Blog

• How many words do you need to be fluent in a language?

  The honest answer is smaller than you think: around 800 words carry most everyday conversation, and 3,000 gets you comfortable. Here is where those numbers come from.

• Why language learning apps stop working after three weeks

  Streaks, lessons and reminders all fight for a slot in your day that does not exist. The apps that survive are the ones that stop asking for one.

• How to learn a language by texting your friends

  You already send hundreds of messages a week. Here is how to turn that existing habit into language practice, with or without an app.

• Vocabulary in context: why word lists fail and conversations do not

  You can memorise 500 flashcards and still freeze mid-sentence. The problem is not your memory, it is that the words never had anywhere to live.

• Learning a language with a friend: what actually works

  Study partners fail for predictable reasons. Fix the three that matter and a partner beats any app you could buy.

• Duolingo alternatives for people who want to actually talk

  Duolingo is very good at starting and weak at speaking. An honest guide to the options when conversation is the goal, including where each one falls short.

• Duolingo vs Babbel vs Tokki: which one fits what

  Three different models for learning a language, compared by goal rather than by score. Including the part nobody writes: where ours is the wrong choice.

• Apps to learn a language with friends: the real options

  Most conversation apps pair you with a stranger. A comparison of the few that work with people you already know.

• Using WhatsApp to learn a language: what works and what breaks

  Group chats are the most common way people try to practise a language, and the fastest to die. Why they collapse and what to change.