Stay Away From Precreated Anki Decks
When I started this project a little over a year ago, I was tempted to create a full empire of Dream of the Red Chamber related media.
I thought I could put a little bit of everything together. Maybe some sort of merchandise, maybe some downloadable files, and maybe even some Anki decks.
Well, I haven’t given up on the dream of throwing together some merchandise (after all, wearing Chinese characters on your shirt is pretty cool). But I’ve given up entirely by now on the idea of putting together a downloadable Anki deck, even if it means leaving precious money on the table.
And, if you don’t understand why, just watch this:
Now, in theory some of these decks should be helpful. After all, it does take time to sit down and put together an Anki deck.
But the problem is the principle of the matter. You’re really supposed to use programs like Anki to complement your study, not to completely replace it.
The ideal way to use Anki is to study something first, and then stick it into your Anki deck once you’ve got a good understanding of it. In other words, your goal shouldn’t be to get a huge number of words and phrases and sentences in the deck. Instead, it should reflect what you’ve learned and be an echo of the work that you’ve already done.
Downloading decks does pretty much the opposite. It’s kind of like asking AI to write your blog post. There’s really no point in doing it.
Of course, if you’ve been using downloaded decks, or if you’ve been doing Anki the “wrong” way, don’t worry too much about it. I’ve tried all of this in the past.
The best way to make up for past mistakes is to do better in the future. Make a point of slowing yourself down and understanding what you read and watch instead of flooding yourself with words and phrases and sentences.
Ideally, your Anki deck (or whatever other software you use) should reflect your personal studies. You should be able to recognize everything you put into it, and you should never have to treat any entries as an entirely new word or concept.
But, if you’ve already screwed it up, it’s okay. You can learn as you go along. It’s just that I’ve learned the hard way that it’s a much more time consuming and frustrating experience.