Language practice with flashcards
There are all kinds of fun and challenging ways to use flashcards to study languages. Here’s a running list of activities that I like.
Mix up your materials
I like using paper flashcards best, but I also use Quizlet and Anki. Quizlet is easy to use and comes with some great built-in practice activities. Anki is extremely customizable, but also harder to use, and the interface isn’t super intuitive.
Use a variety of card formats
The most common way to make flashcards is to put a word in your target language on the front, and the translation on the back. But there are lots of other things you can do:
A word in the target language on the front, and some sample sentences using the word on the back
A word in the target language on the front, and the pronunciation on the back
A word in the target language on the front, and important grammatical information on the back, such as gender, tense, irregular verb forms, etc.
A question in the target language on the front, and some sample answers or answer stems on the back
You also don’t have to follow the format of “question on the front, answer on the back”. You can make cards with all sorts of challenges, such as “name 5 things that you might say when giving directions”, or “what would you say to a friend who’s having a bad day”?
Practice more than just saying words
I also like to use flashcards not just to practice seeing if I know how to translate a word, but more complicated skills as well:
Look at a word, and come up with a question involving that word.
Look at a word, and create an entire dialogue or paragraph that uses that word as many times as possible.
Look at a word, and sketch a scene based on that word. Then, narrate the scene as if you’re describing it to a friend.
Choose 5-10 random words. Create a short paragraph, story, or dialogue that includes them all
Create multiple sets of cards with the numbers 0 through 9. Use them to create 2-, 3, and 4- digit numbers, and practice saying those numbers out loud without hesitating too much.
Create a card with the number 19, a card with the number 20, and two sets of cards each with the numbers 0 through 9. Use those cards to randomly create years, such as 1989, 2023, 2005, 1907, etc.. Each time I create a random year, say the year out loud in the target language.
Use flashcards to create random dates and clock times, and practice saying them out loud without having to think for two long about them.
Choose 5-10 random words that are all from the same part of speech, such as verbs. Then, choose a couple of grammatical categories, such as “past tense” or “passive voice”. Then “match up” the vocabulary and the grammar – for example, write each of those 5-10 verbs in the past tense and also the passive voice.
It’s OK if it’s slow
The flashcard activities I described above are cognitively very demanding. I find that sometimes I can only do 3-5 cards per day for some of those activities – sometimes even just 1-2. But in my experience, practicing just a few words throughout the day helps me use them more than if I do less-involved practicing with a larger number of word.