Spaced repetition
Reviewing material at increasing intervals so it sticks long-term. The trick that makes saved vocabulary actually memorable.
What it means
Spaced repetition is a study schedule. Instead of cramming everything in one session, you review each item at gradually increasing gaps: a day, three days, a week, two weeks, a month. Items you remember well get pushed further out. Items you forget come back sooner.
The basic finding — that distributed practice beats massed practice — was first documented by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885 and has been replicated thousands of times since. Modern apps (Anki, SuperMemo, the system in LinguaRead) implement variants of the algorithm.
How it pairs with reading
Spaced repetition by itself is dry. A deck of words from frequency lists, reviewed daily, is one of the slowest and least pleasant ways to learn. People burn out within weeks.
Where it shines is as a complement to reading. You read a real book. You meet a word in a real scene that struck you. You save it. Now spaced repetition reminds you of that word — with the memory of where you first met it. The algorithm is the same. The material is completely different.
Words from real reading have hooks: a character's voice, the moment in the plot, the smell of the room being described. Words from a frequency list don't. The first kind sticks; the second kind slides off.
How to use it well
- Save selectively. Not every unknown word — only the ones you'd actually want to recall.
- Keep daily reviews short. Five to ten minutes is plenty.
- Don't let reviews replace reading. Reviews are a layer on top.