Comments on: SRS Best Practices

By: j 41 shoes

j 41 shoes — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:49:45 +0000

What a great idea to let us in this whole procedure.Thank you for giving us the opportunity to see how you work and learn so much!

By: Nathan Cain - MandarinMnemonics.com

Nathan Cain - MandarinMnemonics.com — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:36:00 +0000

I personally find SRS very boring. I figure that I shouldn’t do anything boring or else I might give up on learning. I use mnemonic stories to learn vocabulary words.

By: Dejan Dimc

Dejan Dimc — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:38:00 +0000

One way around this problem of indirect translation through one`s native language would be using descriptions of words in the target language only. So, instead of translating into your mother tongue or from your native into your target foreign tongue, one can use Wiktionary or some other ‘encyclopedia’ type dictionary instead of the casual bi-directional dictionaries. Of course this only works if one already has a solid foundation in his target language.

By: kev

kev — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:59:10 +0000

“There is no doubt about it. Look around and you will see everybody in the language-learning circle talks about SRS. I myself have also experienced the power of it.”

There’s no doubt that an SRS helps you remember, but what exactly is it you are remembering? Careful. When you are using recognition cards and providing a translation into your native language, aren’t you just using the *translation* to remember the foreign word/phrase instead of trying to remember the ‘meaning’ of the foreign word/phrase directly? So, isn’t it better never to show a translation into your native tongue? Or at least hide it and only show it if you have truly forgotten it?

By: kev

kev — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:44:46 +0000

“Therefore, do not bury yourself too much in SRS. Spend more time reading and listening in your target language.”

Good advice. However, if you spend progressively more and more of your time on reading and listening (as you should), wouldn’t the amount of time you spend on feeding/reviewing an SRS fade to zero? Therefore, is it worth spending any time at all on an SRS? Surely, as you get more and more input, you will naturally come across all these words again anyway? So why bother with an SRS?

By: Jane Hudson

Jane Hudson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:40:16 +0000

Hi!

My name is Jane Hudson, i’m marketing manager at one of the most
important translator forums, http://www.english-spanish-translator.org.

We recently open a new directory at our forum, offering to translators
more resources related to translations, and we want to put your blog on
our list
(http://www.english-spanish-translator.org/translator-pages/1/blogs/).

What we are offering is to put your blog in our list, in exchange of a
link on your blog to our forum, i think it’s fair for both.

if you are interested, just let us know… don’t forget that this is a
way to increase your popularity

Jane Hudson
janehudson@english-spanish-translator.org
English-Spanish-Translator.org

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:39:20 +0000

My mom is always better than any dictionary:) Edwin- how do we e-mail you an idea for a post??? I cant find your contact info on here

By: edwin

edwin — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:17:27 +0000

Thanks, Keith, for asking. I had been busy with work in March and family in April. I still work on my languages, but had to suspend my blogging temporarily. However, I am still keeping an eye on activities from other language bloggers, such as the great conversation between Keith and Steve.

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:00:12 +0000

It’s been 2 months since your last post, Edwin. What’s going on?

By: Kendall

Kendall — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:32:04 +0000

I just downloaded anki, so I’m
glad to hear you thoughts on
SRS. I only recently discovered
it, and I am looking forward to
using it for traditional characters.