Anki Startup Guide
Step 1:
Download Anki: http://ankisrs.net
Step 2:
Download the Core 2K/6K deck here (it already has sounds included):
https://mega.nz/#!QIQywAAZ!g6wRM6KvDVmLxq7X5xLrvaw7HZGyYULUkT_YDtQdgfU
Download from the above link. Do not download the poorly formatted Core decks on AnkiWeb.
Step 3:
Add it to Anki (drag and drop/'Import File' button on the bottom of Anki window/Ctrl+I).
Step 4 (optional step for images):
Download media the deck uses (Card images):
http://www.mediafire.com/download/nrvpcx9a766nh1t/core2k-image.munged.rar
Step 5 (optional step for images):
Unrar the media content and paste into your Anki 'collection.media' folder (remember to paste files, not a folder with files). Every file should by default have following access path:
C:\Users\____\AppData\Roaming\Anki2\_____\collection.media
Step 6 (optional step for images):
Add the card images to the card format: Hit "Browse" -> Navigate to the Core deck on the left sidebar -> Hit the "Cards..." button -> Add {{Sentence-Image}} under the
at the bottom of the "Back Template" section.
Step 7:
Remove the review limit by going to the deck options and under the "Reviews" tab and setting "Maximum reviews/day" to 9999 (Don't be alarmed by this number, it likely won't go above 200-350 in the long run at decent retention with 20-30 new cards a day, the point is more to set it to something you'll never hit)
Step 8:
Learn. The first word in the deck should be それ. If you see a different word before that, you need to fix your settings: Go to the deck options and set the order to "Show new cards in order added".
Images aren't really required for this deck, most people don't use them so feel free to omit steps 4-6.
Retention Tips / Misc comments and common opinions (note that most of these are highly personal preference and your mileage may vary, so make up your own mind about doing any of this stuff):
- Some people like doing new cards separate from reviews since it prevents a bunch of new cards from all piling up at the end of your session, and means that you're mentally 'fresh' when facing them. If you want to do this, there is an option to do new cards before (or after) reviews in Anki's preferences.
- Going into the deck, hitting the "Custom Study" button, selecting "Review forgotten cards", leaving it at 1 day, and hitting okay will create a temporary deck with all of the cards you hit again on that day so you can do focused reviewing of cards that gave you trouble. This also gets cards you hit "again" on while doing new cards. You can delete the custom study deck after you're done with it and the cards will go back to their decks.
- Increasing the number of steps on new cards (deck options -> changing the "1 10" under "Steps" on the "New" tab) can also help retention with new words since it makes you get the words correct more times in a row before letting them move on to the next day, but it also means new cards take longer to do. "1 1 10", "1 10 20", "1 1 10 20", etc. whatever works best to you.
- Be aware of the "learn ahead" option in Anki's settings. This is what's letting you see a card you just hit "Again (10m)" on. Lowering it or even setting it to 0 could help you learn/relearn words since it forces you to wait the entire interval before letting you guess again, but it could also make doing reviews and new cards a bit more tedious and time consuming. If you have new card / relearn reviews on your decks you were recently doing but it's not letting you do them, this setting is likely why.
- If you want to keep track of what kanji are in words you know, then try the kanji grid add-on.
Fixing fonts on Ankidroid
Kanji are sometimes displayed incorrectly on mobile devices. You can fix this by using a custom font. Download a .ttf font (available from the CoR or this torrent.) Then, follow the instructions in the Anki manual to install it.