Mind map for language learning

Choose the grammar point to target

Write the point in the root node as something you could be asked about, such as "using the preterite for completed actions", rather than a label like "preterite". Then add a child called "what I should be able to say afterwards" with three or four sentences written out. If you cannot write those sentences, the lesson has not been defined yet, and any words you add will be noise.

Keep one map per grammar point. A map holds up to 2,000 nodes, so size is not the constraint, and one enormous map for a whole language is a map nobody can test. If your course is a series of classes rather than language lessons, the lecture notes map covers the same job for a class you attend every week.

• One map per grammar point, never one map per language
• The root holds a point you could be asked a question about
• A child node lists three or four sentences you should be able to say
• Words that do not need the point stay out of the map

Group new words by theme

Group by situation rather than alphabetically. A branch called "at the café" holds the words for ordering, paying and changing your order, and it teaches itself because the scene brings the words back with it. An alphabetical branch is much harder to test, because the order of the list is the only cue you get.

Give each theme branch a node icon from the fixed set of seven emoji, so a group is recognizable before you have read its label. The set is small, so spend the icons on the groups rather than on individual words, and keep the words themselves on the labels where they belong.

Keep between five and eight words per branch. A branch of twenty words is a list, and a list cannot be tested against memory. Add the words during the lesson rather than the night before, and you will remember the scene along with the words. A classroom with poor wifi is a good reason to keep the map on your own device, and the offline guide explains the autosave that makes that work.

• Themes and situations, not alphabetical order
• One icon per theme branch, from the seven-emoji set
• Five to eight words per branch
• Add the words in the lesson, not the night before

Build example sentences in the notes

The node label is the word. The rich note holds the sentences: one you would actually say in a real situation, one that uses the grammar point correctly, and one common mistake with a line on why it is wrong. A word without a sentence is a translation, and a translation is not recall. If you cannot produce it, you have only recognized it.

Dictate the sentences rather than typing them. Dictate turns what you say into text inside a rich note, and speaking a sentence in the target language is the skill you are actually building, so dictating is practice rather than transcription. Keep the note short enough to dictate in one breath.

1. Write two real sentences. Give the word two sentences you could say yourself, with the grammar point used correctly in at least one of them.
2. Add the usual mistake. Add a third line with the error learners actually make, and one line saying what is wrong with it.
3. Dictate the examples. Speak the sentences into the note with Dictate, so you practice producing them instead of recognizing them.
4. Bold the grammar. Bold the words in the sentence that carry the point, so the example explains itself at a glance.

Note: Dictate uses the browser's own speech recognition, so it needs a working microphone and a browser that supports it. If it stays silent, type the sentences instead; the method works either way.

Link the words that collocate

Words are remembered in pairs. "Esperar a" and "el tren" belong together far more strongly than either belongs with an unrelated verb nearby. Draw a cross-link between those two nodes and the pair becomes one thing to recall instead of two. A map can carry up to 4,000 cross-links between any two nodes, so the number of pairs is never the problem.

The link appears as a tube between the two nodes, and there is no label editor for it, so write the collocation itself in the note of one of them, for example "wait for the train". The note is what tells you, six weeks later, why those two words were joined, and it is the fastest way to turn a link into a phrase you can use.

• Link verbs to the objects they actually take
• Link nouns to the adjectives that go with them
• Write the collocation in the note of one of the two nodes
• Three or four links per node is plenty

Test yourself with the branch hidden

The test is the reason the map exists. Collapse a branch with the chevron on the node, say the words and one example sentence for each of them, then expand it and check what you missed. Reading the branch teaches nothing, because reading feels a great deal like knowing and is not.

Use Collapse All and Expand All to test the whole map at once, and use color to mark what you missed. Press C to cycle the node color, and the palette is eight Coggle-style colors with a row of recent colors underneath, so the words you keep missing become a color you can spot in a second. The collapsing guide covers the controls.

• Hide a branch, speak it, then open it and check
• Test picture to word, not only word to sentence
• Recolor the words you missed, and keep that color on them
• Collapse All for a whole-map check at the end of a session

Revise on the spaced schedule

Add a revision branch with children for today, tomorrow, in three days, in a week and in a month, and each child holds the branches you will test on that date. The dates turn a pile of words into a schedule, and the schedule is what makes revision happen at all. Words revisited on day one, day three, day seven and day thirty are the ones that stay.

Press L to switch between the tree layout and the radial layout and use the difference deliberately. The tree layout is the one for study, because the branches sit in a fixed reading order, and the radial layout is the one for a final check, because the whole map is visible at once and any branch you cannot name stands out immediately. The layout guide compares them in detail.

• A revision branch with dated children for each review
• Revisit on day one, three, seven and thirty
• L toggles between the tree and radial layouts
• Test the weak branch first, not the easy one

A checklist you can reuse

• The root node holds one grammar point, in a form you could be questioned on
• Each branch is a theme of five to eight words
• Every word has at least two example sentences in its rich note
• One of the example lines is the mistake learners commonly make
• Words that travel together are joined by a cross-link
• The collocation is written in a note, since links cannot be labeled
• A revision branch schedules the next four or five reviews by date

Common mistakes to avoid

• One map for the whole language. A single enormous map cannot be tested or reviewed. One map per grammar point keeps every branch small enough to hide and recall.
• Storing translations instead of sentences. A word with a translation is a word you can recognize. A word with two sentences is a word you can produce, which is the one that matters.
• Testing by reading. Reading the branch feels fluent and proves very little. Collapse it, speak it, then open it and see what was missing.
• Branches of twenty words. A long branch is a list, and a list cannot be tested against memory. Split it into smaller themes, each with its own icon.
• No revision dates. Words that are never scheduled are words you met once. Put the review dates on the map so the forgetting curve is planned for.

Frequently asked questions

How many words should one lesson map hold?

Thirty to forty across four or five theme branches is a comfortable lesson. A map holds up to 2,000 nodes, so the ceiling is nowhere near your lesson size, and the real limit is how many words you can test in one sitting. If branches have grown past eight words each, split them by situation.

Should I make one map for the language or one per lesson?

One per lesson or per grammar point. A single map for a whole language ends up with a root node that says nothing and branches that mix unrelated points, which makes both revision and testing harder. Separate maps are also easier to export, print and keep next to the material they come from.

How do I record example sentences while I practice?

Use Dictate in the rich note. It turns your speech into text, so you speak an example sentence in the target language and it lands in the note as writing. It needs a microphone and a browser with speech recognition, and if that is not available, typing the same sentence works nearly as well.

Will a vocabulary map teach me to hold a conversation?

No, and no map will. What this method does is make a set of words and structures available quickly under pressure, which is the necessary first half of speaking. The other half is using them with other people, and a map supports that by giving you the sentence to bring into the conversation.

This guide is part of the mind map use cases collection. For the wider product tour, read the complete Canvasola guide, and keep the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet open while you work.