SPACED REPETiTION SOFTWARE

Spaced Repetition is a learning technique that uses the psychological Spacing Effect to long-term memorize “items in a list” in fraction of the time required by traditional methods.

One More Time:
Spaced Repetition is a learning technique that uses the psychological Spacing Effect to long-term memorize “2000+ Kanji” in fraction of the time required by traditional methods.

I was sold at this point, but here more info:

“In psychology, the spacing effect refers to the fact that humans and animals more easily remember or learn items in a list when they are studied a few times over a long period of time  rather than studied repeatedly in a short period time.”

This is where flashcard software comes in. Every time you answer a questions, you mark each answer on a scale of something between “I HAVE NO IDEA” to “EASY”. As soon as you grade yourself, the program schedules your next review, with the due date based on your own grade. If you consistently grade flashcards as easy, the intervals between the next due dates will become longer and longer. “In other words, material that is hard is shown more often and material that is easy is shown less often, with hard or easy being defined by the ease with which the user is able to produce a correct response.”

If you have studied kanji before, then you know how frustrating it is to study and study until it finally sticks, then two weeks later you forget 90% of what you learned. Well, I know exactly what that feels like, and so do many, many others. That is the nature of human memory; we learn something, forget it, learn it again, forget it again. But, then one day it sticks, and we move on without a second thought. That is the nature of the spacing effect.

Spaced repetition is the opposite of cramming. If you need to pass a test, you can cram the night before, but how much will you remember in 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years? Is spaced repetition a gimmick, is it a trick, a mnemonic? Does it matter, as long as it works? Especially when it works better then any other method I have tried! Isn’t that all you need to know?

If used everyday, you will have a retention rate of over 90% in the long run; you will remember what you learn years from now. Best of all, spaced repetition software is FREE. I use and recommend Anki because it is simply the best SRS program out there.

click here to go to Anki’s homepage

I would recommend watching intro videos as well.

Further Reading:
Configuring Anki for RtK
School Supplies
Guide to Learning Japanese
Remembering the Kanji Method
Are My Kanji Being Displayed Correctly?

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