I'm obsessed with learning vocabulary with flashcards. I'm honestly curious to know - am I the only one with 2,000 flashcards still neatly sorted on my desk?

I have flashcards for French, Spanish and Italian. In the past, I also used them to learn Arabic and Russian letters.

For a few years, I've also been using Brainscape's French Flashcards. There are thousands, with an audio sound on each card for pronunciation. I like to do a set of 50 random cards on the train, which allows me to keep up with my French, and challenge me to remember vocabulary and grammar.

If you aren't using flashcards, here are 3 reasons you should be:

1. It's a great way to determine how well you know a word! You can sort your flashcards into piles (digitally or physically) according to your confidence level. #customization

2. It's a quick and easy way to practice. Keep a deck on your desk or phone. Challenge yourself to do at least 10/day. It would only take a few minutes!

3. The two-sided nature of flashcards is proven to help you learn better than just looking at a vocab word in a book or a multiple choice answer. The fancy term is - "active recall." Forcing yourself to think of the correct translation from scratch is a lot more effective than just repeating the correct answer over and over!

Let us know if you use flashcards! How do you use them, and what languages are you using them for?

PS: Brainscape flashcards are our featured reward of the week on The Lexchange! Get up to 40% ($32) off here.

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Walsh Costigan

Founder of Lexody

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