There are a lot of BS definitions on Jisho that are so random and/or rare that they aren’t worth writing down, like “shamisen case” (???) for はこ, which from what I understand just means “box”. Nothing more, nothing less. So what I was wondering is how to know what words are good to add onto a card. Do I just add new meanings when I run into them in a sentence or something? I just thought it would be nice to have all the good, useful meanings written down right away if possible.
2 comments
> BS definitions
[はこ【箱／×函／×匣／×筐／×筥】](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E7%AE%B1/) def. 4: 三味線を入れる箱。また、三味線。転じて、芸者。
There is way more than just “box”, like def. 2 and 3 that are quite common if you ask me.
I’m an anki is a necessary evil camp so I use this minimalist approach.
When I encounter a word in the wild I learn the definition that’s used in that context on the spot. If I feel I should remember the word I add it to anki with all definitions. If I encounter the same word using another definition I learn that definition, but I don’t make any changes to the anki card.
When reviewing words if I fail the reading I fail the card. If I don’t remember any meanings at all I read the sentence and definitions and fail it. If i have a decent idea of the general meanings I pass it, even if I’m not enumerating them all exactly, and I don’t worry about meanings I’ve never seen.
Note this approach is obviously focused on being able to understand the words in input, I don’t really think that anki is that great for output anyway, you’re better off just practicing using the word in sentences.
E.g. for your example, assuming i first saw 箱 meaning box, i’d make a card with all definitions. When reviewing it I’d fail unless I could remember はこ, box. If I later saw it used to mean public building, I’d learn that it could mean that and try to remember it, but not necessarily fail the card if the only thing that came to my mind was “box”.