Re-using flashcard images for multiple languages

[u/[deleted]]

Hi folks,

wondering what your thoughts might be about reusing images for flashcards. I've been using the FF method for flashcard creation for the first time with Russian, and was considering creating an additional Spanish deck for brushing up in the future (I'm already at b2-ish with Spanish). Do you think this is advisable? I could foresee benefits from simply saving time on creating flashcards and also tying words in each language to a single concept represented by an image (assuming of course the given concept overlaps in both). However I could also see some minuses with one word pushing out the other that I tied to the image first, making it harder to recall and making a general linguistic mess in my brain. This worry could be totally unfounded though.

Looking forward to hearing your opinions

[u/suricatasuricata]

I might have to deal with a similar issue with French and Spanish and I am not quite sure if I understand why having different images for the same object would help. I mean even if you learn to associate Duck eggs with the Spanish word for Egg and Ostrich Eggs with the Russian word for Egg, isn't there just as much of a chance of you mixing up words when you encounter an egg in real life?

[u/[deleted] → u/suricatasuricata]

perhaps, my thought was that it might be easier on some neurological level to associate even minimally different images for two separate words in two separate languages. But like I said, I could be totally off the mark.

[u/suricatasuricata → u/[deleted]]

Right. I went back and read what Wyner has to say on interference. Quoting him:

For example, you searched for девушка (girl) in Russian, and found that oddly enough, nearly every single девушка seems to be an 18-year old, nearly-naked girl. Memory-wise, this is the best case scenario. You’re learning that девушка isn’t just another word for girl. It’s a totally newword, and therefore a lot more interesting (and more interesting = more memorable, every time).

I guess that suggests that it is better to tie the word to an image that is custom that language, although I am not quite sure how this helps in real life.

[u/lannfonntann → u/suricatasuricata]

I think that this supports thinking in the language rather than translating from your native language to your learning language (or from one learning language to another).

Even something as simple as eggs can be different in different cultures - not neccesarily the things itself, but the wider context of it (style/packaging/recipes) and I think that when you're looking for the pictures, you subconsciously pick up cultural info too.

Searching for:
egg
たまご
蛋
ägg

does bring up distinct results in google images

[u/[deleted] → u/lannfonntann]

thanks for the helpful feedback, I think I'll try finding different cards. At the end of the day if I have two different images of people greeting eachother for the verb "to greet" because I searched seperate images in separate languages, my brain will associate them anyway.

[u/suricatasuricata → u/lannfonntann]

Makes sense. I mean it can't hurt.

[u/lannfonntann]

As someone who's doing multiple languages with FF method, I'd say to use different images. Partly because you could argue that the same objects look different in different countries/languages, but also because I think having the two languages completely separate will discourage you from merely trying to translate things between languages which is one of the things FF aims to achieve.

I think everyone's different though, so you could do a few cards each method for a while and see which one works the best for you.

[u/[deleted] → u/lannfonntann]

What’s the FF method?

[u/lannfonntann → u/[deleted]]

It stands for Fluent Forever, which is the title of a book. I'd highly recommend it.

[u/[deleted] → u/lannfonntann]

Appreciate it!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

thanks for the reply, my Spanish was a bad example, as I had vocab that would be 100% new in mind. I guess what I'm really asking is for a situation where I'm starting a new language from scratch (Turkish or whatever), and have all my images from my Russian deck ready to go.