Flashcard creep: how much time per day?

[Selek]

My iPhone, home of my Pleco cards, was run over by a car today and crushed. (I dropped it in a parking lot and didn't notice until too late.) I discovered, to my chagrin, that I had not backed up my Pleco flashcards at all. For some reason I think I turned off iCloud a year or so ago, before I started learning Chinese. The phone may yet be reparable, so I may be able to recover the flaschards.

Anyway, I'm wondering if this mishap might be a blessing in disguise. I've been spending at least an hour a day on flashcards, mostly Pleco, but also Anki sentences (using Spoonfed Chinese). Most days I also read, watch a Chinese show, or listen to a podcast, but not always. And my flashcard time keeps expanding as my vocabulary gets larger. I now know a couple thousand words (in theory). I'm starting to think the first thing I should do is read and watch a show, and only then look at flashcards. I'm even starting to wonder if my paper flashcards (Chinese Builder Cards, sold along with the text Integrated Chinese) might be better for me, since they don't nag me the way apps do. My paper graded readers don't nag me, but flashcard apps do, so I tend to want to appease the app first.

If I do go back to digital flashcards, how can I keep the volume under control? Adjust the SRS settings for less frequent reviews?

 

[lookslikerain]

Flashcards do have a way of taking over if you let them. Ideally SRS tests you on a word right before you would otherwise forget it. If you find that it’s (too) easy for you to remember the words you are tested on, then you might want to change SRS settings for less frequent reviews. However, if it’s not too easy, then I wouldn’t mess with SRS settings. What I would do is reduce the total number of words in circulation and (re)introduce new ones at a slower rate. That should keep the number you have to review each day under control. Alternatively you could just not review all the ones due for review each day, but it sounds like if there are cards due for review you have a hard time saying no, so probably better to reduce the number due for review by reducing the total number of cards you’re learning. I wouldn’t recommend dumping apps entirely and switching to paper cards, because SRS with apps lets you be much more efficient with your study time.

I will say my own Chinese reading ability made big jumps during periods when I was doing an hour of flashcards a day, but I could never sustain that for more than a couple of months at a time, and it stopped me from doing the other kinds of learning that you mentioned, like reading.

Best of luck figuring out the right balance!