Learn Japanese Today

You can find the Anki website here .

In case you missed my previous article, here’s a link to an explanation of what an SRS actually is.

I also want to preface this review by invalidating it. It really does not matter that much which SRS you use, especially compared to the importance of what you put in it and how often you use it. Just use this review, and the other ones I’ll be doing later this week to find the right one for you, and just don’t stress about the decision after that. They’re not that different.

Ease of Use: 9

As the name Anki, meaning memorize in Japanese, might suggest, this SRS was designed with Japanese in mind. It comes all prepared with a preset for setting up Japanese-style flashcards with three separate fields for kanji, reading, and meaning. It even comes with some pre-made JLPT decks so you can try it out right away, but for the most effective use, you should make your own cards. Also, the website has a bunch of extremely helpful videos on how to use the product. I was able to start learning stuff within minutes of downloading it, never having used an SRS before. It’s so user friendly, you’ll pick it up in no time. One more neat feature is that you can sync the flashcards you’ve been working on with the sites web server and access them anywhere, which is perfect for while you’re at work. I know I’ll be doing some Anki tomorrow.

Authenticity: N/A

This really depends on what you put into it. The program can’t help but teach you what you tell it to, so make sure you put in authentic Japanese. For some guidelines on what to put in, go here .

Quality of Knowledge: 9

You would think this would be N/A, but Anki actually provides a lot of neat statistical data to help you out.

It’s really need to track your progress and your retention rate, and this data can really teach you a lot about the way you learn Japanese. You can find the ideal amount of spacing between showings of a card, and see what kind of cards you learn fastest. Really interesting stuff.

There’s also a neat table that can show you how many kanji you’ve learned, and at what level.

This is a good way to keep track of you’re ability to read kanji, especially if you follow the Jouyou kanji percentage, which is the government list for fluency. Really simple, yet with tons of depth.

Price: 10

Oh yeah. It’s free.

Fun: 8

Using an SRS is actually decently fun. They have little bars in the corner so you can see how you’re doing, green means good, yellow means ok, and red means bad, I mean, it’s just like Guitar Hero. It’s really easy to plow through a bunch of cards really fast when you need to, and the ones that make you think you can take your time on. I know I’m kind of a nerd, but it is very fun for me, and the graphs make you feel like you’re making progress, which is encouraging because it’s hard to tell if you’re getting better without hard evidence staring you in the face.

Overall: 9/Doesn’t Matter

Anki is a really solid SRS with a lot of cool features, and I really like it. But I really do want to reiterate that the SRS you use doesn’t really matter too much. If, for some reason, you have trouble getting Anki to work, don’t sweat it. Just get a different one. They’re basically the same. But if you want to keep track of your progress and use your SRS both on and offline, Anki might be a good choice for you.

Well, I have to get up for work at 5 AM and go to work, but happy memorizing to you guys!

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