This is one of the original posts written on this website. For an update on my more current learning process, see this post on how I now combine spaced repetition software with incremental reading software to supercharge my learning!
My current (primary) personal learning project is learning Mandarin. I started last November (2013) and I'm planning to travel to China this coming November. The goal has been to learn, within a year, to speak sufficiently well to hold a 20 minute conversation with a native speaker. But how to do it?
One of my matras is “ask someone who knows”, so I went onto a bunch of language learning websites* and asked a few people whom I knew had learnt languages before (and quickly) how best to approach it. One answer was unanimous; “SRS” or Spaced Repetition Software.
I much prefer to explain this kind of stuff by talking rather than writing, so watch this clip below to see the why, how and what of SRS.
You may like to see how I've been using Anki in my classes here. And two more posts on more advanced and powerful Anki functionalities here and here.
Anki is definitely worth the time investment to familiarise yourself with the software. It will revolutionise your learning!
For a complete guide to using Anki, see this excellent one from from Alex Vermeers. Check it out!
For a summary of the research on spaced repetition, see this article on Gwern, or more research on spaced repetition here.
*fluent in 3 months , hacking chinese, and FluentU are all great! Also check out this blog post for an incredibly innovative way to learn the characters (I'm currently following it : )