What is a LangLime deck?
A deck is a set of flashcards for one language at one difficulty. Both are shown at the top of every deck.
What’s in the box?
Each card is one word or short phrase you want to learn. It has the word on the front and the English on the back.
il mercato
the market
Where decks fit in LangLime
Excerpts train you to think in whole sentences. Decks lock in the individual words that keep tripping you up.
How to start practising with flashcards
You’ll be flipping cards in about a minute. Here’s the whole thing:
Create a free account and confirm your email
Decks live behind sign-in so LangLime can keep track of what you’ve practised.
Open Decks and pick one from Explore
Filter by language and difficulty, or search by name.
Choose a practice mode
See, Recall or Write. New to the words? Start with See.
Answer each card
In See and Recall, answer in your head and flip, then swipe right (or press →) if you knew it, left (or ←) if you didn’t. In Write, build the word from the tiles and hit Submit.
Review the batch, then keep going
After each batch of up to six cards, check how you did and hit Continue, or Try Again on the same batch.
The three practice modes: See, Recall and Write
Decks can be practised three ways, which get harder in that order: first you recognise a word, then you produce it, then you spell it. Write only works for cards with shorter answers.
See | Recall | Write |
|---|---|---|
See: recognise the word | Recall: produce the word | Write: spell it out |
The card shows the word in your target language. You recall what it means in English, flip to check, and rate yourself. | The card shows the English. You recall the word in your target language, which is harder, and closer to actually speaking. | You see the English and build the word letter by letter from tiles, accents included. 3 hints per card if you get stuck. |
You see | ||
| The word in your target language | The English meaning | The English meaning |
You answer with | ||
| Its English meaning, in your head | The target-language word, in your head | The word, spelled from letter tiles |
Challenge | ||
| Easiest | Harder | Hardest |
Help available | ||
| Flip to check | Flip to check | 3 hints per card |
Works with | ||
| Every card | Every card | Answers with up to 15 different characters |
Best for | ||
| Meeting a deck for the first time | Getting words ready for speaking | Nailing spelling and accents |
See: recognise the word
The card shows the word in your target language. You recall what it means in English, flip to check, and rate yourself.
- You see
- The word in your target language
- You answer with
- Its English meaning, in your head
- Challenge
- Easiest
- Help available
- Flip to check
- Works with
- Every card
- Best for
- Meeting a deck for the first time
Recall: produce the word
The card shows the English. You recall the word in your target language, which is harder, and closer to actually speaking.
- You see
- The English meaning
- You answer with
- The target-language word, in your head
- Challenge
- Harder
- Help available
- Flip to check
- Works with
- Every card
- Best for
- Getting words ready for speaking
Write: spell it out
You see the English and build the word letter by letter from tiles, accents included. 3 hints per card if you get stuck.
- You see
- The English meaning
- You answer with
- The word, spelled from letter tiles
- Challenge
- Hardest
- Help available
- 3 hints per card
- Works with
- Answers with up to 15 different characters
- Best for
- Nailing spelling and accents
How spaced repetition works in LangLime
Spaced repetition shows you a word again just before you’d forget it. LangLime grades every answer, schedules each card’s next review, and puts the cards you most need at the front of every run.
You rate every card
In See and Recall, your swipe is the rating. In Write, getting it right first time counts most. Hints and slow answers (over 12 seconds) count for less.
LangLime plans the next review
Get it right and the gap before you see it again grows. Miss it and it comes back much sooner, often within 10 minutes.
Your next run starts where you need it
Overdue cards and the ones you keep missing come first, so your first batch is always the most useful one.
- 1 hour
- 1 day
- A few days
- Weeks, then months
Based on the classic SM-2 algorithm. You can still practise any deck whenever you like: spaced repetition decides the order, it never locks cards away.
What happens in a practice session
LangLime orders the deck with spaced repetition, so your most overdue and weakest cards come first, then serves it in batches of up to six so a big deck never feels like a wall. A progress bar at the top shows how far through you are.
In See and Recall
- Flip to check your answer, and Flip back to look again.
- Swipe right or press → if you knew it.
- Swipe left or press ← if you didn’t.
- Rated a card too fast? Back undoes it.
In Write
pa
- Tap tiles to build the word, then Submit.
- The lightbulb fixes your first wrong letter. You get 3 per card.
- Write works for words with up to 15 different characters (spaces count).
After every batch: a quick review
You see every card from the batch you just did. Continue moves to the next batch, Try Again replays the same batch. On the last batch, Continue becomes Finish.
Finding decks: Explore, Used and Custom
The Decks page has three tabs. Each one can be filtered by language and difficulty, or searched by name.
- Explore
- Public decks made by other learners. The place to start if you don’t have any decks yet.
- Used
- Every public deck you’ve practised, most recent first, so you can pick up where you left off.
- Custom
- Decks you’ve made yourself. Members only.
How to make your own flashcard deck
LangLime members can make decks two ways: by hand, card by card, or generated for them in the background.
By hand
- Go to the Custom tab and hit Create.
- Give it a name, a language and a difficulty. Switch on Private if it’s just for you.
- Add cards: the word, its English translation and, if you like, audio. Pick a voice and press Test to hear it.
Tailored Flashcards
Pick a starting point and LangLime builds the deck for you while you watch it progress.
Excerpt Config
Choose a language, a difficulty and, optionally, a topic and advanced settings. You get a 20-card deck.
Past ExcerptsComing Soon
Get cards made from the excerpts you’ve struggled with, so your deck targets your actual weak spots.
Tips that actually help
Climb the modes
See first, then Recall, then Write. Recognising a word is easier than producing it, so earn your way up.
Be honest with your swipes
Spaced repetition schedules from your swipes. “Sort of knew it” is a left swipe, so the card comes back sooner.
Use Try Again
Rough batch? Replay it before moving on. Short, repeated rounds beat one long slog.
Pair decks with excerpts
Words you miss in translation practice make the best cards. Drill them here, then use them in full sentences.