- Upgraded initial words chooser
- Added words and phrases
- Improved some phrases
- Minor UI tweaks
- Minor bug fixes
- Database operations are much faster now
- Upgraded dependencies
Litany is a language learning app designed to teach you how to learn a language fast. It merges two scientifically proven methods for language learning: spaced repetition and i + 1 sentence mining.
The app itself is based on Anki. I really liked Anki, but the shared decks for it lacked the curatedness seen in many other more traditional language apps such as Duolingo. Litany is my attempt to combine the firehose of information you get from an app like Anki with the curated selection you see in other apps. And it does this using intelligent algorithms to sort vast amounts of pretranslated phrases.
Not only does this make a system that feels natural and handcrafted, but it also means that the sentences gradually increase in difficulty. This makes the sentences 'i + 1 sentences'. The name comes from the scientific optimal input hypothesis by Steve Krashen which states that in order to learn a new language the input should be slightly above the learner's current level. In other words they should be i + 1.
Many systems that attempt to teach you i + 1 sentences (called i + 1 sentence mining) have a hard time doing this as it's difficult to piece together a sentence where all but one or two of the words have been seen before. This is not a problem in Litany because it uses algorithms to sort thousands of phrases to deliver the ones that are closest to being i + 1.
This is combined with a powerful spaced repetition system (SRS). Spaced repetition is a technique of using flashcards combined with an intelligent scheduling system that mimics the brain's natural forgetting curve. Most SRS's work on the card level but Litany is smart enough to understand that each card is a series of words. This means we can shorten review times and cut down on the problem where you're just memorizing the card instead of memorizing the language like in many other SRS's.
This is why I believe Litany is the scientifically proven best way to learn a language. And with improvements to the algorithm it is just going to keep getting better.
Supported languages:
- Spanish
- Chinese (Mandarin)
- German
- French
- Ukrainian
- Russian
- Swedish
- Polish
- Italian
Privacy Policy: https://impure.github.io/Litany-Privacy-Policy/
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