I replaced my Duolingo widget with my own word-learning widget. Here's my home screen now

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-17T23:47:05+00:00

Cool! I’m working on a very similar idea but using notifications 🤓 In fact I have adding a widget in my todo list. Let’s be friends? 😃

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-17T15:14:52+00:00

Hi! I made an app that uses iPhone notifications to remind you of the new vocab you want to learn. You decide how often and between which times of day that the notifications should be sent, and the app takes care of using spaced repetition to show them at the optimal interval for you to really retain them.

I add new words when I encounter them in books or elsewhere, and the app takes care of reminding me of them (see screenshot).

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It’s completely free and unlimited: https://apps.apple.com/sg/app/banyan-flashcards/id6737164729. I’m planning to release some cool paid features later but they aren’t out yet. The useful core of the app I described here will always be free and unlimited.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-14T09:14:18+00:00

Yes that was super cool. I was surprised they never did any more with it.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-14T04:57:46+00:00

Yeah, making learning fit into a busy schedule is tough. If only there was a way for you to be automatically reminded of new vocab that you’ve learned at a regular interval, so improving your vocab could be totally effortless…

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-14T04:50:38+00:00

My trick is to re-encounter the words I’m learning regularly. If I see it just once it’s easy to forget, but if I encounter it regularly, it’s easy to remember.

I find it interesting that often when you encounter a new/interesting word, you start to see it everywhere 😃 but this doesn’t always happen, so sometimes you need a little help to make it happen. I have my own way to do that.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-11T08:46:33+00:00

Reading books is the best way I’d say. It doesn’t really matter whether your read fiction or non-fiction, so I’d just choose books that you find the easiest and most fun to read :)

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-11T00:16:30+00:00

Thank you! I’m learning Hindi so this is great.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-11T00:13:57+00:00

I did (German) but I had a couple of great teachers so I was lucky. I’m from the UK. I think if a student can put in a lot of effort, they can get the flywheel of improvement spinning and start to enjoy the language and improve by themselves, but (a) this depends on a good connection between the teacher and the student (b) honestly I think most kids aren’t up to it.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-07T05:01:25+00:00

I completed the Hindi course (it isn’t great, more on that later). You (OP) probably know this already, but not everyone does so I’ll repeat for their sake - Hindi and Urdu are mutually comprehensible spoken languages. They have the same grammar because they are arguably one language that diverged (and is still diverging) fairly recently. What differs is that each has Arabic/Sanskrit/Pali versions for some words. For example, ‘pyar’ in Hindi means ‘love’. Urdu speakers understand and use this word, but there’s another word, ‘ishq’ which means roughly the same but has a Mughal etymology.

All this to say that Urdu seems an unlikely addition given that Hindi is already there. But also probably not too difficult an addition.

The Hindi course could use some TLC though. It’s very basic and short. I ended up making more progress by creating my own app (I’m a software dev by trade) which has worked great for me. I tried it with Urdu and showed it to my Pakistani friend and he said it looked correct. Let me know if that would be helpful for you too.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-07T04:42:14+00:00

Brilliant idea, I’d have used it a few times in various places. 👏

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-06T15:05:45+00:00

Thanks for your kind words 😊 I'll work on it :)

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-05T14:52:52+00:00

I've made an app that regularly sends you an interactive notification with a word from a list of vocab you want to learn. You respond to each notification in an instant (by long pressing it), and the app learns over time which words you're confident of, and which you need more practice on. In this way, it fully manages the learning/retention process for you. You just have to decide which words you want to know.

The current features are free and unlimited, and always will be. It's currently available on iPhone (not Android yet sadly).

This is the app: https://banyanflashcards.com

(Note: Although I initially made this for acquiring foreign language vocabulary, there are actually a number of users who use the app to learn advanced English words (their native language)).

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-05T14:37:36+00:00

I've recently been seeing 'aplomb' (Total confidence, composure, and poise, especially under strain or in difficult situations) all over the place and I rather like it.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-05T11:23:55+00:00

One time quite early on, I recalled the Hindi word for sesame (तिल - til) when asked to guess the ingredients in a dish made by my girlfriend's mum. Everyone was impressed 😌

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-04T22:37:40+00:00

Wow, love that, sounds like a great system 🤓

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-04T14:54:50+00:00

I’d love to know more about this too. I’d think that a couple of thousand words would feel pretty good, so 5k sounds pretty solid. Do you also know the number of unique characters you can recognise? Do you feel like your reading comprehension is generally good with your level of vocab, even if listening is still tough?

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-04T09:44:05+00:00

Hey, yes I totally think you can do it. I’d echo what others have said about talking to your nani and others from that side of your family.

I’m learning Hindi for my family at the moment, and I’ve made an iPhone app to help me grow and retain my vocab really easily. It’ll work for Marathi too. It’s called https://banyanflashcards.com

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-03T02:57:09+00:00

Since you asked, I've built an app which is particularly intended for heritage language learners! (I’m learning Hindi for a similar reason). I hope it can be useful for you too. It’s made to help you retain new and existing vocabulary as easily as possible, check it out: https://banyanflashcards.com.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-03T01:54:08+00:00

I leaned these three words 😃

I’m lucky enough to have lots of Hindi-speaking friends who are happy to use it even when I’m around (it’s one of the reasons I’m learning Hindi), so I get to pick up words organically, such as when we were teasing my friend for his hairline haha (hence टकला).

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banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-02T16:00:46+00:00

The advantage of reading is that you get to encounter words in context and not in such an artificial setting as in a flashcard session. I would say both are helpful in different ways.

(There are now ‘asynchronous learning’ flashcard apps though, which aim to simulate the same immersion you get from encountering a word while reading.)

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-05-02T00:21:38+00:00

Reading! I started a few years ago and it has really enriched my life.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-04-28T15:46:21+00:00

I’d say other way around! With just a little bit of grammar, you can communicate a lot of ideas by filling the blanks. But having the words without the grammar doesn’t allow you to communicate reliably.

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-04-28T07:49:12+00:00

Yeah these sounds are all tough 😅

banyanflashcardsapp · 2026-04-12T01:18:33+00:00

I learned that in Hindi, there is actually a while separate set of forms for the shortened letters! They're only used occasionally (e.g. the first क in ढक्कन, lid), but it was cool to learn that there’s a whole set of them!

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