Space it out rather than pile it up
Half the words on day 1, the other half on day 2. Two small doses beat one large one: it is the best established result in everything we know about memory.
Before you start
Two pages, two questions
The Programme answers “what do I do today?”. The Path answers “where am I?”. These are two different needs, and that is why there are two pages.
This page explains how they are made, what checks them, and what you will be able to say in six months. Without inflating anything.
Which one to open, and when?
Hover over a card, or touch it, to see what it really does.
You can use only one of them. Many follow the Programme and look at the Path once a month, just to see the ground covered.
The Programme, unfolded
It spans two years. But you are never asked to think about two years: you are asked to think about today.
Week 1: discover
Week 2: understand
Week 3: produce
Week 4: consolidate
A cycle is four weeks. Three bring new words. The fourth brings none: it goes back over them, and that is where it sticks. This is not filler, it is the breathing space that keeps you from quitting. A long programme dies of exhaustion, never of difficulty.
26 consolidation weeks across the whole programme.
One week, six days, three principles
Recall before rereading
From day 3, the list disappears. Only the count remains. Having the words in front of you while testing yourself removes exactly the effort that makes learning happen.
Grammar after the words
The rule only arrives on day 3, when there are finally words to hang it on. A rule without material does not hold.
These three principles are not homemade findings. Spacing rather than cramming is the spacing effect, described by Ebbinghaus as early as 1885. Recalling before rereading is the testing effect. Widening intervals are the Leitner boxes, published in 1972. ⚠️ This does not prove that this site teaches well: it only says that its method was not invented here.
No dates. Anywhere.
Day 3 is the third one YOU do, whether it falls on a Tuesday or three weeks later. Nothing on this site will ever say you are behind, because that word means nothing here. You move forward on work done.
The Path, unfolded
It asks nothing of you. It looks at what you have already done in the games and exercises, and draws a map from it.
10 guided themes
From the most vital to the most demanding. And below the path, every other theme in the dictionary, freely open: nothing is hidden.
Mastered at three right answers ahead
A word does not count because you saw it. It counts when you have found it three times more often than you missed it.
And forgetting is planned for
A word you get right moves away, a word you miss comes back tomorrow. Six boxes, and a word you know well only bothers you once every six months.
The six intervals, in days. They are read straight from the site’s engine: if they ever change, this page will change by itself.
Everything stays on your device
No account, no sign-up, nothing leaving for a server. Your progress lives in your browser. You can export it to a file and pick it up elsewhere, whenever you want.
Why we can say it
A site can promise anything. Here is what, here, makes lying impossible.
The objective decides the number of words
Never the other way round. “I greet someone” needs twelve words, not twenty-two, and we do not pad it to look good. Weeks grow heavier over time, because a beginner cannot absorb what someone at month 18 absorbs.
No word is taught twice
This is checked at every release, across the 1 368 words of the programme. A tool compares everything with everything and refuses to publish if a word returns, or if two different words are spelled the same in one week.
Words come from a published source
Never from an impression. Dictionaries and field records, cited on the legal page. When in doubt, the cell stays empty rather than filled by guesswork.
When two sources disagree, the word waits
The word for “fire” stayed out of the programme for seventeen cycles, because two files on the site did not spell it the same way. It only entered once the question was settled against a corpus of 31,000 verses. Preferring a gap to an invention is the only way to be believed about the rest.
None of this shows while you are learning. That is exactly the point: you do not have to check up on us.
Where you will be
At 15 minutes a day, 6 days a week. These are estimates at that pace, not a deadline: nobody is timing you.
6 months
201
words
You greet people, introduce yourself, ask your way, talk about your family and what you eat.
1 year
527
words
You hold a conversation: you tell what happened, give your opinion, manage at the doctor’s and on the road.
2 years
1 368
words
You follow a long story, you talk about what you feel, what matters, and what weighs on a life.
These three numbers are not projections: they are the words actually written into the programme, recounted at every release. The whole dictionary holds 1 716. ⚠️ What you will be able to do with them, however, nobody has measured yet: the programme is too young, and no learner has gone past the first weeks. These three steps are what the programme is built to give, not what has been observed.
Try it, and see
A promise nobody can check is no better than an empty one. So here, step by step, is what you should be able to say, and the words the programme will have given you for it. Over to you.
6 months
Greet someone, ask how they are, say thank you.
- hello
- how are you?
- I’m fine
- thank you
- you’re welcome
Say your name, ask for theirs.
- my name is…
- what’s your name?
- nice to meet you
- who?
Say you did not understand, ask them to repeat more slowly.
- I don’t understand
- repeat, please
- speak slowly
- please
Ask where the market is, and how much something costs.
- where is…?
- market
- how much is it?
- shop
Introduce your family: your father, mother, brothers and sisters.
- father
- mother
- brother
- sister
- family
Say what you eat and what you drink.
- to eat
- to drink
- water
- rice
- fish
Place things in time: today, yesterday, tomorrow, morning, evening.
- today
- yesterday
- tomorrow
- morning
- evening
1 year
Tell what happened: someone came, they left, it is over.
- to arrive
- to leave
- to return
- to finish
Give your opinion: what you think, what you believe, what you want.
- to think
- to believe, to accept
- to want
- maybe
Link two ideas: because, but, if, then.
- because, so that
- but
- if
- so, then
At the doctor’s: say you are ill, that you have a fever, ask for the pharmacy.
- doctor
- illness
- fever
- pharmacy
On the road: say it is far, ask about the car, speak to the driver.
- far
- car
- driver
- road
Ask a real question and answer it: ask, look for, find, reply.
- to ask
- to look for
- to find
- to answer
2 years
Follow a long story: a tale, a proverb, a fable.
- story, tale
- proverb
- fable, folk tale
- to tell, to narrate
Say what you feel: shame, worry, suffering, a dream.
- shame
- worry
- suffering
- dream
- feeling, sensation
Speak of what matters: respect, patience, friendship, freedom.
- respect, obedience
- patience
- friendship
- freedom
Speak of what weighs in a life: being born, growing up, ageing, suffering, dying.
- to be born
- to grow
- to grow old
- to suffer
- to die
Add nuance: honest or false, wise or mad, important or useless.
- honest, faithful
- false
- wise
- mad, crazy
- important, valuable
- useless
We do not give the Lingala answer, and that is deliberate: the programme teaches recall before review. If you are stuck, the dictionary is there, and it speaks.
Fifteen minutes, today
Nobody learns a language all at once. You learn it one day after another, and the only day that counts is this one. Open the Programme: it will tell you exactly what to do.