Using Anki To Learn French

Anki is something you will hear being used in a lot of language learning communities, especially for learning Japanese.

However, it’s something I use for French and I am not the only one to do this. It is actually pretty useful when it comes to French and I will go through everything you need to know below.   

What Is Anki?

Anki is simply a flash card tool. It is very popular in language learning, but really it can be used for learning anything.

It is just a computer program that uses a Spaced Repetition System to help you remember things. You just input the data (French words in our case) and Anki will show you the information at various times.

It has been programmed to know the optimal time to show you the information again; the idea is that it asks you to review something just before you forget it. It just does this over and over again until you get the data into your long term memory.

It has been programmed to slowly space the information out, with longer and longer spaces between each time it shows you it. This is from research that was carried out by scientists who worked out how spaced repetition will get things into your long term memory.

This was possible before with hand written flash cards, but programs like Anki do all the hard work for you, making the process very easy and highly efficient.       

(You can read more about – Are Flashcards Effective When Learning A Language?)

Is Anki The Only System You Can Use?

While Anki is probably the most commonly used system, it is not the only one. There are plenty of SRS (spaced repetition systems) out there that you can use.

They all work in a very similar way. You put the data in and they will show it to you periodically to help you remember it.

If you don’t want to use Anki you can certainly try any of the many other programs that are available. 

(You can read more about – How To Memorise French So That You Are Better At The Language)

Where Do You Get Anki?

Anki is a free software that you can down load on to your computer.

You can get it here – https://apps.ankiweb.net/

You can also download it on your phone, but this app costs. You should try it out on your computer for a while and see if you like using it.

Should You Only Use Anki To Learn French?

Anki is a great tool to use to learn French, but it should not be your only tool.

I think you need to be using Anki, but you should not stop your other style of French lessons. Anki is very good at introducing you to new words and vocabulary, but it is not going to teach you any grammar rules or things like this, which is why it should not be used by its self.

Is Learning Words Out Of Context Bad?

The biggest problem with Anki is that it is usually just showing you words by themselves. I have a number of Anki decks that will just show one word and I need to say what the translation is. (This can either be a French word that I need to translate to English, or vice versa)

Learning words like this is not ideal as there is no context. This is why Anki alone is not enough to learn the language.

Really you at least need immersion as well.  Anki and immersion work quite well together. You will learn new works with Anki, but then see them later on in context, being used properly in your immersion material.

You can also take new words you find in your immersion material and add them to your Anki to help your remember them.    

Anki is only one piece of the bigger puzzle to learning French, so it’s okay if the words are not in context, as you will get this elsewhere from your studies.

Anki Can Help Build Passive Vocabulary

The main benefit for using Anki is that it will build your passive vocabulary. You are going to be seeing French words and you will have to think about what they mean.

Of course if I asked you to recall the word from memory you may struggle, but that’s fine, that is exactly the point of Anki, its building your skills up slowly over time.

As you progress in French you can get Anki decks that will just show you an English word, then it is your job to actively recall the French word. Doing it this way round is much harder, but again, is all part of building your French skills through Anki.

How To Use Anki To Learn French

The first thing to do is make sure you use Anki every day. It is always going to have words for you to review, so you need to do them or else they start to pile up and it can become unmanageable.

It is also important to do your Anki reviews every day as the system is designed to show you them at the correct time, so you don’t forget it. If you take a few days off you are going to upset this system and probably forget a lot of words, making the whole thing pointless.

You should also only learn a couple of new words a day. It is easy to do more, but then the reviews can really start to stack up and get out of hand, which makes the whole process not enjoyable.

If you are using a premade deck, then if it’s possible, you should go through it in the frequency order, meaning you are going to be learning the most common words first. Not all decks are set up this way, so it’s not always possible.

What Do You Actually Do On Anki?

Anki is really simple. It is just a flash card. It will show you a word and you just have to say if you know it or not.

Maybe the word is “bonjour” that is all that will be on the screen and you have to say. “oh I know that that means hello” you then press the button and it will show you back of the card, which of course will show you that bonjour does indeed mean hello.

If you got it right you can press the button saying if this was easy or hard. If you got it wrong, you press “try it again”.

Depending on what button you press will depend when it shows you this card again. It may be in a few minutes, tomorrow, or a few days.   

Every time it shows you the card and you get it right, the time frame until you see it again will get longer. If you forget it, it will basically go back to showing it to you more regularly until again you are able to remember it every time.

Anki decks are that simple. It’s just simple flash cards where you have to say the meaning of the words you see on the screen. 

Should You Use A Pre Made Anki Deck Or Make Your Own?

When it comes to Anki you can either make your own decks, or find one with all the information already in it.

Personally I use both. When you are beginner the pre made ones are better, they have all the information you need, often including audio, which is very helpful.

However, making your own is usually better as you will be putting in the words you actually need and want to learn.

Where Can You Get French Anti Decks?

If you want to get a premade deck, you can find them all here – https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/french

You can download any of these and add them to your Anki and of course some of them are going to be far better than others. I will tell you what ones I use below.

What Anki Decks Do I Use?

I have three French Anki decks I use. Maybe that is too much, who knows, but for me it works. You can do whatever feels right for you. 

My Main Deck

The main deck I use is the – 5000 most frequently used French words [v. 6.0]

This is probably all the words I will ever need, ever in French. If I can dominate this deck, I will be in a very good place with French.

The deck includes audio which I find very helpful, and you can place the words in order of their frequency, which is massively helpful. 

When you start getting further down the list, some of the words are really not that common, so it’s good I can order them in the right way to avoid learning these obscure words first.

This deck also contains a French Canadian section, which I deleted, sorry Canada! 

The deck also has French to English, and then the same words later on in English, so you can recall the French.

This deck is the most rated deck and I think so for good reason. It will do a lot for you and if you only want one deck, this is the deck to get

Verb Deck

The next deck I use is the – 501 French Verbs with audio deck. 

I just think verbs are important and although they are all covered in the 5000 words decks, I just want more exposure to verbs.

To me verbs make up most of the language. If you can master these, everything else will fall into place, so I just do this deck to really solidify my knowledge of my French verbs.

My Own Deck

I then have a deck that I have created myself. This just really contains words I seem to struggle with. Sometimes they are words I pick up from conversations or immersion, but honestly they are just mostly words I have struggled with from the 5000 words deck.

You will just find there are some words that you struggle to remember or always seem to get wrong. There is no reason for it, it just happens. I put these words into my own deck, to force me to see them even more often.

I like to face my weaknesses. This is the only way to overcome them and the increased exposure does seem to help.  

Conclusion

Anki is a great tool in general for anything you want to learn, but if you want to learn French, I think it’s an excellent addition to your learning.

The real beauty is that Anki card can be created in any way you want. You can add audio, pictures, full sentences, it really open for whatever you want to do with them. 

I keep them simple and just let it increase my passively vocabulary very efficiently. I have really noticed it has helped my French levels increase massively.

(If you are wanting to learn French you can check out my unofficial French Course and get a grasp of the basic structure of the language)