For some content like facts about physiology, it is clear that learning requires understanding, and that that understanding should come before you start doing spaced repetition.
It’s the same with language. Language isn’t learned with flashcards. We take a book at your level, read it, and pick out new words we encounter. Just as it was in the sentence, we write it down on a flashcard.
The same applies to knowledge of any subject: we memorize important definitions from an Anki, but we can’t fit so much into an Anki. Anyone looking at an object sees in it what they already know about it (what’s already in their head). If you give a sentence from a language to someone who hasn’t studied the symbols at all, such training is useless. Everything needs to be sequential: first, learn the symbols, then how to construct syllables or meanings from them, then how to combine them into sentences, and so on. All this applies to any learning.
Other times I’ll say the word out loud a bunch of times, because remembering the sound may help with remembering the letters.
When learning new words, learning at least three times is a must, not just a suggestion. It’s also recommended to write the word down. Even if you don’t have a pen, at least mentally write it down on the wet sand by the seashore… the silence, the calm, you enjoy it. This is already a psychological method 
So, there’s no way to quickly learn a card this way, but you shouldn’t even start learning it; you’ll first skim through it a few times. Of course, when it’s your deck and you come across a word in the text, you learn it this way before creating the card… or you learn it in class, where you also do several repetitions. And once you’ve created a card, that doesn’t mean you know nothing about it… no, you already know a lot about it, and Anki helps you repeat, that is, bring the answer to the card almost instantly, a couple of seconds at most per card. But when that happens is entirely up to you, and most likely, it won’t be on the first day. But if it takes you 10 seconds or more to recall a simple word every time, then you’re not remembering it, unfortunately, but that’s cheating. You should memorize it to reduce your response time, but that’s only for words; sentences and definitions take longer just to pronounce them. The approach is the same: if you can pronounce it instantly, quickly and clearly, then you’ve remembered it. If not, then you’ve deceived yourself again.
Sometimes I try to remember those with funny little phrases like “I didn’t invite the ants” to remind me that it’s -ar.
Mnemonics are allowed, but they’re like crutches for a sick person—you have to throw them away and run. Until you run, you won’t think quickly, and this will affect your studies. You must quickly define every word in a sentence, whether it’s a language or a mathematical definition. If you don’t constantly learn mathematical definitions, you’ll lose track of everything later, and the lecture is wasted (I’m generally a proponent of preparing for lectures and coming prepared so you know what questions to ask the professor).
I’m not at all against mnemonics, but it’s advisable to use them to remember complex words, numbers, and so on. There are many methods, and mnemonics is simply a method for retaining knowledge, but then you’ll be constantly repeating it. Essentially, it’s like an ankle, but in your head.
To other language learners - what do you do to make sure you are “learning” a card and not just brute-force memorizing/repeating it?
I add a field to the cards where I can type or speak a word or sentence. That is, the sound is recognized, or you type and memorize it that way. Then, on the back, I pronounce the word (sentence) once in the foreign language, then in my native language, then again in the foreign language—that’s the minimum. Sometimes cards can be pronounced three times, by different people or different audio systems. This is very useful for learning. If you can make three different sentences from different videos, that’s also great.
not just brute-force memorizing/repeating it?
You know, this method works too. We can all remember a song verse because it’s repeated many times and often rhymes. So there’s the rhyming method or singing the words. Other teachers advise practically shouting the words, but at least saying them is the bare minimum, which is really helpful.
From the Pimsleur method, we can see how useful it is to repeat a word literally every few words. It’s also helpful to ask questions, because it activates the brain, and a person sees that the information will be needed, which means I need to remember it now, otherwise they’ll ask me about it very soon. All these methods are used by long-time teachers, and not only teachers, but also tutors. They repeat many times, clarifying from other angles, to assess whether the person has truly understood the topic.
I’m surprised, but sometimes people don’t know how to learn. Everyone seems to be learning, perhaps you’re learning poetry. It’s also useful for foreign words, since rhyming makes everything easier to remember. I can share a method for those who find it difficult. You know, the problem with some teachers is that they’ve had a perfect memory since childhood, and they don’t know how to teach someone who has trouble with it.
Let’s say there’s a poem or a sentence, no matter what it is:
- listen to it first at a slow speed
- read the word slowly, then read it again faster, and then even faster.
- read another word the same way; if you know it, once is enough.
- combine these words and read again. If these phrases make sense, then it’s even more useful to pronounce such a phrase now, imagining the meaning.
- do the same with another phrase, which will also make sense.
- repeat the first and second phrases, perhaps this will be the entire sentence.
- do the same for the other sentence.
- then repeat both sentences.
If you’ve finished reading a paragraph or one column of a poem, you need to recall it from memory. If you can’t remember, replace all the words with their first letters. Then, when you can remember them, use only the first letters at the beginning of sentences. You can replace words with pictures you draw and then retell them that way.
In mnemonics, you need to replace the meaning of a sentence with a picture and place it at the location of your mental walk, meaning you have a familiar path you always mentally walk. Anyone who has studied mnemonics knows what I’m talking about.
All these methods aren’t based on a good memory, so not every teacher might know about them. However, over the course of their lives, they might discover methods that improve students’ academic performance. Unfortunately, these methods aren’t written about in books, as they’re not scientific and are considered nonsense.
Let me say right away that I’m not an expert in languages…or programming languages, even though I’ve studied about eight and maybe use five or six.
I’ve always been interested in the development of human intelligence. Perhaps because I don’t have a perfect memory myself. So, I’ve been interested in all this for a very long time (over 30 years now), but that doesn’t mean I’ve become a professional. No, I’m simply curious, and when I have free time, I study something, sometimes creating programs that might be at least a little useful to people. But unfortunately, very few people can learn on their own, so anyone interested in Anki here is probably an exception.