Short reads on learning words — memory, languages, and how Mullawo works.
Thai has its own script, five tones and no spaces between words — and almost no grammar in the way of a beginner. Here is how to build a first thousand words without getting stuck on the parts that scare people off.
A German noun learned without its article has to be learned twice. The same is true of le and la, el and la, de and het. Why the article belongs on the card, and the few rules that do most of the guessing for you.
Twenty new words a day sounds modest. In a month it is a hundred cards a day, because every new word comes back. Here is the schedule Mullawo actually uses, worked out word by word, and how to pick a pace you can keep.
Frequency is the fastest road to understanding a language. Topics are the fastest road to a particular situation. When to follow the ranking, when to step off it for a week, and how to get back on.
Hangul looks like a wall of boxes until you see what the boxes are. Twenty-four basic letters, built on a plan, stacked into syllables. Here is the plan, and an order to learn it in.
Under a Chinese, Japanese or Korean word you may see two or three different spellings of the same sound. They answer different questions. What each one is for, and when to stop reading it.
Mullawo has two ways through a session. One asks you to judge every card; the other just shows and moves on. They are for different days, and the choice changes what the schedule learns about you.
A word you have only seen is half-learned. Sound is what memory files it under, and what you will need in a conversation. Why the cards have a speaker in 27 of the 32 languages — and what to do with it.
Georgian has its own alphabet, no gender, and verbs that scare people off. Here is how to build a first thousand words without getting stuck on any of that.
The usual advice is "one at a time". The research is more interesting, and the answer depends on which two, how, and what you do when they collide.
You forget most new words within days. Spaced repetition is the one study method built around that fact — here is what it does, why it works, and how Mullawo uses it.
A thousand well-chosen words carry most of everyday speech. The order you learn words in matters more than how many you learn. Here is the arithmetic, and how to use it.