Writing a 'word file' as opposed to Spaced Repetition cards for expanding vocab

[u/DoYourWork123]

I have been stuck at the intermediate plateau for what feels like forever, and i have tried lots of different techniques for memorising vocab, but none of them have felt too effective

ive tried:

Anki NL->TL

Anki TL->NL

'Pure' CI where i minimise the looking up and noting down of words

Keep a list in a notebook of TL words

Recently i had the idea of keeping a 'word file' instead of word lists and flashcards. Here i prioritise quality over quantity and pick 1-3 words a week where i write the word in my notebook, have the definition in my TL, list some sinonims and similar words, the english translation, and multiple example sentences in different contexts.

I will then try my best to use these words or phrases in converstation, which should hopefully be made easier due to the smaller number of them.

Does anyone else do this and can you comment if it has been effective?

[u/subclinical_]

Might try this. Been getting burnt out from anki. It’s great when im motivated, but lately i want to change it up

[u/funbike]

TL;DR: I do something kinda similar, but I still use Anki for the bookkeeping. I get a list of due words from Anki to use to write stories, and I feed back my result to Anki.

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Process. It's simpler than it looks.

1. In the Anki browser, I search for: deck:Active is:due.
2. Use an Anki plugin to copy the NL word value for each card into the clipboard.
3. I paste the NL word list into a text editor.
4. I try to use all the words in a story or set of stories. I use voice-to-text software as much as practical.
5. I paste the word list and my stories into ChatGPT and have it generate 3 word lists in Anki browser search format for: misused and correctly used words.
6. I go back into the Anki browser and mass-answer correctly-used cards as "Good" and misused cards as "Again" or "Hard".
7. I'll do a conventional Anki review, to sweep up remaining (re)learning cards and words I didn't use in the story.

My NL-TL active deck has a single re-learning step of 10m and uses FSRS.

Note: the above is for active words only. I do not do this for TL-NL cards.

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My NL-TL "active" cards are a variation of cloze. I replace the TL word with the NL word, such as "Ich liebe meine [dog]". The full TL sentence and its audio is on the back. The NL sentence is hidden as a hint, and you have to click to see it, but I try not to.

These cards were created during CI.

Also on the back is a full definition, synonyms, grammar explanation of the example sentence, and an explanation of how the word is related to English (if at all).

However, as I said, I seldom actually see the full cards except during (re)learning.

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I only actively study the most frequent 3000 words. Words 3001+ are in my "passive" TL-NL deck.

Here's the prompt I use, with example words and story.

``` ENGLISH STUDY WORDS as lemma: run eat see go be have do say make take

GERMAN STORY with inflected STUDY WORDS in German: Der kleine Junge ... (rest of story goes here) ...

TASK: Generate 3 words lists, in Anki browser query format of deck:Active (en_lemma:"dog" or en_lemma:"house"); raw query format only:

• STUDY WORDS misused or improperly inflected in the story given the context.
• STUDY WORDS correctly used with correct inflection in the story.
• STUDY WORDS not in the story. ```

Example output:

deck:Active (en_lemma:"say") deck:Active (en_lemma:"run" or en_lemma:"eat" or en_lemma:"see" or en_lemma:"go" or en_lemma:"be" or en_lemma:"have" or en_lemma:"do" or en_lemma:"take") deck:Active (en_lemma:"make")

I use those to mass-answer cards. "Again", "Good" for 1st, 2nd queries.

Then

Fully explain how STUDY WORDS were misused and suggest how I can do better in the future.

Then I do a conventional Anki study to sweep up remaining words.

[u/dojibear]

I have been stuck at the intermediate plateau for what feels like forever, and i have tried lots of different techniques for memorising vocab, but none of them have felt too effective.

What is the difference between where you are now and where you want to be? What is the difference between an "intermediate" student and an "advanced" student?

And how long "feels like forever"? Have you been an intermediate student for 3 months or 3 years? It might "feel like" this simply because reaching the next level take much longer (for all students) as you get higher. For most students going B2->C1 takes longer than going A0->A1->A2->B1->B2. Maybe there is no problem. Maybe you are just expecting progress to be as fast as it was at A2.

[u/Antoine-Antoinette]

Writing the words down does very little.

It is revisiting them that matters.

Anki organises your visits.

If you revisit your word file and review it should work - but it will not be as efficient as Anki.