BaoBao Talk › Guides › Spaced repetition for Chinese

Spaced repetition for Chinese

Forgetting is not a character flaw, it is a schedule. Spaced repetition puts each character back in front of you at the last useful moment, which is why it beats every amount of re-reading.

The forgetting curve, in one paragraph

Memory for a new item decays fast at first and then more slowly. Reviewing resets the curve and makes the next decline shallower. Review too early and you learn nothing you did not already know; too late and you are relearning from scratch. The efficient moment is just before recall would fail, and that moment moves further out every time you succeed.

What FSRS does differently

Older systems like SM-2, the algorithm behind classic Anki, multiply your interval by a fixed factor when you get something right. FSRS models each item with three quantities instead: how retrievable it is right now, how stable the memory is, and how difficult that item is for you specifically. It then picks the interval that hits your target retention.

In practice that means fewer reviews for the same retention, and it handles the awkward cases better, the character you keep failing gets hammered, while the one you have known for months quietly disappears for half a year.

Why Chinese needs it more than most languages

• Volume. Even basic literacy is thousands of items, each with a shape, a sound, a tone and a meaning.
• Interference. 找 and 我, 日 and 目, similar characters actively corrupt each other, and only spaced testing catches the confusion.
• Uneven exposure. Some HSK 1 words appear in every sentence you read; others you will not meet again for a month unless something schedules them.

Keeping a backlog from forming

1. Clear due items before adding new ones. Reviews are the debt; new material is the spending.
2. Keep the daily new count modest. Every new character creates roughly eight reviews over the following year.
3. Do not skip days. Two skipped days produce a pile that discourages you from opening the app, which produces more skipped days.
4. If you are already buried, stop adding new material entirely for a week and clear the queue. Do not delete it.

Doing this in BaoBao Talk

Every character, word, sentence and listening item you complete enters the review queue automatically, scheduled by FSRS. The Review tab shows what is due today and nothing else, you never choose what to revise. The Stats tab shows each item's mastery level, so you can see the difference between "seen once" and "solid for six months", and an in-app guide explains what the scheduler is doing with your answers.

Common questions

Is FSRS better than Anki's default algorithm?

FSRS generally reaches the same retention with fewer reviews than the older SM-2 scheduler, because it models memory stability and item difficulty separately rather than applying a fixed multiplier.

How many reviews a day should I expect?

At 5 to 10 new characters a day, expect roughly 30 to 60 review items daily once you are a few weeks in. The number stabilises rather than growing forever.

What happens if I miss a week?

Items become overdue and the scheduler treats them as weaker when you return. Nothing is lost, clear the backlog before adding new material.

Keep reading