Learn two languages at once without mixing them up
You'll have a set of decks for each language, a library you can sort by language, and review sessions and practice rounds that stay inside one language.
What you need
- A Vocards account on the web, iOS or Android.
- At least one deck for each language you're learning. How to make one is in Build a vocabulary deck from a topic.
1. Give each deck its language pair
Every deck has two languages: I speak, the language of the translations on the back, and I'm learning, the language of the words on the front. You pick both when you create the deck. For two languages, make separate decks, for example English → Spanish and English → Japanese.
I speak starts on the language the app is shown in. Change it if you'd rather have translations in another language you know. Any supported language works on either side, so you can learn Spanish from English and Japanese from Polish.
Note: Check the pair before you create the deck. A deck's languages can't be changed afterwards, on the web or in the apps: on the edit screen both language fields are grayed out. Cards can only be moved or copied into a deck with the same pair, so a deck made with the wrong pair can't be fixed by moving its cards. Create a new deck with the right pair and add the words there.
2. Sort your library by language
On the web, open the page menu at the top left of the header and pick My Decks. Click the view menu, which reads Folders at first, and pick By language. Your decks are grouped under the language each one teaches.
To see only some decks, click Filters and pick languages under Learning language or Known language. Each group only appears once your decks use more than one language on that side.
Note: On iOS and Android, open the Decks tab. The view menu is the first icon button above your decks: tap it and pick By language. The filter button next to it has the same language groups, labeled Learning lang and Known lang.
3. Optional: put each language in its own folder
A folder per language keeps the library tidy when it grows.
- In the Folders view, click New folder.
- Type a name under Folder name, for example "Spanish", and click Save.
- On a deck, open its menu (the More options button) and pick Move to….
- Pick the folder and click Move here.
On iOS and Android, tap the + button on the Decks tab and pick New folder. To move a deck, tap its ⋯ menu and pick Move to….
If you'd rather not use folders, tags do the same job: add a tag such as "Spanish" to each deck under Tags on its Edit Deck screen, then filter by it under Filters.
4. Review one language at a time with Mixed review
The big start button on Home counts the due and new cards in all your active decks, in every language. If you have more than one active deck, clicking it opens Choose a deck.
At the top of that list is one Mixed review row for each language pair, such as "Mixed review from 3 decks" . It shows the flag of the language you're learning. Pick it to study all the decks in that pair in one session. A Mixed review session never takes cards from another pair. Below the Mixed review rows, each deck is listed on its own.
A pair gets a Mixed review row once it has at least two active decks with cards you can study. Inactive decks aren't included. The same list opens from the start button on Home in the iOS and Android apps.
To put one language on hold for a while, deactivate its decks: open the deck's menu and pick Deactivate. Progress is kept. The deck leaves Home, Mixed review and practice rounds until you pick Activate.
5. Practice one language pair at a time
Open Practice from the page menu on the web, or the Practice tab on iOS and Android. If your active decks cover more than one pair, a menu at the top of the page shows the pair you're practicing: the two flags and the name of the language you're learning. Click it to pick another pair. A practice round only uses words from the pair you picked.
When that pair has more than one active deck with words you've already met, a second menu lets you narrow the round to some of them. It reads All decks at first. Tick the decks you want, and untick them all to go back to the whole pair. Vocards remembers the pick for each pair on that device.
How rounds work is in Drill one exercise type with practice rounds.
6. Save new words into the right deck
Quick add on the web and in the apps, and the Chrome extension, open on the deck you last added to. The share sheet on iOS and Android opens on your largest active deck. The deck is picked that way whatever language the word is in, so after a run of Spanish words the next Japanese word would go to a Spanish deck too. Each form shows the deck it will save to. When you switch languages, change the deck there before you save.
Learn with definitions instead of translations
Pick the same language for I speak and I'm learning and the form says: "Same-language deck – the back side will show definitions, and example sentences will hide the target word."
A deck like this counts as its own pair. Spanish-to-Spanish decks get their own entry in the Practice pair menu, and their own Mixed review row once two of them are active and have cards, apart from your English-to-Spanish decks.
The app's language is a separate setting
The language of the app's buttons and menus is set in Settings: Interface language on the web, Language on iOS and Android. Changing it doesn't touch your existing decks. For decks, the only thing it changes is which language I speak starts on when you create a new one.
What you'll see
- On the web, every deck tile shows two flags: the language you speak, an arrow, and the language you're learning.
- Stats and your streak cover all your decks together. On the Stats page, the Deck filter narrows the heatmap to one deck. There's no filter by language.
Limits
- A deck's languages can't be changed after it's created.
- Cards only move or copy between decks with the same pair.
- Mixed review works with up to 50 decks in one pair. If a pair has more active decks with cards than that, deactivate some until 50 or fewer are left, or study the decks one at a time.
- Your learning settings, such as Cards per session and Exercise mix, are one set for every language. Some languages, such as Japanese and Arabic, never get typing exercises whatever your mix says. The details are in Change your learning settings.
If something goes wrong
| You see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No Mixed review row for a language in Choose a deck | That pair has fewer than two active decks with cards you can study. | Start the deck on its own, or activate the pair's other decks with Activate. |
| A word landed in the deck for your other language | Quick add and the extension open on the last deck you used; the share sheet opens on your largest deck. | Delete the card and add the word again in the right deck. It can't be moved there, because the pairs differ. |
| No other decks available when you try to move or copy a card | You have no other deck with the same language pair. | Use Create New Deck in that list. The new deck gets the same pair. |
| The language fields on Edit Deck are grayed out | A deck's languages are fixed when it's created. | Create a new deck with the pair you want. |
| No language menu on the Practice page | All your active decks share one pair. | Nothing to fix. The menu appears when you have active decks in a second pair. |
| A deck is missing from the Practice deck menu | It's inactive, or you haven't met any of its words yet. Practice only uses words you've already studied. | Activate the deck, or study it in a normal session first. |