That said, I think using Anki as a scaffold for the first few thousand words is reasonable. After even 1k, I'd advise getting graded readers which are easy enough for you that you know 97-99% of the words and read 50 pages a day. It will probably take you under 90 minutes since it's easy enough that you're actually reading instead of decoding.
Progress might seem slow at first, but you'll be building a solid base with all that input and reinforcing previously learned words in many, many contexts. You'll also be getting collocations, history, shared cultural beliefs, etc. As your vocabulary builds, you can also start listening to radio or podcasts. They're less forgiving due to moving at a set speed but will do wonders for your conversational abilities.
Even when it comes to word definitions, as you pointed out, it's not a 1-to-1 mapping. The Korean word for "nose", for example, can be used for pigs and elephants as well as for humans. In English, you couldn't do that—pigs have snouts and elephants have trunks. Similarly, in English, if you talk about "black eyes" it means something completely different (bruising) than it does in Korean (dark brown eyes).
This is stuff you don't pick up from flashcards, unless you make super elaborate flashcards (which take more time than reading)!
