Articles
Words, memory, and the gaps in your day.
Notes on learning vocabulary that actually sticks, what the research says about how many words you really need, and how to fit language practice into a life that is already full.
How long does it take to learn a language?
The Foreign Service Institute hour estimates by difficulty category, what they actually measure, and what they come to at thirty minutes a day.
CEFR levels explained, A1 to C2
What each level means, which one counts as fluent, and why the word counts and hour estimates attached to them are not actually part of the framework.
Apps that put vocabulary on your lock screen
Lingo Widget, Lockcard, Vocab Widget and ours, compared on languages and custom lists. The real difference is whether the app picks the words or you do.
What iPhone widgets can and cannot do
The six widget slots and what fits in each, which iOS version added what, why widgets never update when you want them to, and the things no widget can do.
Why you forget vocabulary
You learned thirty words on Monday and by Friday you have five. What the forgetting curve and the spacing effect actually say, and why the pleasant study methods are usually the weak ones.
How to learn a language on your commute
A commute is a couple of hundred hours a year of dead time, and the usual advice to "put on a podcast" reliably lasts about two weeks. What actually works, by what the journey allows.
How many words do you need to speak a language?
Fluency needs far fewer words than most people assume, because a small core of them does most of the work. Here are the numbers, and how long they actually take to learn.
The best language learning apps in 2026
Duolingo, Babbel, Anki, Memrise, and Glancealot each do a different job. What each one is genuinely good at, where it falls short, and how to pair them.
