App User Guide: Getting Started with Ashiba

Selecting Collections and Decks

Once you sign up for Ashiba, you will be greeted by a dashboard that encourages you to “Select a Collection” for the two categories of cards: 単語 and 漢字. Once you have selected a collection for a category, the decks in that collection will display. Once you select a deck, you will be able to start studying the cards in that deck.

Studying Flashcards – 単語

When you press the “Study Now” button for a 単語 deck, you will see a card display like this:

Your Target 単語

At the top of the card is your target 単語.

Your goal when studying 単語 is to learn the meaning of the 単語 so you can avoid looking it up when you are reading manga. When you are shown a 単語 card, your goal will be to recall the meaning of the target 単語.

Example 単語 Sentence

Each 単語 card displays an example sentence that uses the target 単語.

This sentence is used to provide context to help you remember the target 単語. As detailed in Step 4, learning 単語 in isolation is not a good use of your time because the whole point of studying 単語 is to help you learn new words so you can avoid looking them up when reading manga. To fix this, you need to study 単語 with the benefit of context in a sentence.

This is why Ashiba provides sentences that incorporate the 単語 you are trying to learn. After all, this is how you will encounter these 単語 when reading manga.

Furigana

You should attempt to read each sentence as displayed, which does not provide furigana for kanji by default. If you don’t know how to pronounce some kanji or want to make sure you understand how to pronounce the sentence, click the lightbulb button, and furigana will display.

Grading 単語 Cards

Your goal when reviewing a 単語 card is to read the example sentence and recall the meaning of the target 単語, which is bolded. In addition to recalling the meaning of the word, you will also need to recall its pronunciation.

When you are ready, tap anywhere on the card body and the example sentence will be translated, and the meaning of the target 単語 will be displayed. In addition, a button with an “x” and a button with a “check” will be displayed. You will use these to self-grade your recollection of the target 単語.

If you can recall the meaning of the target 単語 and its pronunciation, you have “passed” the card. Otherwise, you will need additional review and must “fail” the card. To pass the card, tap the button with the “check” mark. To fail the card, tap the button with the “x” mark.

Please keep in mind your goal is to recall the meaning of the target 単語. If you can recall the meaning of the target 単語, you should pass the card regardless of whether you understood the sentence in full.

Studying Flashcards – 漢字

When you press the “Study Now” button for a 漢字 deck, you will see a card display like this:

Your Target 漢字

At the top of the card is your target 漢字.

Your goal when studying 漢字 is to learn a keyword for each target 漢字. When you are shown a 漢字 card, your goal will be to learn and then recall the keyword for that 漢字.

Target 漢字 Examples

At the bottom of the card are your target 漢字 examples.

As detailed in Step 3, learning 漢字 in isolation is not a good use of your time because the whole point of studying 漢字 is to help you learn new words. This is why Ashiba provides common words that incorporate the target 漢字 at the bottom of the card as a “hint” to help you remember the keyword of the target 漢字. After all, this is how you will encounter these 漢字 when reading manga.

Sometimes the hint is a common word composed solely of the target 漢字, as is the case with many of the most basic 漢字. However, sometimes a 漢字 will be commonly used with other 漢字 to create common words. These 漢字 compound words are called 熟語【じゅくご】.

Up to three example words that use the target 漢字 may be shown at the bottom of the card, along with the associated ひらがな to help spur your memory.

Grading 漢字 Cards

For each 漢字 card shown during your study, try to recall the keyword, and then touch anywhere on the card body to display the answer. If you recall the keyword correctly, pass the card. If you do not recall the keyword correctly, fail the card.

Your goal when reviewing a 漢字 card is to recall the keyword of the target 漢字. When you are ready, tap anywhere on the card body and the meaning of the 漢字 examples and the keywords of the target 漢字 will be displayed. In addition, a button with an “x” and a button with a “check” will be displayed. You will use these to self-grade your recollection of the target 漢字.

If you can recall the keyword of the target 漢字, you have “passed” the card. Otherwise, you will need additional review and must “fail” the card. To pass the card, tap the button with the “check” mark. To fail the card, tap the button with the “x” mark.

Please keep in mind your goal is to recall the keyword of the target 漢字 only, which does NOT include the meaning of the 漢字 examples. If you can recall the keyword of the target 漢字, you should pass the card regardless of whether you recall the meaning of the target 漢字 examples.

