Study the phrases with Anki!

UPDATE - July 2011

It looks like the PhraseMix Anki deck doesn't work with the newest version of Anki. I still reccommend downloading Anki and using it to study, but you won't be able to automatically download PhraseMix lessons.

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I've written before about how great Anki is for learning languages. If you've never used it before, you'll be amazed at how much it improves your memory. I want to help my loyal readers to get started with studying with Anki, so I uploaded a big group of phrases from this site that you can download easily and get started with. Here's how to install Anki and get the PhraseMix study deck:

Downloading the PhraseMix Anki deck:

1. Go to the Anki Website

2. Click on the "Download" box on the right for the version that matches your OS:

   

3. Download and install the program:

   

4. Open Anki. The first screen will have a button that says "Download". Click this.

   
   

5. Search for "PhraseMix" or scroll down to find it in in the list. It will say "PhraseMix.com - Natural English Phrases (March 2010). Click on it and Press OK.

   

6. Click on "Start Reviewing" and begin your flashcards.

   

How to Use Anki:

Anki is basically a flashcard program. It will show you one "side" of the card. Based on that, you have to guess what the other side is. You click "show answer" to show the back of the card. Then there are buttons at the bottom where you rate how easy that question was for you, from "Hard" to "Easy". Take a look:

If you don't get the answer to the card, click "Again".  Anki will show you the cards again sooner if they were hard for you, and later if they were easy. If you keep failing the same card, it will eventually hide it from you.

How to use the PhraseMix deck:

I've given you three different kinds of cards.

1. Easy - recognize the phrase. These cards just show you a phrase. Read it and try to understand what it means. On the back of the card is a situation you can use the phrase in and a link to the phrase on PhraseMix.com
2. Hard - fill in the blanks. These cards show you a phrase with some of the words missing. Try to remember what words are missing. Under the phrase is the situation. On the back of the card is the completed phrase and a link to the web site.
3. Really Hard - remember the phrase. These cards just show you the situation. Read the situation and try to remember the whole phrase. On the back of the card is the phrase and a link.

There are lots of different things you can do with Anki, including adding your own notes to the cards, making your own cards, creating an online account, controlling how many cards to review. There's really a setting or control for almost everything if you look hard enough for it.

Try it out and let me know what you think!