So I’m trying to learn Russian and I use the app every day but because the language is difficult for me and I want to memorize the info for life not just temporarily I like to review constantly. My main issue is that it expects me to learn new words every day to keep a streak going. I don’t think that’s cool because I often just review what I learned by doing the quizzes. If I learned 5 words every day I would have more than 30 words I don’t know by the end of the week. Maybe I just have a terrible memory but this is just what helps me learn. If it counted how much I review my lessons every day I would have a huge streak by now and would feel even more motivated to keep it going.
P.s. : I also don’t like that if I learn new words it doesn’t help me review them right away and instead gets stuck reviewing the same old words I learned in previous lessons.
Hello @Mitzypinot71 and welcome to the forum!
No, that’s not the case. I know the (Android-) app “defines” your goal as 5/15/30 words per day. That said, the website gives you 5/15/45 minutes per day.
The truth is: both are incorrect. While you’re learning, you collect “points”. These are what defines your streak. For instance, a goal of 5 words/minutes requires you to score 1500 points. It doesn’t matter how you get those. As a result, you can continuously repeat stuff to get those points instead of learning new words.
And that’s exactly what happens! The only thing to take into account here is that you will get more points for being successfully tested on words that are “up for review” (according to their SRS / spaced repetition system) than for an additional/manual repetition session.
That’s another consequence of SRS. As a result, it’ll take some time (not sure exactly how much, but probably around 1-3h). However, you can always go back to the level where you just learned your latest/newest words and start a review session (or a speed review) and you’ll be tested on the words you just learned.
You don’t need to keep the streak on – it’s Ok to take breaks. And yes only learn 3 words max or so per day, or some days no words and just repeat words.