Learn Chinese with Flashcards

If you are learning Mandarin, then there is almost no way to ignore flashcards short of enrolling yourself in rural elementary school and beginning from scratch. You required some way to remember the language, even if it is only because you have told yourself the meaning many times. So, you can write down a character on one side and write English on the other. Then you try your best to remember the pinyin and continue to force yourself to absorb the meaning while, let’s be honest, occasionally forgetting how to pronounce the Chinese character. The test is written, So, naturally, recognition is a priority than pronunciation. Mastering tones? Yeah, it is next on the list, right after this review session.

I am not judging you because I do the same thing. As I said, flashcards are pretty obvious; yet, they still leave you struggling when it comes to remembering sounds. Honestly, there is too much information to remember using a standard flashcard. Furthermore, you cannot find using them to be interesting any more. In general, Flashcards are just not that interesting. What is worse, you are not building a relationship between the word you are trying to learn and any other words in Chinese, just a binary link to English.

What you need to help better you understand all the information that comes with Mandarin, or with any language for that matter. As you grow from beginner to advanced student, you may notice that you develop your own systems for recalling the words and concepts you use most. Though, you may not see the holes in your learning system until you come across something you know that you should know already. Those systems you make are mnemonic devices. In order to work best, they have to make an association in your brain between the new information you try to remember and a piece of older information you already know. They can do that in different ways.

If you are speculating why I am going through all this struggle when traditional flashcards are your go-to method, it will make learning Mandarin more fascinating for you if you try. Using a card with a character on one side and meaning on the other side is a way to make the relation between pieces of information. But, there are different ways, for insistence, let’s take imagery. It takes the word from its context and forces it to go somewhere new, exciting, and memorable. Of course, the well-known example is Chineasy, a program where traditional characters are put on pictures of their meanings so students can see the similarity.

You can also do what others have done for European languages and use Link Words or cognates. Link word sounds like the target word to generate a scene that also contains the meaning of the word in question. Within cognates, you can create the scene visually, or by putting new words into a sentence that contains their pronunciation, even use both methods. Now we are beginning to get somewhere to study flashcards. The ideal flashcard will help you learn meaning, pronunciation, and reading at once and do so in a way that assists you to remember it longer, not a short order.

Then, let’s take a look at a couple of contenders.

It has the images—that much is clear. The pronunciation suggestions at the bottom seem to be hitting the mark, at least for me considering my admittedly wacky tones. Where this card is missing is in driving home the character itself. The concept is clear, the meaning is taken, I remember the word, but being deprived of a sentence context, it is tougher to learn the character. If you are not advanced for sentences and just want an introduction to characters before diving in, then these cards are the best option. Otherwise, it is good to refocus on these. They are not tongue twisters, so call them character twisters.

The homonyms are composed and associated with the pictures, just like the single-word cards, but without the English meaning, you are left to interpret it on your own. Of course, they are planned for more advanced students. The advanced students maybe know the words themselves but required a sentence that usages all the characters at once. The character twisters, if you pick up right where the single word cards left off and vice versa.

Of course, there are many ways to try and learn to read Mandarin. None of them are a treatment at all, nor will it be a fast fix. It takes native speaking school children many years in primary school to get the basics straight when all’s said and done. But, these flashcards are undoubtedly an improvement on the flashcard format. So I believe these flashcards are worth checking out.

Learning Chinese with flashcards is a very effective method to exercise your Chinese learning muscle… as long as you use them right. Research shows that flashcards are useful when they are spaced out at just the right intervals. However, like selecting the right number of reps to include in each exercise set, it is not easy to tell what those intervals are. Luckily, Chinese flashcards applications can take care of the spacing so you can focus on the learning. These days everything is digital; it makes sense that flashcards would evolve into an electronic format. And luckily for Chinese learners, there is a seemingly infinite wealth of Chinese flashcard applications available online. But how do you use them anyway? Here are some suggestions:

Study on your time: 

Most Chinese flashcard applications are meant to be used in short bursts. This means that you can use them any time you have a few minutes free, like when you are driving to work or when you are on your lunch break. The beauty of having easily-accessible flashcard applications on hand is that you can whip them out whenever you want.

Review challenging words:

Most of the apps listed below have a ‘save’ feature where you can save certain vocabulary words.  Use this feature to tag words that you are stressed with to revisit them later.

