The best spaced repetition app for language learning
The best spaced repetition app for language learning is the one that builds the cards for you and brings each word back right before you'd forget it, so your ten minutes go on reviewing the language instead of making flashcards about it.
- FSRS scheduling, the open-source engine inside Anki
- Native audio on every sentence card
- Cards built from your own week, in 24 language tracks
What actually matters in a language SRS app
Spaced repetition only works if you keep doing it, and most people quit for one of two reasons: the scheduling is dumb, or building the cards is a second job. Here's how the main apps compare on what keeps you going past week two.
| What decides whether you stick with it | TangoLango | Anki | Memrise | Duolingo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modern scheduler (FSRS, not older SM-2) | Yes, FSRS | Yes, you switch it on | Fixed intervals | Its own system |
| Cards built for you, not from a blank box | Yes, auto-generated | No, you make each one | Preset course | Preset course |
| Native audio on every card | Yes | Only if you add it | Yes | Yes |
| Cards from your own life, not a set list | Yes, you capture them | Yes, if you build them | No | No |
| Chat with a tutor in the app | Yes | No | No | No |
| Best for | Reviewing your real week | Full control, any subject | A structured course | A free daily streak |
The scheduler is close to a solved problem now. What varies wildly is the work you do around it, and that's where most language learners fall off.
When Anki is the better call
If you like building decks, use Anki. It's free, it's open-source, it handles any subject you throw at it (medical terms one week, kanji the next), and AnkiWeb has shared decks for nearly every language already. It also runs FSRS, the same open-source scheduler we do, so the memory science under the hood is the same. The catch is the part nobody markets: every card is a blank box you fill, and for a language that means typing the sentence, finding audio, and formatting it, three minutes a card, before you've reviewed anything. Plenty of people love that control. If you're one of them, stop reading and go get Anki.
Where a made-for-you app wins
We built TangoLango for the other person: the one who did the reps and still froze in real life, because the deck was someone else's words. In the app you tell your tutor what you're stuck on, "how do I say the boiler's leaking?", and it writes the sentence a local would actually use, records it in a native voice, and schedules it with FSRS to come back right before you'd forget. No card-building. Your deck becomes the exact language your week keeps demanding. It runs the same spacing schedule the research backs, just without the homework. If you want to see it in one language, the European Portuguese flashcards are a live deck you can flip right now.
For anything besides a language, a spaced repetition app for any subject works the same way. To turn shows and books you're already watching into cards, there's sentence mining. The language learning methods guide lays out everything else the app runs on.
"I did a thousand days of reps and still couldn't follow my landlord. The reps weren't the problem. The cards were. They were a generic course, not the Portuguese my actual life kept throwing at me."
Frequently asked questions
Is spaced repetition good for language learning?
Yes, it's one of the best-evidenced study methods there is. Your memory of a new word decays on a predictable curve, and reviewing it right before it slips resets the clock for longer each time. A large review of the research (Cepeda and colleagues, 2006, 317 experiments) found spaced study beats cramming for lasting recall. The catch for languages is that vocabulary alone isn't enough. You want whole sentences with audio, not single words, which is what our cards are.
Which app is best for spaced repetition?
For raw control on any subject, Anki, and it's free. For learning a language without building every card yourself, an app that auto-generates sentence cards with native audio and schedules them for you. TangoLango does the second, on the same FSRS scheduler Anki uses. The right answer is whichever one you'll still be opening in a month.
Does Duolingo use a spaced repetition system?
Sort of. Duolingo has its own review system that resurfaces words over time, but you don't control the schedule and it's tied to its fixed course, not your own sentences. It's fine for a casual streak. If spacing is the thing you specifically want, a dedicated SRS app gives you real control over what comes back and when.
Do I need to build the cards myself?
Not with us, and that's the whole point. Anki makes you build each card, which is why so many people quit. TangoLango generates the sentence, the translation checked for your dialect, and native audio, then schedules it. You just review. You can still steer what goes in by telling the tutor what you want to learn.
Learn the Portuguese people actually speak here
Ten minutes a day, native audio, your own real-life sentences. Free for 7 days.
Start reviewing cards built from your real life (free for 7 days)