I’m currently writing a series of posts about SRS’ing and how to make it more fun, getting better results out of it and and simply explaining what it is. Today episode one, where I’ll explain “what the hell and SRS is”.
From time to time people send me e-mails or comment on a random post to ask; “WTF is an SRS?!” I mostly take for granted that people know what a Spaced Repetition System is, mainly because many readers of this blog are also avid readers of AJATT and Antimoon. But because I’m writing a series of posts about SRS’ing (and how to do it better than you’re doing it now), I’ll start from the beginning.
What is Spaced Repetition?
Spaced Repetition is pretty much what the name suggests; repetition spread out over time. Personally, I’m a religious user of Anki (one of the best and free Spaced Repetition Systems out there).
Simply said, an SRS makes life really easy for the avarage language learner. Because we don’t remember everything the first time, but retention gets better over time (the more you see a word or sentence, the better you’ll remember it and the more likely it’s that you can use it yourself correctly), SRSs like Anki help us to not forget the things we learned in the past.
Learning a language without an SRS often means learning single word items (“How can I ever remember a whole sentence?!” – you don’t, but the SRS helps you remembering the different parts (vocabulary and grammar) of each sentence; something that’s next to impossible without an SRS) from a word list. It also means that you’ll often learning the same words over and over again.
Using an SRS, however, makes language learning really easy and even painless (I actually enjoy doing my SRS reps every day). Without Anki I wouldn’t have been able to speak so fast after beginning learning Spanish; it was like I uploaded a huge file with correct sentences to my brain, from which I could use the words and grammar in any way I wanted.
What software should I choose?
If you ask me; Anki. But there are some other systems out there (I’ll only review Windows based systems, as they’re the only ones I can try out):
jMemorize
jMemorize is a free program that, like most SRSs, uses the leitner system. Still, it doesn’t use a scoring system (where you giive yourself a score depending on how well you know the item), which (in my opinion) is the biggest power of an SRS. Instead it simply uses yes/no to calculate when to show the item again.
SuperMemo
Probably the oldest SRS out there. Again, it uses the leitner system, but you have to buy a licence in order to use it.
Its creator Piotr Wozniak greatly improves the learning algorithm. Nowadays most algorithms are based on his research.
FullRecall
A simple system (although – in my opinion – looking better than SuperMemo) for which you need to buy a licence if you want to use the full version.
One thing I really like about FullRecall is the fact that you can tweak the program easily so that it fully suits your needs.
Mnemosyne
Mnemosyne is a light-weight client which pretty much does everything you want it to do. I used it a while to learn Ancient Greek (its font support is just superb, I dare to say it’s working better than Anki’s font system (which you need to tweak a bit if you want to do things which aren’t so obvious).
It also supports the use of images and sounds, but for that you need to play a bit with HTML, which is a pity as not everyone knows how to use if efficiently.
Anki
Anki is without doubt the king in SRS land. You can tweak it, add, delete fields. Can download plugins for it (or write your own), share and download decks, sync your deck with the Anki server so that you can study while being away from home (and yes, that includes doing reps with your mobile phone).
Next to all these features there’s a great community and Damien (the creator of Anki) is bringing out new versions of Anki (packed with new features and tweaks) on a regular basis.
P.S. for more information about Spaced Repetition you can find more information at the sites of the different systems.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Related Posts:
SRS Practices: I Have an SRS, Now What?
What Sentences Do I Add To My SRS?
SRS Practices: Writing Down Your Sentences
Adding Audio to Anki Made Easy
Word lists don’t work (and why they don’t work)
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Hey Ramses,
Thanks for your comment on my blog about inviting me to ask you questions if I needed it. Well, now I’ve got one. I made a deck on Anki after reading this post and watching the little video tutorials on the Anki website. I know that the guy mentioned that the appearance and set-up of the site changed since the videos were made, but I have found that it is sooooo different that I can’t even edit the decks. The links on the sidebar don’t help me at all… is this your experience? Do I need to pay for a “pro account” to be able to do anything cool? Do I need a certain browser or a PC instead of a Mac? Sorry to ask these questions. I can always ask the Anki guy himself if you’d rather he answer.
Thanks!
Why don’t you use the client? It’s waaaay easier to make/edit/delete cards with the desktop client. And the pro accounts aren’t available yet (so far I know, but it’s only interesting if you want to have more media support in the online version – the client will be free and the best way to do your reps).
Yup. That was definitely the problem. Much easier once I downloaded. Thank you!
Even before this article I just downloaded Mnemosyne some day because it’s free and it’s in the Ubuntu repo’s (and jMemorize is Java, so for Mac and Linux as well), but on Windows systems for Dutch people I want to advise Teach200o as well, just for the heck of it being a swiss knife of dull knowledge in a fun way. I can really recommend Mnemosyne, but it doesn’t work for me as I spent all my days talking instead of learning words…
Teach2000 isn’t a spaced repetition system (it’s not based on the Leitner system), it’s a cramming system. You can also cram with Anki, but if you want to do that…
Ramses,
Great reviews. Have you also tried Khatzumoto’s online based SRS, Surusu?
I did, but at the time of writing this article it wasn’t really mature yet, so I simply didn’t review it.
I never realised that there were such things! As I look at the 7,500 flashcards in little paper envelopes in boxes in the corner of my room, I feeling very excited that maybe there is a better option. But do these things work on a blackberry? I do my SRS – as I’ve just learned to call it – on the train into the office and on the 20 minute walk from the station to the office.
Did you already check out Anki? It has an option to sync your deck with their server so that you can study while away from your computer. The online version has no image support though, and getting audio to work is a pain in the butt (and won’t even work on a Blackberry because it has no flash support). Still, it’s better than nothing, and works really well if you only use text (markup language does work).