How it works
Where to get phrases, how a practice session works, and the tools that make it faster. For why the method works, see Why it works.
Building a routine is the single most important thing you can do.
A six-minute tour of the app.
Open the Content Library and pick your language. Each phraseset opens a preview where you can hear every phrase before you take it. Tap Add phrases to app: the set appears under Sharing, and the app offers to download the phrases to your phone. On a computer, scan the QR code with your phone instead.
You don’t need an account for your first two phrasesets. For a third, create a free one in the app.
Someone says a phrase you need. Tap record. Lingophant writes down what they said and translates it; you check both and save. Now you have a card with their voice.
Spontaneously, in the moment
Set a timer for a 30-minute session
Ask them to record new words. Most people are glad you’re learning their language.
Teachers can record phrases during your lesson and send you a private link. You unlock it like any phraseset, and practise with your teacher’s voice all week.
Every phrase goes through the same four stages. For example:
1 · On your phone
86
All Phrases
Everything you recorded or downloaded, in All Phrases.
2 · Needs practice
23
Due now
A phrase whose next review is due. New phrases start here.
3 · In your session
12
Today’s session
Each session picks 12 of them, in one language.
4 · Known
Resting
You said you know it, so it rests. After the shown time has passed, it needs practice again. Each time you know it, it rests longer.
You can only practise phrases that need practice. That’s on purpose: a phrase you know stays hidden until it’s worth reviewing again.
Tap Yes or No as if you were practising. Each Yes moves the next review further away. Each No keeps the phrase in your session, at the back of the stack, and brings all its future reviews a little closer.
Next review in 1 day. A new phrase. Did you know it?
An illustration. In the app, Lingophant calculates the days for each phrase. Why this timing works →
Open the Practice tab and tap a language. The app picks 12 phrases that need practice. In an easy language that’s about 15 minutes; harder or new languages take longer.
Tap Train. Listen to the original, record yourself, then play Original and Yours one after the other. No score: you hear the difference yourself, fix one thing, and try again.
Tap Listen, lock your phone and go for a walk. The app plays the session’s phrases one after another, with a pause after each to say it yourself, and keeps going in the background while you walk, cook, or simply need a break from hardcore memorising. Back in the app, carry on with Yes and No.
Before a session, you can hear its 12 phrases first, in the same player. Useful to hear them once before you try to memorise them.
Learning a language with its own alphabet? Tap ⋯ on a card and choose Use latin alphabet to see a transliteration under the phrase. Learn the alphabet while practising, much easier!
მუშაობ თუ სწავლობ?mushaob tu sts’avlob?
While you practise, you notice things: a pattern, a word that doesn’t fit, a mistake in a recording. Tap ⋯ on the card and Add note. Your question is saved with the phrase.
Before your next lesson, open All Phrases and tap the Open question filter: there’s your list to go through with your teacher. Once it’s answered, tick Did your question get answered? and the phrase leaves the list.
Your notes stay private on your phone, even when you share a phraseset.
Under Continue listening on the Practice tab, the app keeps the videos you’ve watched. Tap one and it starts where you stopped. Tap + to add a video: a random one we picked for your language, or any YouTube link with subtitles.
Every minute you watch counts toward your five phases. How the player itself works (subtitles in both languages, tapping words, slowing down) is on Why it works.
The first 30 minutes in the app are free. The same tool runs in your browser at listening.lingophant.com, free and without a limit; the app adds your list of videos and counts your minutes.
The Practice tab counts what matters: phrases on your phone, phrases to review, phrases you know, unique words, and minutes watched. Phrases in memory and minutes watched move you through five phases.
There’s a day streak too: practising or listening keeps it going, and the app can remind you at a time you choose (Profile → Notifications). With Premium, you also see your practice history over weeks, months and years.