First, watch the Getting Started video:
You can also check out the linked tutorials’ play list on this post you haven’t already.
kanji Flow offers a lot of freedom in how you use it to study. If you like and use the Leitner system, you can probably make your preferred method of study work within the app’s available options. If you don’t know what “the Leitner system” is or you’ve noticed that the amount of kanji and/or vocabulary you’ve got in your study list is starting to get a bit unruly then I’d recommend that you study as outlined in this post.
You should be using the Flow study method. The app will keep track of how well you know each card and determine when you need to study the card again. Basically, it’s an algorithm managed, increasing interval study system. The more you know a card, the less the app will present it to you in study sessions.
It’s important to keep in mind that this algorithm isn’t going to give you perfect memorization. You’ll probably end up needing to review about 10% of your cards from each study session. That’s okay. You shouldn’t feel bad if you didn’t remember the card. If you never get any cards wrong then you have a perfect memory and really don’t need to be studying all that seriously anyway. Expect to forget cards. If you don’t immediately and confidently know the card, you don’t know it. Swipe it to the left and review it.
You should be using context-based study and (almost) everyone of your cards should have examples. This applies especially to verbs and nouns of a disyllabic origin (double kanji words). Download imiwa? (it’s free) and use it to import examples for your card. If imiwa? doesn’t have examples for the word you’re studying then check out the tip in this post. Simple nouns like りんご (apple) probably don’t really need examples.
If you’re studying reading, read the example out loud being sure to use the proper reading for the kanji between the 【】. If you’re studying writing, get out a sheet of paper and pen and write the example down replacing the ○ with the correct kanji. The point of this is to get used to how the word is used by practicing actually using it. Memorizing the whole dictionary isn’t going to do you any good if you don’t know which verb or word is appropriate to whatever situation you happen to find yourself in.
Good luck and please let me know if any of this isn’t clear in anyway. I’ll be happy to talk with you personally about how to get the most out of your study time with kanji Flow.
Happy Studies!
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