Language Overthinker
You do not learn a language. You author it.
Most methods bet on a memory that forgives. Mine doesn’t — so I built a system that does the remembering instead: many languages held at once, none let go. No streaks, no shortcuts — real timelines, honest data, in the open.
Why “overthinker”
Not a better memory. A better system.
You learn a language, you use it, you lose it. Most people shrug and accept that. I never could — I can’t leave a loose end alone, or accept that something I earned should quietly leak back out.
Most learning bets on a memory that forgives. Mine doesn’t. So instead of memorising harder, I built something that doesn’t depend on memory at all — a system that does the remembering: it doesn’t forget, doesn’t deteriorate, and doesn’t leave anything at the mercy of how long ago it was last reviewed.
I overthought it until the worry had somewhere to go. That’s the whole idea — and the name.
A look at the work
Built in the open — here’s what goes into the system.
As I take French forward, this is the kind of thing the system holds: the entries, the notes, and the rewrites I’ll keep for good.
manquer
Tu me manques.
I miss you.
French flips it — the person who is missed is the subject. Logged once, owned for good.
imparfait vs passé composé
Je lisais quand tu as appelé.
I was reading when you called.
The imperfect sets the ongoing scene; the perfect is the event that cuts into it.
say it, then own it
J’aurais dû appeler plus tôt.
I should have called sooner.
Write what you mean, carry it across, until the conditional comes without translating.
Many at once
Several at a time — by design, not by accident.
You can run more than one language at a time. What you can’t do is give them all everything and expect each to move fast — that’s the mistake that burns people out and quietly drops half of them. So I don’t. Each language gets a deliberate level of effort, and the system holds the rest steady while my attention is elsewhere.
One language, full focus
French, right now — pushing to C1.
Real progress, lower intensity
Arabic, Chinese, Japanese — moving, not sprinting.
Maintained, on the radar
The ones I already speak — held, not left to fade.
Each starts from its foundation — Arabic’s script, Japanese kana, Mandarin’s characters — logged from day one.
Right expectations, honest pace — and because nothing leaks away between turns, a language can wait without falling apart.
When life happens
Miss a week, a month, a year — your place is held.
I get sidetracked. I’ll fall into something I have to resolve right now and not study for days. Most apps punish that — the streak breaks, and the will to come back breaks with it.
A system doesn’t keep score like that. It holds where I was, what comes next, and how much there is to make up. Disappear for years and you’re still safe — you just put in the work to come back.
Why now
This wasn’t possible two years ago.
The phase
People have authored and learned this way for years — Anki proves it works. But the curve is steep, the authoring is painful, and third-party decks are inconsistent or just not to your taste. Anki is built for a phase, not for life.
The shift
AI changes the math: it does the tedious drafting, you keep the thinking, and the hours it gives back are a real gift to anyone learning a language. A developer could wire some of this together with Anki and plugins — I’m more savvy than the average learner, and that’s exactly the point: I work out the method and build the system so you don’t have to. You shouldn’t need to be a developer to have a system instead of a deck — and you won’t.
On mistakes
People say don’t learn a language with AI, because it makes mistakes. I use it anyway. It’s the drafting engine, not the authority — and at this stage I couldn’t tell a subtle error from a perfect one regardless. What corrects it isn’t a flawless source; it’s real use, later, among real people. I’d rather build something I can keep than chase a purity that doesn’t help a beginner.
In the open
Right now I’m taking French to C1 — with real timelines, and honest data on what works.
No streaks, no shortcuts, no promises of fluency by spring. The grammar repositories, the lexicon, and the tools I build for myself go out as packs as each one is ready — so you can build your own system without starting from nothing.
Read the method →Follow the journey
I’ll write when a language ships — and when I hit or miss a milestone.
No spam, no streaks. Just the real progress, the packs as they land, and the occasional honest setback.