14 languages in small steps

14 languages

• 🇦🇲ArmenianՀայերեն · Aybuben — the Armenian alphabet · with recorded voices
• 🇬🇪Georgianქართული · Mkhedruli — 33 letters with no capitals · with recorded voices · beta
• 🇰🇿KazakhҚазақша · the Cyrillic alphabet · with recorded voices · beta
• 🇷🇸SerbianСрпски · two equal alphabets: Vukovica (Cyrillic) and Gajevica (Latin) · with recorded voices
• 🇸🇮SlovenianSlovenščina · the Gajevica Latin alphabet with č · with recorded voices
• 🇲🇻Maldivianދިވެހި · Thaana — written right to left · with recorded voices · beta
• 🇱🇰Sinhalaසිංහල · the Sinhala script: rounded signs where a vowel is written as a mark on the consonant · with recorded voices · beta
• 🇱🇰Tamilதமிழ் · the Tamil script: 12 vowels · with recorded voices · beta
• 🇬🇷GreekΕλληνικά · the Greek alphabet · with recorded voices
• 🟥🟩BasqueEuskara · the Latin alphabet · beta
• 🟨🟥CatalanCatalà · the Latin alphabet · beta
• 🟨🟥ValencianValencià · the Latin alphabet · beta
• 🇹🇷TurkishTürkçe · the Latin alphabet with six letters of its own: ç · with recorded voices
• 🇪🇸SpanishEspañol · the Latin alphabet with ñ and the digraphs ch · with recorded voices

How we differ from an ordinary phrasebook

• Everything here can be played. Click a word or a letter and hear how it sounds. Works on any phone, nothing to install.
• We do not invent numbers. If the page says “this many words are enough for conversation”, there is a link to the study it comes from. Where researchers themselves are unsure, we say so.
• We promise no miracles. “Learn a language in a month” does not happen. In a month, twenty minutes a day gets you reading letters and a hundred or so words — that is genuinely a lot, and it is still not a language.
• The app is exactly the same. The same words, the same sound, the same order — just with games and reminders.

A course can be assembled for your goal

An ordinary course is one for everybody: first “hello”, then colours, then family. What you need may be entirely different — talking to a doctor, taking orders in a café, speaking with your in-laws. Say it in your own words and the course will be built around that: the words, examples and lessons you need. Whatever the language lacked will be collected for your task, and the app will name the hour the program will be ready.

Why the lessons here are short

Studying works better in small, frequent doses: ten minutes in the morning and ten in the evening beat an hour once a week. And a word needs repeating not whenever, but right before you are about to forget it — then it stays for good. We compute that moment for you. Here is what this rests on:

• Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many times
  Donovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
• Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many times
  Adesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
• The longer you want to keep a word, the rarer its repetitions should be. To hold it for a week, review every day; to hold it for a year, about once a month.checked many times
  Cepeda et al., 2008, Psychological Science 19(11) · Over 1,350 participants, tested after delays of up to a year. The best gap is about 20% of the target interval on a horizon of weeks, and 5–10% on a horizon of a year.
• Pay someone to study and they study less, not more. Praise and a clear explanation of their mistakes do the opposite — they help.checked many times
  Deci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999, Psychological Bulletin 125(6) · 128 experiments. Material reward: d = −0.40 for taking part, −0.36 for finishing. Praise and feedback: +0.33.

Next

• ArmenianArmenian — Indo-European family, about 6–7 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: Aybuben — the Armenian alphabet, 39 letters, created in 405 AD.
• GeorgianGeorgian — Kartvelian family — no relatives outside it, about 3.7 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: Mkhedruli — 33 letters with no capitals, plus the Mtabruli heading style.
• KazakhKazakh — Turkic family, about 13–14 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: the Cyrillic alphabet, 42 letters, nine of them exclusively Kazakh.
• SerbianSerbian — Indo-European family, about 9–12 million speakers, depending on how you count (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: two equal alphabets: Vukovica (Cyrillic) and Gajevica (Latin).
• SlovenianSlovenian — Indo-European family, about 2.5 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: the Gajevica Latin alphabet with č, š, ž. This site has 4051 words and 25 letters with audio.
• MaldivianMaldivian — Indo-European family, about 350 thousand speakers (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: Thaana — written right to left, with vowels as obligatory marks.