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I maintain a flashcards app (called AnkiDroid), it is open source so various users contributed the Japanese UI localization.

Unfortunately, for the term "flashcards deck" (a file containing a number of cards about a particular topic), there seems to be two schools of thought: Some are using デッキ while others are using 単語帳.

For the sake of consistency, I must choose one, but I have no idea which is better.
Which one would you keep?

Nicolas Raoul
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2 Answers2

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デッキ as a deck of cards is not established among the general people. I guess only people who are particularly related to playing cards, RPG cards, or magicians may use it in that way. For most other people, デッキ will primarily mean 'cassette deck', or the meanings rintaun mentions, or as part of a noun compound デッキチェアー 'deck chair'. 単語帳 particularly means 'flashcards' (or a notebook with similar content), and sounds more natural.

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デッキ seems to be most often used in the sense of the first definition given on Wiktionary:

Any flat surface that can be walked on: a balcony; a porch; a raised patio; a flat rooftop.

単語帳 describes what you're talking about perfectly.

rintaun
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  • Thanks! When you talk about beginners, you speak about Japanese people who are new to the concept of flashcards, right? The term will only be seen by people who choose Japanese as their phone's language setting, which means mostly Japanese people or people fluent in Japanese. – Nicolas Raoul Jul 20 '11 at 08:23
  • @Nicolas: Oh, I was actually talking about beginners *at **learning** Japanese*. How ethnocentric of me. Sorry about that. :p I'll edit my answer appropriately. – rintaun Jul 20 '11 at 08:31