Anki Digital Flashcards

Anki is a program developed by Mr. Damien Elmes.
The Anki flashcard decks available on this page were created by the authors of PANORAMA. The authors reserve all rights to these cards.

Elementary Japanese: PANORAMA is designed so that learners can use digital flashcards for Anki (https://apps.ankiweb.net/) to supplement their study with the textbook. Anki employs spaced repetition to help users memorize vocabulary and kanji efficiently and prevent them from forgetting it. With PANORAMA‘s unique example sentence decks, users can also practice grammar and improve their reading and listening skills all at the same time.

Anki and Spaced Repetition

Why do we recommend that you use Anki?

It is because Anki is one of the best spaced repetition tools.

Why do we recommend that you use the spaced repetition technique?

It is because the technique helps you retain what you learn most effectively. You may have a flashcard app that you like and have been using for your study for a long time. In fact, it is probably true that the tool helps you memorize material as well as Anki. It is also true, however, that if the tool doesn’t employ the spaced repetition system, the card of the item that you have successfully memorized once doesn’t appear again. It means you will most likely forget it sooner or later unless you use it frequently in other practices. Let’s say you have a vocabulary quiz in two weeks. Your app may help you do well on the quiz by setting the goal properly in the app. Do the cards that you studied for the quiz, however, keep appearing for review after you take the quiz? If not, it is difficult to retain the words. You need to be reviewing the words over a long period of time to further internalize the words, but your app doesn’t help if the cards don’t continue to appear. With spaced repetition, the cards keep appearing and, although intervals get longer and longer, they never disappear. Internalizing language takes time and it is important that you choose a tool that helps you ensure long-term success. Anki is designed to help you achieve this exact goal.

How does it work?

When you try to memorize something (say learning 10 Japanese words, for example), later when you review each word, the second time is much more important than how well you memorize it on the first day. This is because, no matter how perfectly you memorize them on the first day of learning, you will forget a good portion of them by the next day. To use your time more effectively, instead of spending a lot of time trying to memorize them perfectly on the first day, treat the first encounter as a brief and casual introduction to the new material. Then get yourself familiarized with the words and let your brain consolidate the information over night. It is important that you make sure to give yourself the opportunity to review the words again on the next day. When you review these words the next day, you will find yourself remembering some of them fairly well, some decently, some just rarely, and some not at all. That’s to be expected. Even the words that you feel you have completely forgotten, however, you will find it easier to relearn on the second day and, if you repeat what you did on the first day, you will feel even more progress on the third day. When it comes to the words that you feel you have already memorized fairly well on the second day, you may not need to review for the next two or three days.

In Anki, you can facilitate this kind of spaced learning by choosing when you review each card the next time. Let’s use our Sound & Writing Systems Module Vocabulary deck as an example. When you begin studying the deck, the first card はい [hai] appears. You can click “Show Answer” on the card and learn the meaning. Then, instead of spending too much additional time trying to memorize it better, just click “1m” (one minute). This means that the card will appear again in a minute. In the meanwhile, you can continue learning the other words in the same way.

When the first card はい [hai] appears again, you can decide if you need to review it again in a minute (1m), or choose a longer interval such as six minutes (6m) or 10 minutes (10m).

If you choose “10m,” next time when you review the card, you will find a new interval “one day (1d)” appearing along with shorter intervals. At this time, you can decide if you want to review the card on the same day one more time (choose “10m”) or, if you are okay with the word that day, choose “1d.” If you choose “1d,” the card won’t appear until the next day. Remember again that the goal of this practice at this point is not to memorize the word perfectly but get yourself familiarized with it.

On the second day when the same card appears, you can decide if you need to review it again on that second day (10m), or you can choose two days later (2d). If you are more confident about the word, you can even choose a longer interval (3d or 4d). As you continue practicing this way, you will find longer intervals such as one week, one month, one year, and two years appearing on the card. If you find yourself having forgotten the word when the card appears after a month, you can relearn it by doing the same repetition. This time, however, you will find it much easier to recall what you have forgotten.

When you study with PANORAMA’s decks, we encourage you to use the practice not only for memorizing and retaining material but also improving listening skills and pronunciation. When you review each of the Japanese→English cards, listen to the audio first without looking at the card and say the word/sentence out loud. If you don’t understand what it says, play the audio and say it out loud again. Look at the card only after you figure out the meaning or you find it too difficult to comprehend the audio. Utilizing our flashcards in this way, while memorizing and retaining material reliably, you can also improve your listening skills and pronunciation effectively using spaced repetition.

The Anki program is available on various devices (smartphone, tablets, etc.) but setting up Anki for the study with PANORAMA is easiest to complete using the Anki on the computer. The steps detailed below are based on the computer version of Anki.

Downloading Anki

STEP 1. Download the Anki program.

Download the appropriate program from the Anki homepage (https://apps.ankiweb.net/) and install it onto your computer.

STEP 2. Download the PANORAMA Anki decks.

Download the PANORAMA Anki flashcard decks onto your computer via the links below and double-click the downloaded files. The flashcards will open in the Anki program and you can begin your study.

Begining your study with Anki

We recommend the following timeline for starting each of the decks:

Hiragana & Katakana

This is the deck for practicing hiragana and katakana, two of the three Japanese principal writing systems. Study the first section of the Sounds and Writing Module in the textbook (pp.15-18) and begin this deck.

Sound & Writing Systems Module Vocabulary

This deck includes all of the vocabulary that appear in the Sounds & Writing Module (pp.13-38). Begin this deck as soon as you begin studying this module in the textbook.

