Vocabulary
Most vocabulary is lost between meeting it and reviewing it
Not in the reviewing. In the twenty seconds after you meet a word, and in the six weeks after you last saw it. A vocabulary app earns its place by closing those two gaps — and those are the two most tools leave open.
- Stage 1
You meet it
In a book, a conversation, a subtitle. This is where vocabulary actually comes from once you are past a beginner course — and where most of it is lost, because nothing catches it.
Nothing to do yet. Just notice it.
- Stage 2
You capture it
Within a few minutes, or it is gone. The capture has to be faster than the temptation to skip it, which is why a notes app usually wins and then never gets read.
Quick add takes about ten seconds. A pasted list or a CSV takes one preview.
- Stage 3
You review it — at the right time
The stage almost every tool gets wrong, because it is the only one that needs an algorithm. Too soon is wasted; too late is forgotten.
FSRS decides per card, from your own answers. Nothing to schedule and nothing to configure.
- Stage 4
You retrieve it in the wild
A word you can only produce when you see its card is not learned. It has to survive meeting it in a sentence you were not expecting.
The browser extension swaps words you know into pages you already read; listen mode plays them without a screen.
Why stage three is the one that decides everything
Capture is easy to fix — any notes app captures. Retrieval in the wild is a bonus. The stage that separates a vocabulary tool that works from one that does not is the timing of the review, because it is the only one that cannot be solved by trying harder.
Review a word too early and you learn nothing you did not already know; the minute is wasted. Review it too late and you are learning it again from scratch. The gap between those two points is different for every word and for every person, it moves every time you answer, and no human being can track it across a few hundred cards. That is the entire argument for a scheduler, and it is why an app without one is a filing cabinet.
What Rayaad deliberately does not do
It does not teach you a language. No grammar, no lessons, no speaking practice, no course. If you are starting from zero, a course is a better first step, and the comparison page says so — the two are usually complements rather than alternatives.
Where the words come from
Whatever you already use. Type them one at a time as you meet them, paste a list, import a CSV out of a spreadsheet, or let a model draft cards from a paragraph and keep the ones you want. If you have no list at all, the catalog gives you a start for the language pairs it covers.
Next: a practical method, orthe fastest way to get your list in.
Vocabulary questions
How many words do I actually need?
Far fewer than people fear for everyday comprehension, and far more than they expect for comfort. The first two to three thousand words carry most ordinary conversation and text; getting genuinely comfortable with unedited material is a long tail after that. The useful implication is that consistency matters more than volume.
Should I learn words in a list or in context?
Both, at different stages. Isolated retrieval is what a scheduler is good at and what builds the recall; context is what makes the word usable. A card with a short example does both, which is why Rayaad has an example field and keeps it optional.
What is the difference between a vocabulary app and a language app?
A language app teaches you a language — grammar, listening, production, usually through a course. A vocabulary app has one job: making sure the words you have decided to learn are still there in six months. Rayaad is the second, and it works well alongside the first.
How many cards can I keep?
The free plan holds 500 at once, counted on what you have rather than what you have ever created, so deleting a word you no longer need frees the slot. Pro removes the ceiling.
Twenty words tonight.
Free plan with no review limit, on every device. No ads, and your words stay yours.