Anki, Quizlet, Lexilize Flashcards: a review of language learning apps.

In a world of endless possibilities for learning foreign languages, choosing the right application plays a key role in your learning success. Today we take you on an exciting journey where we compare three popular apps: Anki, Qizlet and Lexilize Flashcards. All three apps promise the ultimate in language learning, but which one is right for you?

Anki

Anki pioneered spaced repetition, making it one of the earliest apps in the educational landscape and a stalwart in the industry

✅ Pros:

• Free for PC and Android;
• Abundance of useful features: answer input, adding your own photos and audio materials, synchronization, and the ability to save your decks as archives;

👎 Cons:

• Outdated appearance;
• Complex to use;
• Paid on iOS.

Lexilize Flashcards

Lexilize Flashcards — another popular application with extensive customization options

✅ Pros:

• There is a free version available for use;
• Abundance of features: answer input, adding personal photos, and all words are voiced using speech synthesis;
• Convenient for learning words by specific themes, creating categories and subcategories, as well as individual lessons;
• Multi-user mode — teachers can create and share sets with students;
• Works offline;
• Player mode;
• Auto-translation for many languages;
• Good technical support and regular addition of new features;

👎 Cons:

• Paid access for full functionality;
• Lack of a version for iOS;

Quizlet

Quizlet — another popular application with extensive customization options

✅ Pros:

• Plenty of available features;
• Convenient for learning words by specific themes;
• Available for Android, iOS, and PC;

👎 Cons:

• Paid access for full functionality;
• Lack of spaced repetition;

How to use spaced repetition:

1. Choose the word you want to learn
2. Take a sentence from Reverso Context or come up with a sentence containing that word, then check the sentence using ChatGPT.
3. Copy this sentence into one of the applications.
4. Let’s consider Lexilize Flashcards as an example.
   • Enter the irregular verbs three forms: swim, swam, swum.
   • Enter the translation for “swim”
   • Enter an example sentence like “He has swum across the lake”.
   • If necessary, attach a picture, and the three forms of the word will be automatically voiced.
   • Learn the words using five games and then review them using spaced repetition.

We’ve looked at two applications that utilize spaced repetition: Anki and Lexilize Flashcards.

Anki is perfect for memorizing both individual words and combining them into a cohesive narrative. This app allows users to add their own audio files, which is useful for rare languages that don’t have text-to-speech synthesizers.

However, if your goal is to memorize words based on specific themes or lessons, such as ‘Irregular Verbs’ or ‘Words from the Book…’, Quizlet and Lexilize Flashcards may be more preferable. These apps also provide convenient tools for teachers, making it easy to share flashcards with students. Particularly noteworthy is Lexilize Flashcards for its built-in player, enriching learning and developing listening skills.