Note: At this stage, I am building Ullu with me as first and only user. So focus is on teaching me German most effectively. All other objectives are secondary to that.
I've been using Anki for learning German, but I find it lacking. I wanted more, so I created Ullu. Ullu is supposed to be Anki, but with additional features and constraints.
But why not build an Anki plugin for this?
Well, because I am new in Berlin and I am looking for a job. This project is a nice excuse to showcase my skills in technologies I am seeking a job in (Typescript/React/Node).
Features I want to add top of my list.
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Automatically generated grammar tips for sentences added
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Opportunity to explore more about a word, grammar concept or sentence. e.g when I see a word used in an example sentence, sometimes I am curious about how else this word can be used. The app should allow me to take a word on a ride and see more examples of its usage, and add them to my exercise deck on-demand
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Different ways of solving the exercises
Instead of just front/back or "fill in the blanks", I want different ways of solving exercises. For example jumbled words thingy from Duolingo
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Gamified experience
Gamification is a gimick, it adds no real value. But value isn't the end-all be-all to me. I'd like a little joy every now and then. A silly looking cartoon celebrating my "scores" with a silly dance might just do that 😊
Ullu has additional constraints. Unlike Anki, Ullu isn't a "remember anything" app, it is a "learn German" app.
Next stage for this app is to get useful for me asap. For that, I have chosen these two tasks for immediate execution:
- Import Anki decks per-user
- Replicate Anki study experience
These steps will provide the ground for expanding Ullu to build extra feature on.