Field notes on language learning, memory, and the ideas we build Tongues
around. Long-form thinking from the team at Olympian Hourglass.
The 40,000-word path to fluency
June 9, 2026 · 6 min read
Educated native speakers recognize somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000
words. Most language apps top out around 6,000 — enough to order
coffee and ask for directions, but nowhere near enough to read a novel,
follow a podcast, or hold a conversation that wanders.
Closing that gap is not about studying harder; it is about removing the
ceiling. When vocabulary can be generated on demand at exactly your
level, the only limit left is your curiosity. This is the core bet
behind Tongues: a near-infinite supply of words, phrases, and the
context that makes them stick.
Why we start with your interests
May 28, 2026 · 5 min read
The fastest way to abandon a language is to study words you will never
use. Cookie-cutter curricula teach everyone the same fruits and family
members in the same order, regardless of why you are learning.
We flipped the order. Tell Tongues about your profession, your hobbies,
the trip you are taking, and the curriculum assembles itself around
that. A nurse learns the ward; a traveler learns the night market. The
more specific you are, the more useful every session becomes — and
usefulness is what keeps people coming back.
Spaced repetition, explained: from SM-2 to FSRS
May 14, 2026 · 8 min read
Your memory of a word decays on a predictable curve. Review it at the
right moment — just before you would have forgotten — and the
curve flattens, buying you weeks, then months, then years. Review too
early and you waste time; too late and you start over.
Classic algorithms like SM-2 approximated that timing with fixed rules.
FSRS, the Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler, models forgetting directly,
adapting to how you actually remember. Tongues schedules every
card with FSRS so each study session targets exactly the material you
are most likely to lose — so you never do.
Learning a language hands-free
April 30, 2026 · 4 min read
Some of the best study time is time you were never going to spend at a
desk: a commute, a walk, the hour before sleep. Tongues turns your decks
into generated audio playlists that play from your lock screen, so you
can learn while your hands and eyes are busy elsewhere.
Hear the word in your native tongue, then your target language — or
the other way around — and heart the ones worth revisiting. It is
comprehensible input that fits into the gaps of an ordinary day.
Comprehensible input: learn by understanding
April 16, 2026 · 7 min read
We acquire language most readily when we understand messages that are
just slightly beyond our current level — what researchers call
comprehensible input. Drilling grammar tables has its place, but meaning
is what makes vocabulary durable.
That principle runs through everything Tongues generates: stories, news
articles, conversations, songs, and jokes built from the exact words you
are learning. You are never memorizing in a vacuum — you are reading
and listening to language you can almost, but not quite, already follow.