I'm not at all sure how this site works yet (I've gone only on traditional forums), so bear with me please if I do something foolish. I'm being drafted to the IDF in a few months and I need to learn Hebrew very quickly if I want to avoid being put into a program for foreign speakers. I currently reside in the US, but I've previously lived in (and have citizenship of) both countries.
After experiencing the government-sponsored Hebrew programs, I totally refuse to accept such a ridiculously inefficient and traumatic method of teaching a language. When I get enlisted, I'll want to focus whatever little time I have left on studying more important things. Something that will damage me psychologically, not to mention take up huge amounts of time and effort, will take away any opportunity I might get.
I can speak a few basic phrases in Hebrew and and can understand a bit more. Immersion is not an option for me currently. My attempts at teaching myself the language have been stunningly misguided (which is to say, like reading Atlas Shrugged to get a proper understanding of Objectivism) and I'm not interested in a lengthy trial and error process. Obviously getting literature on language acquisition is out of the question. I wouldn't even know where to start.
So, I'd just like some methods or heuristics for picking up languages as fast as possible. (I am extremely literate, so there's that.)
I do have brought a copy of Phase 6 ten years ago and it's basically crap that created without much thought into how learning works. I would recommend you to switch to Anki.
Phase 6 does not to good prediction of review dates because as far as I remember it doesn't ask how well the user knows a card. The whole idea that something that has to be reviewed 6 times successfully is permanently in memory is also ridiculous. The whole 6 boxes thing doesn't make any sense when you have a computer.
That said you don't learn faster by reviewing things earlier than scheduled. You are just wasting valuable time that you could use to learn new words.
It's true that the Anki developers have good reasons for selecting the time intervals the way they do. I'd also agree that for long term language learning Phase 6 is sub-optimal. But there's two ways this particular situation is quite different from the usual situation: Having to learn stuff fast (basically cramming) and the fact that these words need to be in the active vocabulary, not the passive one. That is, being able to use them in conversation, rather than just remembering when asked for. I don't know how strong these points are, but from my subjec... (read more)