The principle is beautifully simple. VOLATS is a database that not only stores your personal vocabulary, but also tests you on each word at pre-determined time intervals. You enter 5 new words each day. Once you enter a word, VOLATS does not allow you to forget it.
Isn't that what every language learner needs?
Before the age of the PC, VOLATS was a paper-based system, each item of vocabulary written on a square of paper. Groups of these papers were separated by cut-down index cards; the whole lot was stored in a shoe-box that had been cut to half-width. Each piece of vocabulary would slowly move back through the box as you ran your daily tests, and be tested less frequently as it went - from daily, to weekly, to monthly, and eventually (about a year after you first entered the word in the system) yearly.
Here are Archie's original instructions for the card-based system, dated 1976, for which I'm indebted to Marie. Armed with these two pages, we all made our own shoe-box databases. Those were the days...
original_instructions
A VOLATS database on your PC can of course do all that, and more. Using the 'Find' command, you can look for words that include the same kanji. With a field that shows the type of word (noun, verb etc., to whatever degree of detail you care to go), you can print a list of similar words to concentrate on. You could create a layout that shows the conjugation of i-adjectives or na-adjectives, and apply that automatically to the appropriate words. See the various files on the 'Files' page of this site, which are all extracts from my VOLATS.
I've built my VOLATS using Filemaker Pro. Today, it has nearly 2,000 entries, with about 400 that have gone all the way through to yearly testing. Outside term-time, it's not so easy to find 5 new words each day, but if you cast your net wide enough that's not really a problem.
Anyone who has FileMaker Pro and would like an empty copy of VOLATS to test and use, it's available at fmforums, or just drop me a line.
The input screen looks like this:-
To create a new item, hit the 'New' button then enter the data. To run your daily test, hit the 'Run Test' button; the day's test is compiled and printed, and all records updated accordingly.
If you find you're not confident about a word that's been in the system for some time (especially important if it's about to move to yearly testing), use one of the 'happy' buttons to move the item back to more frequent testing. '70% happy' would move an item from monthly to weekly testing; '30% happy' from monthly to daily, '0% happy' would move it right back to the beginning as if it were a completely new word.
'Container fields' allow you to add a photo, a sound file or even a video clip to illustrate the word. I've started using Google Images to find pictures that include the Japanese word in the caption. Some online dictionaries and other resources include sound files. You could use a recording application such as WireTap to record your own sound clips from anything you listen to on your computer - language CDs, songs, radio, TV or film.
I found the phrase 愛する時 in the drama series Hana Yori Dango (花より男子), recorded it as a sound clip with the rest of the sentence, and illustrated it with an image from Google:-
The pictures and sound files don't of course appear in your printed test sheets, but they are there as you browse through entries on screen. The main benefit though, is that you spend time thinking about the word or phrase at the time you are entering it. The first time the item features in a test is not the first time you've worked on it.
The daily test prints out on sheets of A4, your English prompts in the right-hand column and the Japanese on the left. Staple the sheets in the top left-hand corner, and fold down the middle. You can test English-to-Japanese, and Japanese-to-English.
Have a pen with you when you do a test (whether or not you write the answers), so you can note any items that need to be brought back for more frequent testing. It's also good to note down ideas for other words you want to add to your VOLATS, sources of vocabulary, particular areas you need to blitz.... whatever comes to you while your mind is doing vocabulary things.
Here is an example of a test sheet:-
VOLATS test example