Grammar Module Vocabulary

This deck includes all of the vocabulary that appear in the Grammar Module (pp.39-240). Begin this deck as soon as you begin studying this module in the textbook.

Grammar Module Example Sentences

Showing all of the example sentences in the Grammar Module in the same order as they appear in the textbook, this deck allows users to practice the grammar introduced in the Grammar Module through example sentences. This deck also allows you to practice vocabulary in sentences, reading, listening and grammar all at the same time. Begin this deck when you finish studying the first section of the Grammar Module (pp.41-44).

Grammar Module Example Sentences (EN to JP)

This deck shows the same example sentences as the previous deck, but in the “English → Japanese” order. It allows you to practice producing correct sentences. We recommend that you first practice reading and listening repeatedly using the previous deck and, when you can comfortably understand the meaning only by listening to the sentence, begin this “English → Japanese” practice using this deck.

Kanji

This deck includes all of the kanji words that are introduced in the Kanji Module. Begin this deck when you finish studying the first set of kanji words (#1-13 in K1) in the Kanji Module.

changing Anki default Settings

As a default, Anki is set up to automatically add new cards. We recommend that you change this default setting as described below before beginning to study using the Anki decks.

1. Open the “Options” window.

First, click on the Settings icon (⚙️) to one of the decks in your Anki, then select “Options.” The changes you make here will be applied to all of the decks.

2. Change the “New Cards/day” value to “0.”

When using the Anki deck for this textbook to study, we recommend that you first review old cards and only then add new cards to practice with. To allow you to study the cards in this order, you’ll need to set the amount of automatically added new cards to “0.”

3. Turn on “Bury new siblings” and “Bury review siblings.”

When these functions are on, instead of “Japanese→English” and “English→Japanese” practices of the same card beginning on the same day, the “English→Japanese” practice will begin the day after the “Japanese→English” practice has already begun.

USAGE RECOMMENDATIONS

Anki’s spaced repetition algorithm calculates when you should review the learned card next time. When studying, make sure to review each card on the calculated review day. It is also important that you listen to the voice recording and repeat it out loud before looking at each card, so that you can not only memorize material but also improve your listening skills and pronunciation through this flashcard practice.

First Day of Study

If you change the settings as described above, the first time you click on a deck, you will be greeted with the message “Congratulations! You have finished this deck for now.” This is because you’ve set your “New cards/day” to “0” and no new cards to study have been automatically added. From this screen, you can follow the steps below to add new cards to your deck and begin studying.

  1. Click on “Custom Study” (the text may say “Study More” instead) at the bottom of the window.
  2. Select “Increase today’s new card limit,” then change the value of “Increase today’s new card limit by” to “10” (or any number of card you want to study) and click “OK.” Now when you return to the deck, there will be ten (or the number you entered) new cards added for you to study.
  3. If you finish studying those ten cards and would like to add more cards to study, select the deck again and repeat the previous steps. Make sure to review all the cards you’ve added before finishing your session of the day.

Subsequent Days

On subsequent days, the cards that you have studied previously will be displayed as review cards. Continue your study by following the steps below.

  1. Click on a deck with review cards displayed and work through them until the number of cards to review has reached 0.
  2. If you want to keep studying after finishing studying all the review cards, add new cards as you did on the first day. Make sure to work through all of the cards you added before finishing your session.
  3. As the number of review cards increases, there may be days when you aren’t able to add any new cards, but make an effort to at least reduce your review cards to 0 every day.

The words “every day” are key here—in order to make the most effective use of this textbook, it is important to use Anki to study and review in the manner prescribed above without missing a day. Set a duration of time that is sustainable for you to study each day and try not to let a day go by without an Anki study session.

Sync your Anki on the computer with an anki app on other device(s)

You can use a device other than a computer (smartphone, tablet etc.) to study by syncing the device with the Anki program on your computer through AnkiWeb. Making Anki available on multiple devices will allow you to use your time more effectively. (You can easily have a quick two-minute practice while waiting for your friend if you have Anki on your smartphone!) Also, you can avoid losing all of your previous study data when your computer unexpectedly stopped working if you have your computer version of Anki synced with AnkiWeb.

Syncing Anki on the computer with AnkiWeb

First, create an account at AnkiWeb (https://apps.ankiweb.net/).

Then, sync the Anki decks you downloaded onto your computer with your AnkiWeb account using the synchronization function of the computer version of Anki. Make sure that you “upload” the data of your computer version of Anki to AnkiWeb (and not “download” from AnkiWeb to the computer version of Anki).

Syncing your AnkiWeb account with the Anki app on your device

  1. Download the Anki app (AnkiMobile for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, AnkiDroid for Android Devices) from the Anki homepage (https://apps.ankiweb.net/) onto the device you wish to use for study.
    * AnkiDroid is free of charge but AnkiMobile for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch is a paid app. We recommend purchasing AnkiMobile for users of these devices because the app makes Anki even easier to use. (In addition, Anki is not limited for language learning. You can use Anki for any learning that requires memorization.) If you want to test and try Anki out on your Apple device for free, however, you can use AnkiWeb on the device. It will allow you to study our flashcards without purchasing AnkiMobile.
  2. Sync the Anki app on that device with your AnkiWeb account using the synchronization function of the Anki app downloaded on the device. Make sure that you “download” the data from AnkiWeb to the app (and not “upload” from the app to AnkiWeb).