Duolingo teaches you words. It won't help you keep them
Duolingo runs spaced repetition, but only over its own course. Here is the gap it leaves, and whether you need Anki for the words you meet elsewhere.
13 September 2026
KikushoDownload Learning methods
How languages actually stick
Method notes that hold for any language you are learning — how memory decays, why spaced repetition works, and what separates a deck that stays alive from one abandoned in March.
Overdue Anki reviews after a break: catch up without quitting
Come back to hundreds of overdue Anki cards? A week away doesn't erase your progress. Cap how many you clear a day and the backlog drains fast.
12 September 2026
How long a review session should be, and why ten minutes wins
A review session is as long as the cards you owe today — usually about ten minutes. Why you don't set that length, and why a weekly marathon backfires.
10 September 2026
Does handwriting a word help you remember it?
Handwriting a word feels like it lodges it, but the pen was never the reason it stuck. What actually fixes a word in memory, and why typing does it too.
8 September 2026
Why highlighting a word doesn't help you learn it
Highlighting a word marks it; it doesn't teach it. What builds the memory is recalling the word later from nothing — and a highlight quietly prevents that.
7 September 2026
Single words or sentences? What the sentence actually adds
Everyone says learn words in sentences. Here is what the sentence actually carries — the particle, the words it travels with, the register — that a lone word can't.
6 September 2026
Why a downloaded Anki deck never sticks the way your own does
A downloaded deck teaches someone else's words in someone else's order, anchored to nothing you lived. Why that fails — and what to build instead.
2 September 2026
Again, Hard, Good, Easy: what your rating actually changes
The four review buttons aren't a difficulty score — they tell the scheduler how fast a memory is fading, and that is what really sets when you see the card next.
31 August 2026
Study a little daily or a lot at once? Why daily wins
The same study hours split across days beat one long session, because the forgetting between sittings is the mechanism that installs the memory.
25 August 2026
How many times must you see a word to remember it?
There is no magic number. Seeing a word again barely installs it; the recall you do later, not the sighting, is what makes it stick.
21 August 2026
Why a flashcard deck becomes a chore: nothing ever retires
A deck becomes a chore when cards only ever arrive. Here is what should be leaving it, when a card is safe to retire, and how to run the pass.
16 August 2026
How many new words a day is realistic, and what sets the limit
Five to fifteen a day suits most people, but the ceiling is not attention span: it is the review load today's new cards create three weeks from now.
11 August 2026
Why you forget vocabulary, and what actually stops it
You forget new words because memory decays on a schedule, and because nothing brought you back at the right moment. Here is what changes that.
10 August 2026Other sections
Learning Japanese
Kanji, readings, politeness levels and the practical mechanics of keeping Japanese vocabulary you meet in the wild.
Read the section →JLPT grammar and vocabulary
Every level, grammar and vocabulary apart: what each point does, where it stops, and which of two forms the sentence in front of you wants.
Read the section →