Philosophy

Second language acquisition

“Humans acquire a second language the same way they acquire their native tongue: through subconscious absorption rather than conscious memorization of grammar rules.”

Think about how you learned your native language. Think about how children learn. Children do not learn grammar through a textbook, and yet, they learn to speak.

If you've ever picked up a second language, you may have experienced this phenomenon in adulthood too. I am writing this in my second language (English), and I'd struggle to tell you more than a few rules of grammar. How can this be?

As a child, 100% of language learning is done through exposure. Stephen Krashen believes that even as adults, 95% of language learning happens outside textbooks and studying grammar. Yet, many of us grind textbooks and learn all the rules upfront, forgetting that this is not actually the way we acquire languages.

Stephen Krashen on Second Language Acquisition

If you want to learn a language effectively, change your perspective: Your goal, simply stated, should be to consume a maximal amount of comprehensible input, which is a fancy way to say "stuff that you are able to somewhat understand". This can be really hard to find, especially as a beginner, which is the problem we set out to solve.

Vocabcraft's core idea is to provide you with endless, customized, comprehensible input. It teaches you words (frequency-sorted; common words first) and then generates an endless stream of annotated stories using those exact words. Use Vocabcraft's in-context tutor whenever the annotations are not enough.

The app scales both vocabulary variety and grammar complexity, meaning you can use it at any stage of your learning, from complete beginner all the way to fluent.

Vocabcraft is an app for serious language learners. It is not Duolingo, where you can spend years being coerced with streaks, but in the end know little to nothing. It is a research-backed learning methodology combining methodical vocabulary acquisition with endless comprehensible input, in a simple two-step learning loop. Learn words, then read. Repeat daily. You will be fluent.

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