New Tongue: Level 1

How to complete New Tongue: Level 1

The first 100 words are disproportionately powerful: the most frequent words cover a huge share of everyday speech, so this small set already lets you greet, ask, and order. It is also the milestone that turns you from someone who wants to learn a language into someone who is learning one.

1. Start from a frequency-based top-100 list or a starter Anki deck, not random vocabulary.
2. Learn 5-10 new words a day using spaced repetition and never skip the review queue.
3. Say every word aloud as you review; recognizing a word silently is not the same as owning it.
4. Anchor words inside tiny phrases, like I want coffee, instead of memorizing them bare.
5. After two to three weeks, test yourself cold: produce all 100 words from your native language into the target with no hints.

Tips

• Prioritize core verbs (want, have, go, be), numbers, and greetings over adjectives; they carry more conversation.
• Cognates count; free vocabulary is still vocabulary.
• Ten minutes daily beats an hour on Sunday; spaced repetition collapses without daily contact.

What counts as done

You can produce, not just recognize, 100 words from memory, shown by passing a cold self-test or finishing a 100-word deck.