[chongli]

English is my first language. I didn't use Anki to learn English vocabulary. I learned by reading books and talking about them to people.

For language learning, I'm skeptical of any method that doesn't resemble real-world use.

[roel_v]

"For language learning, I'm skeptical of any method that doesn't resemble real-world use."

How many languages that are not English have you learned?

[hpbd]

So I should find very basic books? Because for me newspapers or even my mobile phone's interface are unintelligible.

[chongli]

Start with basic books but try to move up quickly to more challenging material. I read through Lord of the Rings in second grade. It was slow and frustrating at times, but the fact that the book is so engaging helped a lot. I learned so much vocabulary in such a short time this way.

Don't be afraid to keep a hard-copy dictionary of the language you're studying handy.