Tinycards from Duolingo may be the fastest way to learn anything

Flash cards are the most straightforward way to learn anything, and Duolingo is using that foundation for Tinycards, which happens to be its first foray outside of languages.

With Tinycards, you can pick up info on anything from languages (Duolingo wasn’t going to ignore its roots) to geography, and all manner of things in between.

Aimed at a younger crowd, Duolingo also has topics on vocabulary, equations, country capitals and historical facts. As users migrate through the flash cards, a status bar tells them how much they’ve learned.

If you’re interested in picking up Chinese, Tinycards has some exclusive content from Chineasy which dovetails with existing content from Duolingo.

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Duolingo redefined the way millions of people learn languages by making it fun, effective and free,” said Luis von Ahn, co­founder and CEO of Duolingo. “We’re excited to bring that experience to flashcards in order to help school kids suffering through memorization for tests. We also hope this will motivate adults to learn new topics to enhance their lives.”

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It’s a fun way to learn about new things, and is handy for revisiting information you no longer have to recall day to day. I gave US geography a shot, and sadly couldn’t remember where Vermont was (sorry, readers in Vermont). Flash cards help, though.

The app also doesn’t get too picky about spelling, and switches up how you learn. At various points, you need to swipe cards away, spell out the answer or rely on memory recall. It’s not static, which should help you retain knowledge.

Tinycards is also extensible. Duolingo can add content almost indefinitely, and it could prove a platform where others can distribute content as well.

We just hope that if that happens, it won’t be as terrible as bots.

The app is available for iOS, and is free to download and use.