one thing I haven't done in years is actually drill new vocab. For the most part I look up new words encountered in native materials, spend a few minutes looking at them in Pleco, add them to a deck, and then hope I see them enough in the wild to reinforce. Being honest, I don't think I did much "drilling" on my last year of using a textbook either - for the most part, I just relied on things coming up enough to stick. 

 

But lately I'm thinking maybe I should spend a few minutes per day - no more than 10 - just looking at words in flashcards again. I feel like I find myself looking up awfully familiar words again and again, and maybe I could save myself the trouble by just dedicating more time to actually mastering a few words every day. What do you guys think? Do you still drill vocab in the  advanced stages of study, and if so, how and how often?

[Tomsima]

I still drill whole sentences, many of which I have picked and added to a deck in anki because they contain rarer words that I bump into regularly enough to realise I need to know them, but not enough to recall easily.

[imron]

I would still do drilling in your situation, but I would limit it to maybe 5-10 new words per day, plus revisions.  I wrote about my strategy for this here.

 

When total flashcard time exceeds some amount (for me this is ~30 mins) then I would delete my deck and start again.  See rationale here.

 

This helps prevent getting bogged down in revisions, while at the same time helping cement a small amount of vocabulary per day.

[DavyJonesLocker]

No, (nearly) essential for me. Tried both ways now and one way emerges as a clear winner. However finding that optimal point of flashcards v "all other exposure"  is not obvious. 

 

I think in all these discussions looking at evidence for against using flashcards will always be secondary to personal experience . The proof is in the pudding as some l might say. 

 

Further I think ts good to be open to new ideas and try for a while. Recently I started adding mnemonics into flashcards (single characters) It certainly is a benefit for some cases. 

 

Also being able to handwrite all 200+ radicals has been a useful exercise given the relatively low workload required. It allows to spot components more easily. 

 

 

[Lu]

I've never really stopped drilling new vocab. Not a lot, but a steady trickle. At some point, you start learning words that you only encounter in the wild maybe once or twice a year: useful to know them when you see them, but you don't see them often enough to make them stick that way. Throw those words into Anki and you'll know them when you encounter them again a year from now.

[PerpetualChange]

Thanks guys. Adding 5-10 words in a new deck that I review >30 mins every day seems a small investment in making sure I'm getting the most out of my reading. I'll see how it goes!

[abcdefg]

I drill words I've had to look up. Store them when looking them up with Pleco. Drill them while riding the bus. Usually 20-minute "bites." 

[imron]

8 hours ago, PerpetualChange said:

that I review >30 mins every day

< 30 mins!

[PerpetualChange]

Heh... yeah, math is a whole separate problem area! ?

[luc9999]

I try to do Pleco 30 minutes every morning at least because I have a seive for a brain. I think whatever level your at that forgetting curve still applies, so its still important to do SRS vocabulary study! Anki seems the best tool, but pleco is good for the dictionary function, I wish there could be a SRS on pleco but i usually have different categories for different classes/areas (listening, reading, daily life, podcasts etc.) and have a archive folder for each. Every so often i go back to the archive folder and review and move the vocabs i cant remember back to active.

[imron]

1 hour ago, luc9999 said:

I wish there could be a SRS on pleco

There is.

[luc9999]

23 minutes ago, imron said:

There is.

Oh, where so? I only see a regular flashcard system, its not spaced repetition, is that another addon?

[Jan Finster]

If you are looking for mere reexposure to the words you seem to forget, you can use some of the better flashcard apps to audio play you your flashcards in a perpetual loop. I use lexicalize flashcards preium (something like 10$) and have it play for me while I cook, drive or while I get ready for work.

[Flickserve]

@Jan Finster

 

Is the name of the app correct? I couldn't find it on Google play.

 

But there was a lexilize

[imron]

9 hours ago, luc9999 said:

Oh, where so?

You need to have the paid flashcards addon, then it's under Flashcards -> New Test -> More Settings -> Card Selection -> System -> Repetition-spaced

[Jan Finster]

4 hours ago, Flickserve said:

Is the name of the app correct? I couldn't find it on Google play.

 

But there was a lexilize

 

Lexilize it is. My bad.

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lexilize.fc

 

And of course there is Memorion, which is absolutely awesome and lets you adjust virtually anything you like:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.MemorionSoft.MemorionV2&hl=de

[Flickserve]

2 hours ago, Jan Finster said:

And of course there is Memorio

 

Sorry. It sounds like you use both apps - why?

 

 

[Jan Finster]

3 hours ago, Flickserve said:

Sorry. It sounds like you use both apps - why?

Lexilize is simple and straightforward. Memorion is like a mother of all flashcard apps, it lets you adjust virtually everything. At some point the learning curve for Memorion was not worth it to me, so I stuck with Lexilize. Now, I realise Memorion is not all that difficult and I may start using it.

 

Actually the only feature that I care about regarding audio looping flashcards is randomization of cards. Lexilize always loops the cards in the exact same order. This gets old at some point even if you loop 500-1000 cards. Memorion randomises.

[luc9999]

11 hours ago, imron said:

ou need to have the paid flashcards addon, then it's under Flashcards -> New Test -> More Settings -> Card Selection -> System -> Repetition-spaced

Great, might just be my new favourite thing and worth the money

[imron]

Yep, Pleco paid flashcards, paired with the paid dictionaries, is the best.  I describe my Pleco setup here.  (P.S. For those interested, Pleco also allows you to randomize cards).