Setup Guide

This section is about setting up the various tools we will use to learn Vietnamese, the most important of which are Anki and Yomitan. This section is divided in two subsections: Anki and Yomitan.

Parts of this guide are extracted from Japanese Learning Setup written by donkuri. I've updated quite a bit.

Anki

The first tool we are going to set up is Anki. But first, what exactly is Anki?

What is Anki?

Anki is a program which makes remembering things easy. Because it's a lot more efficient than traditional study methods, you can either greatly decrease your time spent studying, or greatly increase the amount you learn.

Installing Anki

To install Anki, head to the Anki homepage and click on the blue download button.

Installing basic add-ons

AnkiConnect

This is by far the most important add-on for mining. It allows one to use Yomitan to create cards automatically.

Pass/Fail

It removes the "Hard" and "Easy" buttons entirely, which is more of a matter of taste. Personally, I use it.

Progress Graphs

Adds cool progress graphs to help you understand your Anki usage better.

Review Heatmap

Review Heatmap lets you see your progress on the main page of Anki by showing you what days you did Anki and how many reviews you did.

Enabling FSRS

FSRS is an alternative to the SM-2 algorithm for scheduling in Anki. I highly, highly suggest you use it. To do this, provided you are on Anki 23.10 or higher, you simply need to open the deck options and scroll down to Advanced section. There, enable FSRS. I highly suggest you read this tutorial to get acquainted with the algorithm and see how it works.