How Spaced Repetition Makes Korean Stick

If you've ever crammed Korean vocabulary only to forget it a week later, you're not alone. The human brain isn't designed to retain information from a single study session. Spaced repetition fixes this by working with your memory instead of against it.

The Forgetting Curve

In 1885, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered that we forget roughly 70% of new information within 24 hours. Without review, it's almost entirely gone within a week.

But each time you successfully recall something, the memory gets stronger. The key insight: you should review information just before you're about to forget it.

What is Spaced Repetition?

Spaced repetition is a study technique where review intervals increase each time you successfully recall something:

1. Day 1: Learn 감사합니다 (thank you)
2. Day 2: Review it → got it right → next review in 4 days
3. Day 6: Review it → got it right → next review in 10 days
4. Day 16: Review it → got it right → next review in 30 days

If you get it wrong at any point, the interval resets to a shorter period.

The SM-2 Algorithm

Chamelingo (and Anki) use the SM-2 algorithm, created by Piotr Wozniak in 1987. Here's the simplified version:

For each flashcard, the system tracks:

• Interval — Days until next review
• Ease Factor — How easy this card is for you (starts at 2.5)
• Repetitions — How many times you've reviewed it successfully

After each review:

• Correct → Easy: Interval increases significantly, ease factor goes up
• Correct → Good: Interval increases normally
• Correct → Hard: Interval increases slightly, ease factor goes down
• Wrong: Interval resets, ease factor decreases

Over time, easy cards appear rarely (every few months) while difficult cards appear frequently until you master them.

Why It Works for Korean

Korean has specific properties that make spaced repetition especially effective:

1. Large Vocabulary Requirements

TOPIK Level 2 needs ~1,500 words. Level 4 needs ~4,000+. You can't cram that many words — you need a system.

2. Hanja-Based Word Patterns

Many Korean words share Chinese character roots (한자). Once you learn that 학 (hak) means "study," you can guess:

• 학교 (hakgyo) — school
• 학생 (haksaeng) — student
• 학습 (hakseup) — learning

Spaced repetition helps you internalize these patterns.

3. Similar-Looking Words

Korean has many word pairs that look or sound similar:

• 사과 (sagwa) = apple vs. 사고 (sago) = accident
• 가다 (gada) = to go vs. 가르치다 (gareuchida) = to teach

Spaced repetition catches exactly which words you confuse and drills them more.

Building an Effective Routine

How Many Cards Per Day?

• Beginners: 10-15 new cards/day + reviews
• Intermediate: 15-25 new cards/day + reviews
• Before TOPIK: 20-30 new cards/day + reviews

The review pile grows over time. Expect 50-100 reviews per day after a few weeks. This sounds like a lot, but each review takes 5-10 seconds.

What Goes on a Card?

For Korean vocabulary, effective cards include:

Front: 감사합니다 Back: Thank you (formal) / gamsahamnida / Audio

Don't put too much on one card. One word or phrase per card works best.

Tips

1. Do your reviews every day — Skipping a day creates a backlog
2. Be honest with ratings — Marking "Easy" when you hesitated defeats the purpose
3. Add context sentences — 감사합니다 is better remembered as "선생님, 감사합니다" (Teacher, thank you)
4. Include audio — Korean pronunciation doesn't always match romanization

Spaced Repetition in Chamelingo

Chamelingo builds spaced repetition directly into the learning flow. As you complete exercises in each chapter, vocabulary and grammar points are automatically added to your review deck. You can also:

• Create custom decks for specific topics
• Import existing Anki decks
• Generate flashcards from any lesson with AI
• Track your retention rate over time

The system uses SM-2 with audio pronunciation for every card, so you're training both recognition and listening simultaneously.

See exactly what you'll be reviewing in our vocabulary browser with words organized by chapter and topic, and explore the grammar reference to preview every pattern before it enters your review deck.