Make Anki cards from YouTube videos

Flashcards work best when each card has a real sentence from something you watched. A word alone is hard to keep. A word with its sentence, from a video you liked, is much easier.

The idea

1. Watch a video and notice a word you want to keep.
2. Save the word together with its sentence and the time in the video.
3. Export the list.
4. Import it into Anki.
5. Review a few cards each day.

Step by step with Dual Subtitles

1. Open a YouTube video with two subtitle lines.
2. Click a word on the subtitle. You see its meaning. The translation runs on your device with Chrome's built-in Translator, so the text does not leave your computer.
3. Save the word. It goes to your word book with its sentence and the time in the video.
4. Open the word book and choose export. You can save an Anki file or a CSV.
5. In Anki, use File, then Import, and pick the file.

The word book lives in your browser. Saving and exporting are free and need no account. With Pro you can also sync it across your browsers.

Pro: meaning in this sentence

With Pro, a saved word can keep its meaning in this exact line, including phrases and idioms. Your Anki cards then show it. Free accounts can use 5 explanations a day.

How to make good cards

• One idea per card. One word or phrase, one sentence.
• Keep the sentence. It gives context and a sound to remember.
• Do not save everything. Pick words you saw twice, or words you need. Ten good cards a day beat fifty you will not review.
• Use the loop. Say the sentence out loud three times when you save it.
• Review every day. Five minutes. Anki's schedule does the rest.

Mistakes to avoid

• Building a huge list and never reviewing it.
• Saving single words with no sentence.
• Copying a translation you do not understand. Check the meaning first.

For the full method, read How to learn languages with YouTube. To train your ear on the same lines, try dictation.

Get Dual Subtitles and start your first deck.