Plain-English dictionary
Glossary
16 everyday terms explained simply, no jargon.
A
- Accent
- The particular way words sound when spoken, shaped by a person's first language or home region.
C
- CEFR
- A widely used scale that describes language ability in six levels, from A1 for beginners to C2 for near-native mastery.
- Cognate
- A word that looks or sounds similar in two languages and shares a meaning, making it easier to remember.
- Comprehensible input
- Reading or listening material just a little above your current level, so you can follow most of it and pick up the rest from context.
- Conjugation
- Changing a verb's form to match who is doing the action and when it happens.
F
- Flashcards
- Small physical or digital cards with a prompt on one side and the answer on the other, used to test and drill memory.
- Fluency
- The ability to speak or read a language smoothly and comfortably without stopping to search for words.
- Fossilization
- When a repeated mistake becomes a fixed habit that is hard to correct later.
G
- Grammar
- The set of rules that governs how words are combined into correct phrases and sentences.
I
- Immersion
- Surrounding yourself with a language through daily use, media, or living where it is spoken so you learn by constant exposure.
L
- Language exchange
- A practice where two people who speak different native languages help each other by trading conversation time.
- Listening practice
- Deliberately spending time hearing the language in order to train your ear to understand spoken speech.
N
- Native speaker
- Someone who grew up speaking a language as their first language.
S
- Spaced repetition
- A study method that reviews material at increasing time gaps so it moves into long-term memory efficiently.
T
- Target language
- The language you are currently trying to learn.
V
- Vocabulary
- The collection of words a person knows and can use in a language.
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