Remember.
Flashcards are scheduled by an algorithm you choose, so each word comes back just before you would lose it.
- FSRS
- SM-2
- Leitner
Cards, on schedule
How Talkey teaches
The Talkey Method.
Remember words. Meet them in the world. Understand how they work. Then come back tomorrow.
Memory, with reviews
A review, just before it fades. Illustration, not your data.
A language is not learned once. It is learned again, just before you forget it.
1The loop
Four moves, on repeat.
Each part of Talkey does one job. Together they cover remembering, meeting, understanding and returning.
Meet it in the world.
A word sticks when it turns up in something real: a chapter of a novel, a podcast episode. Save words as you go and they join your decks.
- Books
- Podcasts
Real language, real speed
Understand how it works.
Grammar courses explain the patterns behind the words. Their quizzes track lessons and XP on their own, and never touch your flashcard schedule.
- A1 – C1
Patterns, explained
Then come back tomorrow.
Small and regular beats long and rare. Daily goals and a streak turn the whole loop into a habit you can keep.
- Daily goals
- Streak
One stamp a day
2Scheduler lab
Watch the schedule think.
Pick a scheduler and answer a few reviews. This is the real code behind Talkey decks, so you can see how each answer moves the next date.
Scheduler
Models how likely you are to recall a card, then schedules around a target retention.
Answer the next review
Next review in
1.5 months
Time covered
2.0 months
- 1Good10 min
- 2Good2.0 days
- 3Good11 days
- 4Good1.5 months
Runs the same scheduler code as Talkey decks, assuming you review each card exactly when it is due. Bars use a logarithmic scale.
3Comprehensible input
Input a little past where you are.
Linguist Stephen Krashen proposed that we acquire language by understanding input just beyond our current level. It is a hypothesis, and a debated one, but it matches how learners describe good reading and listening: mostly clear, with a few new words to work out.
So Talkey does not water the material down. You pick real books and podcasts at your level, and lookups, transcripts and flashcards help you cross the gap.
iWhat you already understand
i + 1Just beyond it
i + 5Too far, for now
A few new words. That is the point.4Rhythm
Built so you actually show up.
The best schedule is the one you keep. These are the pieces that make coming back easy.
Streak
Any goal keeps it alive.
A day counts when you hit any one of your four daily goals.
Four daily goals
Flashcards
Listening
Reading
Grammar
Keys
2
free keys a day open grammar lessons. Pro is unlimited.
Hearts
10
hearts power flashcard quizzes. You earn one back every 1 hour.
5Evidence
What we are standing on.
The principles behind the method come from published research. Here is where to read it.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Über das Gedächtnis.
Memory fades in a predictable way, and relearning something is faster than learning it from scratch.
Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.
Spreading practice out over time produces better retention than cramming it into one session.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Trying to recall something strengthens memory more than reading it again.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Pergamon Press.
Source of the input hypothesis: we acquire language by understanding input a little beyond our current level. Influential, and still debated.
Wozniak, P. A. (1990). Optimization of learning. Master's thesis, Poznań University of Technology.
Where the SM-2 algorithm, used by SuperMemo and many flashcard apps, comes from.
Ye, J., Su, J., & Cao, Y. (2022). A stochastic shortest path algorithm for optimizing spaced repetition scheduling. Proceedings of the 28th ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining.
The research behind the FSRS scheduler that Talkey offers as a deck technique.
What we are not claiming
These sources support the principles, not our results. Talkey has not published an efficacy study, and we will not quote outcomes we cannot back up. See how we make lessons in our editorial policy.
Why we do this
Every brick in the wall is a word you have not learned yet.
Questions
The method, answered.
Choose SM-2, SM-2 Enhanced, Leitner or FSRS for a flashcard deck. Simple remains supported for older decks.
No. Spaced repetition is the memory engine. Reading, listening and grammar courses supply the real language those cards come from, and daily goals keep you coming back.
No. Grammar quizzes track lesson results, mastery and XP separately from spaced-repetition flashcard reviews.
Because that is the language you will actually meet. You choose material at your level, and lookups, transcripts and flashcards help you work through the hard parts.
The research cited here supports learning principles, not a Talkey-specific efficacy study. We do not claim measured learning outcomes for Talkey.
Start the loop.
Pick a language, save your first word, and let the schedule take it from there.
