[Intermediate learners and higher who use Anki] Do you go NL -> TL for sentences or just TL -> NL?

I use Anki to learn new vocabulary for the languages I study. I have used Anki for a good 13 years or so (I am a slow language learner, lol). I exclusively use the "sentence method", meaning I don't learn individual words, but rather learn new words within a sentence or a collocation.

For my Anki cards, they are exclusively target language -> native language, or rather target language -> understanding. Let me give you some examples.

JAPANESE
[Front]
もともと庭いじりは妻の趣味だった。
[Back]
もともと  originally; from the start; from the beginning

[Front]
岩の購入を検討しました。
[Back]
検討 [けんとう] (n,vs,vt) consideration

FRENCH
[Front]
Je veux partir.
[Back]
I want to leave.

[Front]
Vous voulez jouer au golf?
[Back]
jouer au golf - to play golf

When I review these cards, I simply evaluate whether or not I understand the sentence on the front. If I understand the sentence, I usually press [GOOD]. If I instantly got it, then [EASY]. If it took me a few seconds to understand it, or a few "reads" of the sentence, then [HARD]. If I don't understand it, then [AGAIN].

Now, I like this system for various reasons.

  • I learn words in context, and I learn, for example, which prepositions or particles go with words or nouns, etc.
  • The cards are relatively easy to make. I just copy the sentence from the material I'm using and put it on the front, use a dictionary to get the definition of the new word/phrase (or sometimes a full translation in English) and put it on the back, and BAM! I have an Anki card without much thought.
  • I don't have to spend much time in English. If I understand the sentence, I can pass the card without even looking at the back.

I have learned a lot of words and phrases using this method.

The problem is that I would really like to improve my speaking ability, especially in Japanese. Or rather, I would like to improve the process of "getting words out of my brain fast enough in conversation." To help with this, I thought about making some changes to my Anki cards to add NL -> TL cards. However, I keep seeing pitfalls with methods:

CLOZE DELETION
The idea is to take the sentence, but cloze out a word or a handful of words and try to remember the missing words. However, I may use a synonym or a word that would otherwise fit the sentence and it may be correct, but not what the card is asking for. I could still have that problem even with English hints. Moreover, it makes creating the cards take a longer time, especially if I want to have both TL -> NL cards and NL -> TL cards. (I don't want to use the default cloze note type because I want to also practice reading, especially in Japanese.)

SIMPLE NL -> TL SENTENCE CARDS
The idea is to "flip" what I already do, so the front of the card would have the English sentence and the back the TL sentence. I would have to translate from the English sentence. These cards are, in theory, easier to make than cloze deletion cards that go both ways. However, again, I might say a sentence in, say, Japanese that would be perfectly suitable for the English on the front, but not match the Japanese on the back.

I guess what I am asking is, what would be a good method for me to practice output in Anki? Or do I need to just throw my hands up and practice output solely outside of Anki?