The method
Learn the language, not the app.
Noventa is built on a simple idea: you do not need to learn everything, you need to learn the right things in the right order, and then use them with real people. Here is how that works, in plain words.
DiSSS: what to learn, and when
Four questions decide the content of every course.
What are the building blocks?
Before learning anything, you translate a handful of short sentences and look at what changes: word order, gender, cases, verb endings, where pronouns go, how questions and negation work. After day 1 you know where the language is easy and where it is hard, for speakers of your language.
Which 20 % give 80 %?
Roughly 100 words make up half of everything people say; about 1,000 cover most of everyday conversation. So you learn the most frequent ~1,000 words of the target language, measured on its own spoken and written corpora. Function words and the top verbs first.
In what order?
Order beats volume. Sounds first. Then the "magic verbs": want, can, must, going to, plus an infinitive. They let a beginner say hundreds of sentences without conjugating. Then conversation glue ("how do you say…?", "slower, please"). Grammar only when the next sentence you want to say needs it.
Why will you actually do it?
Good intentions fade by week three. Real commitments do not: a weekly conversation booked with a real person, a fixed daily slot, milestones on day 30, 60 and 90. And yes, paying for something you want to finish helps too.
Day 1, in a nutshell
A few of the thirteen deconstruction sentences, in Spanish. Each one reveals a rule you will use thousands of times.
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La manzana es roja.
Nouns have a gender; adjectives follow and agree.
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Le doy la manzana a John.
The subject pronoun disappears; the verb ending says who.
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Quiero dársela.
Object pronouns stick to the infinitive.
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No puedo comer la manzana.
Negation: just put "no" in front.
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He comido la manzana.
The perfect tense works like in English.
Four verbs, hundreds of sentences
With quiero, puedo, tengo que and voy a plus any infinitive, you can talk about wishes, abilities, duties and plans on day 3, without a single conjugation table.
CaFE: how it sticks
Knowing what to learn is half of it. The other half is remembering it.
Compression
If it does not fit on one page, it is not compressed enough. Your cheat sheet holds the whole grammar of the language on one page. Version 1 on day 7, extended on day 30, 60 and 90.
Frequency
The minimal effective dose, every day: about 25 minutes. Spaced repetition decides when each word comes back, reviews always come first, 10 to 12 new words a day. Light days keep the rhythm without burnout.
Encoding
Every new word is hooked to something you already have: cognates and sound-alikes in your own language, a vivid mnemonic, an example sentence from real life, and your own voice saying it out loud.
Three questions before day 1
Is it worth it?
Why do you want this language? Your answer is what carries you through week five.
How hard is it for me?
What is close to your language, what is free, what is genuinely new.
What is the shortest path?
Which shortcuts exist for this language, and for speakers of yours.
Four phases. One conversation at the end.
Every square is a day. Every 7th day is lighter, with a real-world mission. Days 30, 60 and 90 are milestones.
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1. Deconstruct
Take the language apart before you learn it: sounds, the four magic verbs, conversation glue, all the words you already know. Cheat sheet v1.
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2. Foundation
Core grammar in the order you need it, plus everyday scenarios: café, directions, small talk. Day 30: a 2-minute monologue about yourself.
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3. Build
Talk about the past and the future, give opinions, master the tricky pairs. Day 60: tell your tutor a 5-minute story.
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4. Flow
Nuance, idioms, native podcasts and series. Day 89: a 30-minute conversation, only in your new language.
What "conversational" means here
On day 89 you sit down with a tutor or tandem partner for 30 minutes, entirely in your new language: who you are, what you did, what you plan, what you think. You will still make mistakes. You will keep talking anyway. That is the bar the whole program is built for.
See it for yourself.
Day 1 is deconstruction. It takes 25 minutes and you will look at the language differently afterwards.
Start 7 days free