This post is made to receive feedback on my Anki deck for Japanese learners. Please leave your feedback in the comments below. The following description is largely the same as the one you can find on the deck download page at https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2079503898
Release: Template released (01/08/2020)
The first version of the template, and deck, was uploaded.
Update: Finally "completed" the template (07/03/2021)
After using the deck for a while I found that the card feels a bit "narrow" in portrait mode on AnkiDroid, so I ended up moving the tags to their own "row" on the answer side, that way cards with many tags, or long answers and hints, will look a little more natural. I also realized that the very round edges didn't blend in with AnkiDroid as intended, so I made everything square again. Also made the perfomance timer "adjustable" by setting it with an easily modifiable variable in the script. Finally, I made a simple implementation of the LaxAnswer field, but this requires all Answer fields to end on semicolon(;) to not break the script. That's a point I might have to review later.
TODO:
- Add quite a bit of basic vocabulary that wasn't included in the old deck because I wasn't a complete beginner when I started making it.
- Add grammar cards.
- Add hints to all but the most basic cards...
- Add and improve explanations.
- Add word class tags to Adverbs
- Add tags for JLPT levels
- Reduce the amount of alternatives presented as the answer, especially on ambiguous cards that have a ton of similar alternatives, to make a more concise QA that strengthens the meme. Ideally simplify each visible answer to no more than 3 alternatives.
- Fix a layout issue where wide tables stretch beyond the card and look stupid.
The template can also be used as a base to make your own deck.
The main feature is a timer function in the deck template that gives you a hint about your performance. If you flip the card within 4 seconds the background will be blue, 4-20 seconds will make it green, more than 20 seconds will turn it orange. The idea is that you can "easy" your card if it's blue, "good" it if it's green, and "hard" it if it's orange.
There is also a function that checks your typed answer and makes the background red if you made a mistake. The comparison is case insensitive, and checks against each alternative on cards that have multiple correct answers. In case you don't want to type, the function is designed to ignore blank answers.
Tags:
Hiragana: Single characters that are a part of the Japanese hiragana syllabary.
Katakana: Single characters that are a part of the Japanese katakana syllabary.
Kanji: Single characters that are defined as a kanji aka. Chinese character.
Radical: Shapes that make up a part of a kanji, but is not used as a symbol in itself.
Vocabulary: A word, that is an entity that can convey some meaning on its own, and be conjugated where relevant.
Expression: A fixed expression that conveys some meaning it is relevant to remember as an entity. What separates an expression from a word is often that it already contains conjugations or other grammatical elements.
Kunyomi: Marks that the note is read using only Japanese readings.
Onyomi: Marks that the note is read using only Chinese readings.
Noun, Verb, Adjective: Mark their respective word classes.
HiraganaWord: A word that is written entirely in hiragana. This tag has some technical implications, it marks a note for random sort.
KatakanaWord: A word that is written entirely in Katakana. This tag has some technical implications, it marks a note for random sort.
Readme:
The notes in the deck are ordered the way they are for valid reasons, please learn the notes in order added. However, I bumped into an issue that cards cannot be reordered in a feasible way. Because of this, cards I added after the inital release does not show up where they are supposed to.
Fields names that end with "Req" mark required fields. The script will likely die without them.
Answers, and LaxAnswers are semicolon(";") separated, and can therefore not contain semicolons. The Answers field needs to end on a semicolon for the typed answer to be displayed if it is correct. This has to do with how Anki displays the output of type fields, and how I implemented my LaxAnswers functionality. Just make sure to terminate Answers fields with a semicolon.
Tags are space(" ") separated and can therefore not contain spaces.
There is a field called LaxAnswers. The idea is to add common typos and lazy spellings that we might want to allow (things like "its" for "it's", "favor" for "favour" etc.) in this field, then these will be considered correct answers by the input check. This way we don't have to litter the backside of the card with almost identical definitions.
