Why vocabulary slips away
A new word is easy to understand and hard to keep. You meet it in a lesson, nod, and a few days later it is gone. That is ordinary forgetting, not a verdict on your talent, and it follows a predictable curve: steep at first, then slower. The forgetting curve explains the shape, and why reviewing a word just as it begins to fade is so much more effective than rereading a list.
Getting a word list into Cirello
Language courses and your own notes already produce lists. The slow part is getting them into an app. In Cirello you can paste a list of front::back pairs, such as a word and its translation, and the whole set becomes cards in one pass. Duplicate detection means you can paste an expanded version of the same list next week without doubling it. See bulk-importing flashcards.
Cards are text and images, so a word list in whatever language you are studying fits the same format. The app interface itself is fully translated into English and Ukrainian today, with more languages planned. Cirello does not include audio or ready-made language courses, so you bring your own words.
Make better vocabulary cards
The way you write a card matters at least as much as the app. A few habits help:
- One meaning per card. If a word has three senses, make three cards, so a missed sense comes back on its own.
- Use a short example sentence when a word makes no sense alone, so you learn it in context.
- Add the reverse direction as its own card when you need to produce the word, not just recognize it.
- Use an image for concrete nouns, on either side of the card.
How to memorize vocabulary in a new language goes through these in depth, and how to write good flashcards covers the general principle of keeping cards small.
Recall, not recognition
Looking at a word and thinking "yes, I know that" is recognition, and it is a weak test. A flashcard forces you to produce the answer before you see it, and that effort is where the learning happens. This is the idea behind active recall, and spaced repetition decides when to ask.
A routine that survives a busy week
Language learning is a long game, and the habit matters more than any single session. Cirello's scheduler, FSRS-6 retrained nightly on your own history, shows only what is actually due, usually a few minutes a day. If you blank on a word, it is offered again in the same session. If you skip a few days, nothing punishes you: the streak is a plant that fades rather than a counter that resets.
A sensible start is a small number of new words a day. How many flashcards should you review per day helps you pick a number you can sustain.
Learning from real material
If you are reading a book or an article in your target language, cards can point at a resource, such as the book, with an instruction like "page 40", so you review the word where you met it. The remember what you read page describes this approach. For the broader tool, see the spaced repetition flashcard app overview.
What to expect
Cirello runs on the web today, with iOS and Android in progress. It does not do cloze deletion yet. The beta is free, with no card required.