Words, phrases and Anki

Is there any way to easily port words and phrases from the conversational Spanish lessons to anki?

Ron: this is probably not the answer you were looking for, but if it is not possible to export words and phrases from Rocket Spanish to Anki, I don't think that is a bad thing. I have discovered that, at least for me, learning and recalling new words is enhanced by writing them as much as, or more than, simply reading or speaking them. Especially when you slow way down as you are writing sentences and make sure of spelling, meaning, and accents. Speaking the words out loud as I am carefully writing them causes me to really think about the words.

Although I love Anki, that's a great idea!

I use Anki voraciously for Spanish. I am starting to use it for Chinese.m Is there a way to copy the audio files? I want to add them to my Anki cards so that I can quickly recall my model pronunciation.

I have recently discovered Anki as well and am incorporating it daily.  I have also been reading Forever Fluent by Gabriel Wyner.  You can buy his book or read it as a pdf online.  Very interesting and makes a lot of sense to me.  I won't say much more about it as I would like people to draw their own conclusions.  Fairly quick and easy read and incorporates what Anki does well.

Karen: thank you so much for the heads-up on the book. I read a few pages of it online this morning, and immediately went out to B&N to buy a copy. Although I have only read the first chapter I can already see that my learning will benefit immensely from it. I also like the light-hearted writing style.

I am always appreciative of the good advice that I get at this forum.
 

Dan, I am glad it is helpful.  I have read most of it online and have used some of the ideas for the Flashcards.  None of my flashcards have English now.  

I am reading now about how the more intermediate speaker can benefit.  I don't struggle with the reading and writing so much but definitely the fluency in speaking.  I have to be very strict with myself and not resort to English when speaking with a native speaker.  As well I am trying to wean myself off of translating everything in my head...and using Google Translate.  This is the difficult part.  I also think I will try to write in Spanish daily and once again try to do a diary.  Not so much for recording my thoughts, but to write about what I did so I can practice the past tenses.

I also joined www.verbalicity.com which is a new Calgary-based company that sets you up with a Spanish Tutor in Latin America, usually Guatemala.  These teachers are University-educated and are also educated in how to teach Spanish.  I have 2 Skype lessons a week for an hour each at my time and convenience.  You get a free one hour trial lesson. The more lessons you buy the cheaper it is.  I am really enjoying it and I am impressed at how educated my instructor is.
I still use Rocket Spanish for in-between practice sessions.
That that being said I must go and prepare for my next lesson in 45 minutes!
 

Karen: I binge-read (ugh...I can't believe I actually wrote that) the book from cover to cover and am now going back and utilizing the strategies. I see the logic in the spaced repetition of Anki, but I am unsure of the number and extent of flashcards. I I assume that you, like me, are at an intermediate level. Are you making cards, for example, all of the dipthong sounds, even ones you are sure you know, or are you just doing ones that give you trouble?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Dan

Dan,
So cool that you found the book helpful.  I am using Anki but just for new vocab that I am coming across with my tutor or other learning modalities.  I enjoy making a simple flashcard for new words and expressions.  I use Google images and have eliminated all English from my flashcards.  I have not yet figured out how to add the Audio bits yet.  That said, I did sign up to Forvo.com today and hope to figure out how to add audio bits from that to my flashcards.  I will likely only use the audio for words that I have difficulty pronouncing.  I have difficulty trilling my RRs and also at times I have trouble with double L ( ll -llover) so will try to incorporate audio bits for those.

Forever Fluent talks about 3 tracks of flashcards...Intensive, Normal and Refresher so that may help you in deciding how many cards to make.  I also am tending to only make cards for Vocabulary that I will commonly use in my practice.  I don't want to get too bogged down at this point.  As I become more proficient, I will add a larger variety of words.

Any tips on adding audio to anki?

Karen: I watched the tutorials on making flash cards and it is pretty straightforward: just download the clip you want from forvo, and drag or cut/paste it into the appropriate field on the flashcard. 

Dan,
Yep, I just got it to work.  My mistake was making an Audio field for the clip instead of just dragging it to the back field of my flashcard.  Now when I flip to the Reverse-back side of my flashcard the audio comes on automatically.