I'm just wondering how people on Skritter have been learning the readings of various Japanese words. As far as I know, there are (at least) two strategies that can be used:

(1) Use Skritter's SRS to struggle through new vocabulary without prior review of the new material - this basically means that you will get most of the readings wrong on the first run through; or

(2) Go over the new vocabulary in advance and then later go through the readings in Skritter to see how much you remember.

I've noticed that, the more struggling I do to remember the readings, the easier and longer it is for me to retain said readings. Of course, this means that I'll be tested on a few of the readings a dozen times before I finally remember them. This obviously makes my overall retention rate take a nosedive since I make a lot of mistakes.

What do you do to learn the readings?

I do number one most of the time. The only time I do number two is by accident. When I read Japanese manga, I put every word I don't know into a list on my phone dictionary. I unload these words into Skritter later. Number two happens sometimes because if the word keeps recurring I make sure I can read and understand it each time before I move on. Also, after a while you will connect certain radicals with certain sounds and sometimes you will even be able to tell how to read it without even knowing the kanji.

And don't worry about your retention rate. It's just a number, and a pointless one at that.

Actually the retention rate can be quite important, and for exactly the reason that rmalpha points out: the more you struggle to remember something, the longer you will eventually remember it. It's also an important factor in scheduling new items. See http://www.skritter.com/faq#retention for more details.

I don't know what you're saying jww1066. The original poster is worried that struggling to remember the word at first will lower his retention rate, despite the fact that it will help him remember it. I was saying he shouldn't worry about the retention rate because it's just a number and if he's learning better that way then it shouldn't matter. What part of what I said was flawed?

@lawnmower16 I agree with your general point and that the original poster shouldn't really worry too much. I was just reacting to the word "pointless".

James

Yeah, you're both right, in my understanding of the retention rate. It can be used to adjust your studies (knowing when you're studying too much or studying too little) but don't let it have too much weight.

Also, there are two things to optimize it for: efficiency of learning and affect on your motivation. For optimal efficiency, retention should be somewhere in the 70 to 80 range, if I remember correctly. Ihat's where you absorb words with the least amount of effort, actually. But it's dispiriting to many to get them wrong that often, which counter productively can lead to less study! So in that case up in the range of 80 to 95 is better.

So the moral is if you can deal with getting them wrong that often, in exchange for more efficiency, definitely go for the lower retention rate.