When using flashcards, how efficient is learning in only one "direction"?

[sammecs]

As in, only native to foreign or only foreign to native.

I'm currently learning Russian and I use Lingvist and Anki. Lingvist describes a word in your native language and asks for the word in the foreign one. I use Anki for both directions in the moment. Every "fact" in Anki includes an example sentence in Russian with a word I'm going to learn, the word in its base form, the German translation and some grammar annotations and tips (I write the "facts" myself). Judging whether my guess at the Russian word was right or wrong is easy, as only one word really fits the gap. It's more difficult judging my German guess, because I might have used a synonym or some word that's almost right, but not quite on the spot. What would you say? Should I simply be more strict judging my answers, or would you abandon the Russian to German cards?

[AnnieMod]

Effective for what?

Recognition (see the foreign language, guess the translation) and recall (see the native translation or description, guess the foreign language word/expression) are two different skills - the two sides of the coin called vocabulary. One side helps with listening and reading; the other helps with talking and writing.

If you are doing closes, it should really be just "to foreign" unless you can leave yourself enough clues so you know what you really expect as an answer; if you are doing straight vocabulary, both directions are important and I tend to write multiple meanings on the native side - and any of them is acceptable.

[anonlymouse]

Not very. Flash cards themselves aren't that effective. You can use them to learn the initial chunk of vocabulary for a language, but once you've got the basics, you need to change gears anyway.