The method

MnemoBooks is built around three things the memory literature actually supports: retrieval (trying to pull a word out beats looking at it again), spacing (a later meeting beats two meetings in a row, if you care about next month), and context (a word sitting in a scene has more to hang on than a pair on a card).

We cite what we claim. We do not claim a printed book hit a magic interval. We do not claim 1,111 words makes you fluent. A first thousand is a core you can finish. Comfortable unassisted reading takes far more (Nation, 2006).

Read the papers, in plain language

• Rereading feels like learning — Roediger & Karpicke, 2006. Why the confident group forgot more.
• There is no single best gap — Cepeda et al., 2006 and 2008. Why the useful delay moves with the deadline.

Then use it

After a story, close the page and produce the other language. That is the test. The next story is the later meeting. Free audio is on the existing audio index. The catalog is 22 languages.

Workbook: The Story Recall Method.

Sources we will stand on

• Roediger, H. L., III, & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
• Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.
• Cepeda, N. J., Vul, E., Rohrer, D., Wixted, J. T., & Pashler, H. (2008). Spacing effects in learning. Psychological Science, 19(11), 1095–1102.
• Nation, I. S. P. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening? Canadian Modern Language Review, 63(1), 59–82.
• Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58.

For the wider toolbox, and what actually exists per language, see how people actually learn languages.