Frequency weighting is the system that decides which new cards to show you first. Instead of following a fixed order, Waffuru uses real-world frequency data to prioritize the vocabulary you're most likely to encounter.

Four Frequency Sources

Every card in our database has frequency rankings across four categories: spoken Japanese, written Japanese, web content, and anime/media. Your study settings include four corresponding weights that sum to 100, letting you tune the balance to match your goals.

• Spoken: conversational frequency from subtitles
• Written: frequency in novels
• Web: frequency across Japanese websites and forums
• Anime: frequency in anime subtitles

How Scores Are Calculated

When building your study session, Waffuru computes a weighted score for each unstudied card using your personal weights. Cards with the best weighted score appear first. This means if you set Anime to 60 and everything else to roughly equal, you'll learn the most common anime vocabulary before rarer formal terms.

You can adjust your weights anytime in Settings. Changes take effect on your next study session, and cards you've already studied aren't affected.