I’m happy with my consistency, but I still feel like I lack real progress and growth.
Period: May 14 - June 26, 2022.
What I did: 🔗
- ✅ Made it to Month 4.
- ✅ Maintained a solid Anki Streak.
- 😎 Established decent routine around Anki.
- ❌ Completely stopped when I went on Vacation.
- ❌ No time for grammar or speaking.
Reflections: 🔗
I wanted to spend more time today thinking about how to accelerate my progress and increase my motivation.
Anki Simulations - what is the impact of increasing new cards? 🔗
I feel more motivated working towards goals, even if arbitrary. For example at the gym, doing sets of 60s planks is much easier than “hold the plank as long as you can”.
For Spanish, I think the Anki count can be a useful metric. I know it’s not the ideal measurement, but it’s something tangible I can track and motivate myself towards.
OptiLingo’s fluency post says 1000-3000 to hold an everyday conversation. Looking at CEFR levels, A2 or B1 is where I’d want to hit this year. Chatterbug’s language learning post says A2 is 1500 words and B1 is 2500.
Currently I’m at 300 Mature Cards in Anki. Not all the words I know, just the cards as I added them. I’m using Anki Simulator to project my future progress.
At my current pace, I’d reach 1000 mature on Nov 7, 2022 and 1325 at the end of the year. That’s not where I want to be.
Increasing to 12 new cards a day: 1,000 Mature Cards on 17 Sep, 2022 and 2200 by end of 2022.
Increasing to 20 new cards a day: 1,000 Mature Cards on 25 Aug, 2022 and 3500 by end of 2022.
Even increasing by 1 new card per day (to 7) would add 150 cards by the end of the year. That’s crazy!
Learnings:
- I really need to increase my new card count - ideally to 20 (Anki’s default).
- Simulations are really motivating.
My challenge now: How can I increase my time dedicated to Anki (additional 20 mins a day) without it feeling overwhelming?
Note: I add phrases to Anki too, which cover some existing words and add new unique ones. I think it averages out to the true number of words.
How to dedicate more time to Spanish? 🔗
To improve I need to spend more time with Spanish. It’s quite simple and it’s not for a lack of time in my day. I’m not 100% busy 24/7. I seem to have unlimited time to watch TV, scroll Instagram / Twitter, and write posts like this.
I’d like increase my Spanish exposure to 1 hour per day. I’m currently at 10-20 mins, which is primarily Anki.
Over the next 6 weeks I want to try a variety of different strategies to see what sticks best. This might be overdoing so hopefully I don’t burn out 😇
Add External Motivators:
- Private Lessons on iTalki - just booked the first one for Friday!
- Group Classes - currently looking for Spanish Classes in Sydney, San Francisco, and online.
Make Time to Study:
Schedule dedicated time each week for deeper Spanish Study - added 2 sessions this week.
Break Anki into Multiple Sessions:
I currently do one long Anki session.
More new cards = longer session = more intimidating = less likely to start session.
This is where I found it difficult before. I needed 30 solid & focused minutes to do my Anki. I’d procrastinate because of the effort required, then if i started I’d get tired or bored part way in and start missing more cards, which led to frustration. A whole journey. Turns out I don’t have to torture myself in one long session. Instead I plan to do multiple 5-15 minute sessions throughout the day.
Multiple shorter sessions might be more effective as well, double win!
Improve Focus when Studying:
- Find a different environment to study - away from my desk. A different spot in my apartment, or going out to a cafe.
- Meditate for 5 mins prior to studying to help focus my mind - I’m easily distracted so I want to see if this helps clear out the business in my mind.
- Use iOS Focus Modes to disable most messages / apps when studying.
Explore micro-study sessions:
- Try 5 minutes of Anki right after waking up.
- Combine study with other activities:
- Spanish Podcast when getting ready, or having a shower. (Note: need to find a good one)
- Watch a YouTube video in Spanish while having lunch, or turn Spanish Subtitles on for my non-Spanish videos.
- Label the items i am using. e.g. label items in bathroom, or while cooking label the foods and repeat them each time I cook.
- Try push myself to do 5 minute sessions when waiting for someone or taking a taxi.
- Add 10 new words to Anki.
- Review 10 Anki words
- Start using Duolingo again (with reminders / notifications / streaks disabled)
- Create a Spanish Twitter account to doom scroll in Spanish 🥲
Aside: I learned about the Fogg Behavior Model from a video on the tiny habits method by Zoe.languages. The model helped solidify what I’ve been pondering when it comes to motivation - particularly around finding easy to accomplish Spanish Study tasks when de-motivated. The above micro-sessions ideas are really suited to help, but I’d like to be able to listen to music or do easy reading. I hope this comes with time.
Gearing Up to visit Mexico 🔗
I want to visit Mexico before the end of the year and do a 1-2 week intensive. I’d intended to go to Oaxaca a few years ago, but life events got in the way and I had to cancel last minute. It’s be a great replacement memory to visit Oaxaca AND do it 100% in Spanish.
I’m doing research into good intensive programs in Oaxaca and finding a good time to go.
It’s a great motivator and even better deadline. I’d want to be able to soak up the culture, meet people, eat tasty food, and taste plenty of smoky mezcal 😋… all while 100% communicating in Spanish.
That’s a big leap from where I am now, so it’s time to get serious!
Plan for next month: 🔗
- Increase Anki to 20 new words daily.
- Increase daily exposure of Spanish to 1 hour per day by exploring micro-study sessions.
- Try iTalki Private Lessons and Spanish Group Lessons.
- Work on Grammar.
- Work on Small Talk.
Quantifying progress: 🔗
Anki Counts on June 4:
- Learning → 38
- Relearning → 3
- Young → 165
- Mature → 249
Anki Counts on June 19:
- Learning → 25
- Relearning → 3
- Young → 176
- Mature → 308
Note: I need to do a more consistent tracking for Anki. Is there a way to see progression of “Mature” cards over time? Might need to make an Anki plugin for this.