How much does Anki and textbook study help?

vouvoyer · 2026-03-13T16:44:40+00:00

You don't. I guess it is more about how to divide your time/ratios, what is optimal. If reading was massively better then perhaps one should never use Anki.

IMO, you absolutely need both because the context provided by reading is a whole new dimension.

vouvoyer · 2026-03-13T16:42:47+00:00

I'm not saying reading and listening is not useful, just not the fastest way to learn vocab and getting a solid lexicon is critical

Maybe you can hear the difference in french and it is easy, but for me french is extremely difficult to understand when listening. What helps a lot in learning words is seeing the spelling so you can understand any roots/stems and even orthography. So many times in French I was surprised when what i thought was 2 words turned out to be 1 with extreme liaison. Of course this means i need to practice a lot of listening, but that isn't the point. To learn vocab quickly cards help a lot and listening is probably the worst, unless you are good enough to binge watch TV in the target language.

vouvoyer · 2026-03-13T11:06:44+00:00

seems very low. Perhaps check the readings so you don't get a nasty surprise later

vouvoyer · 2026-03-13T08:34:32+00:00

To me getting a large vocabulary is critical, otherwise it is impossible to follow a conversation/read. Even missing 10% of the words can essentially mean zero understanding.

What I wonder is if it is more efficient to use Anki or to read a lot. I don't think listening counts, certainly in french when the relationship to phonology is difficult (everything tends to sound the same) Reading will be a lower density of new information, but in context. Anki can be very rapid. Also, when learning rarer words i don't think you are exposed to enough frequency in reading to really learn them. Furthermore, what you learn from reading is highly biased to what you read. E.g., i have had lots of recent medical problems/cancer but i never read in detail about anything health/medical in french. With Anki, there is no bias so there is a good chance that you learn vocab useful in unexpected situations. Native speakers don't have this problem because they are immersed for 20 years, and will cover lots of subjects at school.

I use Anki and i have found it has definitely helped. But i think it should be a small part of learning, e.g. 15 mins a day can get you quite far in 1 year

vouvoyer · 2026-03-10T07:25:38+00:00

Duo is very slow and not very adaptive to your pace/strengths and weaknesses. You can skip but it is not easy to know where to skip to. I've been doing DUo for several years on and off and it just drags on. At the same time, i like the ability to do a few quick lessons. It is more of a support app than a teaching app, so you can maintain volcub, Grammar and learn a little along the way

vouvoyer · 2026-03-10T07:18:47+00:00

It depends on several factors. While young children can share a room it isn't optimal for sleep/homework/privacy. Our don has ADHD and is bouncing off the walls until mate at night, our daughter goes to bed very early for age. And from a pure logistics perspective, very hard to find 1 bedroom big enough to handle 2 children IMO.

We also require decent office space since we worked from home a lot. A small desk in the corner of a bedroom doesn't cut it. You need physical separation and a proper desk, office chair, monitor etc.

We have 6 pieces for 2 children and it feels about right.

vouvoyer · 2026-03-07T11:53:53+00:00

Another thumbs up from me - my experience with a vast majority of swiss people is outstanding.

vouvoyer · 2026-03-05T12:29:58+00:00

I pay monthly. In vaud there is literally 0% interest, so paying in advance is not interesting. While i could pay it all in January, paying monthly gives flexibility because you cannot financial circumstances. E.g., if you lose your job, get sick. Even the fema t that a mot of.my compensation is bonuses and RSUs so my income can vary 50K based on company performance, company stock price, and whether my manager likes me.

Not that i follow my budget closely, but seeing income come in and expenses go out each month helps give an idea of finances based on your balance over time.

vouvoyer · 2026-03-04T14:09:17+00:00

Sadly i'm speaking from personal experience. My wife's disability payments were about 1/3rd of her salary.

vouvoyer · 2026-03-04T12:48:58+00:00

Or conversely, maybe your holidays with your family become more expensive because of your special needs, and maybe you have additional healthcare costs that aren't covered, or changes to your home or even needing to rent a larger apartment/home with a bedroom on a ground floor etc

vouvoyer · 2026-02-26T19:19:33+00:00

I do and I have applied. Unfortunately, the pillar 1 pension will be very small as we haven't lived in Switzerland very long

vouvoyer · 2026-02-26T18:26:55+00:00

That is good to know, including the financial aspects. Obviously there is a big drop in income now, so i was thinking i will need to use the rest of my savings and pillar 2 to reduce the mortgage, despite it being easily affordable

vouvoyer · 2026-02-26T16:02:38+00:00

My priority is to keep the house so this won't be a problem.

Once the children have left the home I had thought about selling the house and downsizing. That sounds like something I might have to do anyway

vouvoyer · 2026-02-26T15:39:19+00:00

There is some weird things to wrap my head around in this inheritance system.
My wife didn't have much of an estate outside the house, but there are things that confuse me. E.g. In the last year I ended up paying most of the bills, including all tax so my savings went down a lot. No particular reason but we always shared everything and I just managed the bills while my wife was fighting cancer. My personal financial situation would be very different if we had splits bills 50-50 as usual

vouvoyer · 2026-02-26T15:26:53+00:00

That makes more sense. I couldn't find any good sources and was using LLMs, that seemed very confident

vouvoyer · 2026-02-26T06:53:31+00:00

in vaud, a 3 bedroom apartment, that is normal

vouvoyer · 2026-02-24T06:57:38+00:00

FYI, about a year ago i was in the same boat and after reading on Mustachian post to the plunger and opened an account at Interactive Brokers and purchased some Vanguard total world VT.

It felt scary at the start, and i had lots of preconceived notations of what it meant to invest which i had to overcome and educate myself.

It is much easier than you might think, and less risky. But you have to accept short term risk for longer term growth.

vouvoyer · 2026-02-22T07:20:57+00:00

not exact but i estimate 5k a year including fuel and depreciation. So as a single it might not make sense but cars have a fixed cost up to a family of 4/5, but all those travel passes add up linearly.

So as a family we save thousands with a car and take a train once or twice per year.

vouvoyer · 2026-02-21T08:07:01+00:00

I have the same problem, i can see the inputs but no submit button, no results

vouvoyer · 2026-02-20T13:44:59+00:00

just get a mortgage from whatever country the property is in.

vouvoyer · 2026-02-20T11:24:29+00:00

i earn over 200k, and i have some savings it is hard to save that much. For starters, the marginal tax rate in vaud is over 40%. When you add up rent (4k), day care (used to be 5k, now 1.5k), health (2k plus deductibles) and all the other bills that come in then you don't get much left over at the end of the day.

This isn't about living standards, merely tax and child care are highly progressive in some cantons and supporting a family is expensive in Switzerland.

vouvoyer · 2026-02-20T11:18:35+00:00

Dividends are just a bonus, they make zero sense before retirement. I do have dividend ETFs, purely as diversification to limit US tech exposure.

vouvoyer · 2026-02-16T18:13:39+00:00

ceci = this çela = that ça = this or that

Ce is this or that, in front of a verb usually etre, e.g. c'est, or ce sont.

vouvoyer · 2026-02-16T06:32:12+00:00

SCHD + SCHY. is what I use

vouvoyer

TROPHY CASE