Do not settle for just one:

Each Chinese flashcard app has its weaknesses and strengths. But you are not confined to using just one. You can download more apps so you can switch things up when you feel bored with using the same program again and again. One last thing to keep in mind is that not all the applications available for download or purchase are worth your time.  And if you install an app and you do not like it, then do not worry. Most of these are free. Just delete it and try the next one. Now let’s go through some of the top flashcards apps.

FluentU

Do you want to try authentic Chinese content but do not feel confident enough in your skills? FluentU app takes real videos, movie trailers, news, and music videos and switches them into personalized language. The learner-centric program makes authentic content available to learners, no matter what level they are. FluentU’s flashcards are a significant aspect of the program. Flashcards show the word, definition, images, example sentence, and even videos where you can find the word for more context. You can discover new words as you watch videos, thanks to the interactive subtitles and transcripts that come with each video. Then, use FluentU’s quizzes to assess how well you have learned every word. Best of all, the algorithm will save track of your learning history and propose activities and videos based on your progress.

Anki

Anki has made waves around the language learning community. The program is a learning giant, explicitly constructed for studying with flashcards. Though the iOS version will set you back a hefty sum, the Android and web versions of Anki are totally free. Anki permits you to make your own flashcards and build decks with as much or as little detail as you would like. It supports diverse languages, images, and even audio. Anki uses the concept of Spaced Repetition to show you vocabulary words at the perfect intervals, emphasizing words you find tough and showing mastered words frequently enough to keep them in the front of your memory. It is the ideal tool for crafting the ideal deck for your study needs. If you are not inclined to make your own flashcards, do not worry: The community’s got your back, there are lots of useful user-made Chinese flashcard decks, many of them massive in scope, size, and content.

Pleco

Pleco combines the concepts of a flashcard app and an English-Chinese dictionary. If you are eyeing for a streamlined app that can deliver easy lookup functions for language emergencies and flashcard decks for when you have free time, this is it. The dictionary part of the app helps you look up words via a powerful search engine that allows for the character, pinyin, and wildcard searches. You can also use the app’s handwriting and photo software to check unknown words or use the app to translate content on other applications on your phone. Even You can see stroke order diagrams for characters and a number of other goodies. Pleco’s flashcard element is just as thorough, allowing you to import your own vocabulary lists and test yourself using exercises like fill-in-the-blank.

Train Chinese

Train Chinese has a distinctive algorithm specifically geared toward learners, which takes intent into consideration. For example, imagine searching for ‘Chinese food’ in Google. The search engine knows you are probably looking for a meal in your neighborhood, not the history of Chinese food in a country you have never even been to. Similarly, TrainChinese will take into consideration what you are most likely trying to learn and display your results based on this information. Like Google, the TrainChinese search engine will begin display results as soon as you start typing and propose corrections if you make a spelling mistake, to ensure that you always find what you are looking for. The flashcard system on TrainChinese is oriented toward learners. It uses SRS to ensure effective memorization, comprises character animations and audio, and permits you to organize cards into decks and create study notes on them. Switch between modes to prioritize character or vocabulary learning by displaying cards in Chinese, pinyin, or English. Do you want to practice your writing, too? Then compare your character writing to the TrainChinese animation. Best of all, your growth, decks, and notes are saved to your device, so you can continue learning from where you left.

Quizlet

Quizlet is an excellent tool that can be used for much more than just learning Chinese. Do you need to memorize some main terms for a test at school? Do you want to learn the names and positions of the constellations? Quizlet is the perfect choice for anything that can be determined with flashcards. Like Anki, you can reach hundreds of user-made decks for numerous things, including Chinese. And like Anki, you can make your own personalized flashcards to review. If you are a bit overwhelmed by Anki’s potential functions, Quizlet is the more user-friendly option. Quizlet has diverse modes for learners, from the typical flashcard format to writing, matching, and audio exercises. For a fee, you can buy official Chinese learning decks or even collections of sets, like the Number and Animal Vocabulary collection, which features simplified Chinese, diagrams, and text-to-speech functionality.

Memrise

Memrise started as a flashcard-based app, but it is grown to be so much more. It is planned to teach languages to learners through the incentive of tasks and games with other users. The program still sticks to its roots, however, with a robust SRS-based flashcard functionality. Use native speaker audio to learn each phrase or word, then get tested on your skill to write it from your memory and compare it to the native audio with the speech-recognition function. Also, Memrise has user-made flashcard decks, but these are in the process of being migrated to their website and launching a dedicated Decks applications.