Daily Study – New Cards

Each day you will have 10 review cards and 10 new cards to study for both 漢字 and 単語, which will be displayed when you press the “Study Now” button. When you first sign up for the app, you will only have new cards. The 10 new cards you study will be the next 10 cards of your selected deck. The number of new cards left in your daily study is indicated by the black number on the bottom of each card.

When you first study a new card, the fail button is black and the pass button is cyan.

Learned Cards

If you pass a new card the first time you encounter it, the black number will not decrease. That’s because passing a new card on first encounter means you already know it. And a “known” card will not count as a study of something new.

Instead of forcing you to review something you already know, passing a new card on your first go will mark that card as “learned” and permanently remove it from your study queue. Most people studying Japanese have some preexisting knowledge of 漢字 and 単語. If you already know the 漢字 or 単語 card that is being shown, press the cyan pass button to avoid studying it again. This is how the Ashiba app prevents you from wasting your time studying what you already know!

You can always set or unset cards as learned by viewing the cards in a deck, which you can access by tapping the nine-dot icon in the top right corner of each deck. Cards that are cyan indicate they are set as learned. You can toggle whether a card is set/unset as learned by tapping on the card and pressing the cyan check button. You can set any card as learned this way, including cards you have already started studying!

Learning Cards

If you don’t know the new card that is being shown, press the black fail button and you will start learning it. This will cause the black number to decrease and the yellow number to increase. The black number decreases for each new card you start learning. The yellow number indicates the number of cards you are learning.

When you encounter a card you are learning, you’ll know it because the pass button is yellow and the fail button is black.

The first time you pass a learning card, the yellow number will not decrease. That’s because you’ll need to pass it two times in a row to successfully “learn” a card.

Young Cards

If you pass a card you are learning two times in a row, the yellow number will decrease, letting you know the card is now “young” in your memory. Young cards are shown in light green in your deck, representing new growth.

Completing Your Daily Study

Your daily study of 漢字 or 単語 cards is complete when all numbers show zero at the bottom of the card. When that happens, you’ll be notified that your study for the day is complete and the “Study Now” button will be disabled and display “Study Complete.”

Updating Your Settings

Your ability to study review and new cards will reset at midnight, which means the next day you will have 10 new cards and 10 review cards to study. Update your time zone in the “Settings” tab to make sure that your reviews reset at midnight based on where you are.

Daily Study – Review Cards

When you study 漢字 or 単語 flashcards after your first day, you will have review cards to study in addition to new cards. Your review cards are designated by the blue number at the bottom of each card. Each day you will have a total of 10 review cards due, which will each be shown before you see your first new card.

You will know you are studying a review card because the “pass” button will be blue and the “fail” button will be grey.

Relearning Cards

If you fail a review card, the blue number will decrease and the grey number will increase. This indicates the review card has become a “relearning” card. Relearning cards are displayed as grey in your decks. You will need to review and pass relearning cards again before the grey number decreases.

Mature Cards

If you pass a review card, the blue number will decrease. Passing a review card means that you successfully remembered it, so there’s no need to show it again the same day. Instead, the card will be updated to take longer to show up again in your review queue.

When you have passed a review card enough times, the card will be marked as “mature” and its color will update from light green to green in the deck. Mature cards are cards that take 20 days or more to show up in your review queue.

Unfinished Study

The number of cards you are relearning or learning will normally be 0 when you start a new day. However, if you have cards from a study session you did not complete from the prior day, those cards will carry over from the previous day. Cards you were learning or relearning will still show up in your study queue the next day and be shown first before the daily review cards.

Unfinished Learning Example:

Unfinished Relearning Example:

Akuma Cards

Akuma cards are shown in black and red. Akuma cards are cards that you are struggling to remember.

If you have learned a card and forgotten it five times, the card’s appearance will forever change to become an Akuma card. Akuma cards will show up as black and red when you study them as well, to alert you that a more intensive study method is helpful for you to learn this card.

Completing Decks

When you complete all the new cards in your selected deck, you will a congratulations message and prompt to select a new deck.

Completing Collections

When you complete all the decks in a collection, you’ll need to select the next collection to keep learning new cards: