Using 2 or more sides

[dleewo]

Hi,

I just bought your software for my iPad and I had a few questions. I tried playing with the sample deck and also by creating my own deck, but the answers to my questions aren't obvious. My plan is to use this to help with my foreign language study.

1) I want to be able to study in 2 directions. That is I want the "Question" to be both English and German. I've used Anki in the past and it creates 2 cards. Can I do the same thing automatically? Or is there a way to have your SW test both sides? Or do I have to manually create two cards. I did see it can randomly decide which side to show, but I can't tell if that would result in different statistics for each side.

2) I'm trying to figure if and how I would use say a 3-sided or 4-sided card. Are sides 3, 4, and 5 simply considered additional "answers"? Perhaps someone can give me some examples of how they use 3 or more sides for foreign language study. Since I don't know how I would use it, I guess I don't "need" it, but I was curious if there was some advantage I was missing and should try and take advantage of.

Thanks
Derek

[Ernie]

Hi Derek,

1)
The "Show Side First" setting (in Deck Options) will allow you to change which side is the "question". As for statistics, each card has up to 4 sets and you manually set which you want to use. In the Show Side First screen, at the bottom is the "Statistics Set" setting. If you set show side first to 2, you can set the stat set to 2 also to keep the statistics separate. (Statistics Set is only shown when using Short Term goal or Spaced Repetition).

I have something called a "combination deck", which is a way to study multiple decks as a single unit. But it can also be used to hold just a single deck, but allow you to view it in a different way.

Below are instructions for the "Statistics Set" setting and will give you an idea on how to use this:

Statistics Set allows for multiple sets of statistics for a single card. This is useful when studying a language both directions (A → B, B → A), and want each direction on its own schedule. One option is to import the same deck twice, but the downside to this is that you have two versions of all your cards making it harder to keep them in sync. The other option is to use this "Statistics Set" setting.

Here's how I recommend setting this up:
1) Use the base deck for "Side 1" first.
2) Create a combination deck and include only this single base deck.
- Change the Card Order to either "Short Term Goal" or "Spaced Repetition"
- Change Show Side First to "Side 2"
- Change "Statistics Direction" to "2"


2)
A third side is common in Chinese where you have 3 sets of info, English, Chinese character, Pinyin (phonetic representation). This 3rd side is extra info. But you can switch up the studying to show any one of these first as the question, and can choose to keep the card 3 sided, or even make two sided cards with both of the other items on the back. You use "Card Layout" setting in Deck Options to remap what is shown on each side of the card.

Ernie

[Guest]

Here's how I recommend setting this up:
1) Use the base deck for "Side 1" first.
2) Create a combination deck and include only this single base deck.
- Change the Card Order to either "Short Term Goal" or "Spaced Repetition"
- Change Show Side First to "Side 2"
- Change "Statistics Direction" to "2"

Let me see if I understand this...

I would have ONE deck. The combination deck would include this, but I set it to show side 2 first.

Can I then make yet another combination deck that includes the base deck and the reverse combination deck and thus study both directions at the same time all intermingled?

My goal, if possible, is that while studying, I would get either English first or German first and it should be all mixed.

Derek

[Ernie]

"I would have ONE deck. The combination deck would include this, but I set it to show side 2 first."
Correct

"Can I then make yet another combination deck that includes the base deck and the reverse combination deck and thus study both directions at the same time all intermingled?"
No, the app doesn't support this. I've got this as a possible to-do item. A combo deck can have only one setting for show side first and stats set. No option to use the setting of the "base" deck.

[dleewo]

Thanks. I had actually tried a test and as you stated, I found I couldn't nest the combination decks.

I'm thinking the only way I can have my deck organized so that I can test both directions all intermingled is to duplicate each card in the import. Does that sound right? I'm willing to do that, but I just want to ensure that is the only option.

Even importing the deck twice wouldn't help.

Derek

[Ernie]

I agree. Duplicate each card in a single deck, while switch sides for one of the pair. Adding a category and setting to one of two values seems like a good idea so you could filter on a single direction if you wanted to.

[dleewo]

Thanks!! Your prompts responses have been appreciated