We Built a Language Learning Tracker Into Second Brain. Here's Why.
Second Brain now has a Learn section. Here’s how it happened.
I’m learning Spanish. It will be my fifth language. Every time I’ve learned a new one, I’ve started the same way: words. Not grammar rules, not conversation practice, not apps that gamify everything into streaks and badges. Just words, a few minutes a day, as consistently as possible.
Vocabulary is the foundation, and it’s the only part of language learning that’s genuinely measurable. You either know a word or you don’t. You can set a goal like “500 words this year” and actually track it, which is more than you can say for “get better at speaking.”
The problem is I’ve been counting manually. A spreadsheet here, a notebook there, trying different apps, none of them doing exactly what I needed. Most tools are built around flashcard decks or spaced repetition algorithms. Useful, but not the point. I just wanted a simple, honest count: words I know, words I’m working on, progress over time.
Then I started hearing the same thing from Second Brain customers. They were already using AI to learn languages, having lessons with Claude, building vocabulary through conversation. But the tracking was still a mess, manual counts, scattered notes, no real picture of progress. Same problem, same frustration. So we decided to just build it properly.
Introducing Learn
Second Brain now has a Learn section, built specifically for language study. It’s on by default when you open the app.
Here’s what it does:
Language profiles. Add one or more languages you’re studying. Each gets its own word list, phrase list, and progress tracking. You can archive a language you’re not actively working on and bring it back anytime.
Word and phrase tracking. Every word or phrase you add gets a status: new, learning, known, or ignored. When you mark something known, the date is recorded. That’s how your progress becomes measurable over time, not just a feeling.
A real dashboard. You get a progress summary showing total tracked items, known count and percentage, and weekly charts of words marked known over the last 8 weeks. You can filter by the last 7 days, last 30 days, or all time. It’s a simple, honest picture of whether you’re actually making progress.
Claude does the logging. This is the part that changes the workflow entirely. During a lesson with Claude, it can add words you miss, mark ones you already know, log phrases, and update statuses, all through your existing MCP connection. Everything stays on your machine. No cloud sync, same local-first model as the rest of Second Brain.
What This Looks Like in Practice
You open a lesson with Claude and tell it you want to practice Spanish vocabulary. During the conversation, Claude logs new words automatically. After the session you open Learn, check your dashboard, and see exactly where you stand.
You can also ask Claude directly: “How many Spanish words have I marked known this month?” and get a real answer pulled from your data.
A few starter prompts worth trying:
“Add the top 100 most common Spanish words to my Learn list.”
“Populate about 50 useful Spanish phrases, greetings, travel, and small talk.”
“During our lesson, log new words I miss and mark ones I already know.”
Already have a word list somewhere? Upload your spreadsheet or CSV and ask Claude to insert it into your Learn list. No manual re-entry.
Getting Started
Open Learn from the main menu (it sits after Settings). Go to Profiles and add your first language. Then update your Claude skill from the in-app skill setup page, that’s what gives Claude access to read and write your Learn data. After that, study with Claude or browse and edit your lists directly in the app.
If you don’t need Learn, you can hide it entirely from Settings without losing any data.
Is This for Everyone?
Not everyone is learning a language, and not everyone who does learns through vocabulary lists. That’s fine. If Learn isn’t relevant to you, you can hide it from Settings in one click and nothing changes about how you use Second Brain.
But if you are learning a language and you’ve been tracking progress manually or not tracking it at all, this is worth trying. The AI side was already covered. What was missing was the structure around it.
If you try it and have ideas for what else would be useful, I’d genuinely like to hear them. There’s more to build here.
Download the new version at brain.hexact.io. A 7-day free trial is included, no credit card required.
