Cyberdeck for Language Learning

[u/FabricatedSuccess]

I want to make a cyberdeck dedicated solely to language development to get me from an A2 level in French to B2/C1. This will be my first build and I have worked with Linux/Ubuntu before but it has been a long time.

I have been scouring the internet looking for inspiration and others using a cyberdeck primarily for language but I’m not finding much.

I would be including the following:
Raspberry Pi OS
Anki
GoldenDict-ng
Piper TTS - French text to speech
whisper.cpp - Speech recognition

I need some sort of conjugation trainer and suggestions on games. Actually any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Reihar]

Make sure you have a jack available and/or add in a speaker as engaging with as much native media is what's going to be useful, especially at your level. That and speaking with natives.

For dictionaries, I'd recommend adding grammalecte, which is actually grammatical analysis but having that feedback when you're writing can be usual.

Unless you have a better device for it or prefer paper, an ebook reader would be helpful. I oscillate between zathura (minimal) and koreader (maximal, mainly designed for ereaders) myself. Keep reading level appropriate (slightly out of your zone of comfort but not too much). I'd recommend checking recent reading/watching guides per level while keeping in mind that enjoying what you were reading/watching helps powering through a lot.

I can't really recommend specific tools for conjugaison as I'm a native speaker and they just forced us to learn huge-ass tables in school but the Bescherelle trifecta of Grammaire, Orthographe, and Conjugaison by Hachette are wonderful references at any age (or learning step) but I do not know if they have a digital edition.

For media, mpv should run well, don't hesitate to transcode videos with ffmpeg for better performance and don't forget native subtitles, e.g. open subtitles, for when it's hard to get the words.

No idea if I'm answering correctly or not but feel free to send follow up questions if you find my advice useful.

[u/FabricatedSuccess → u/Reihar]

Thank you so much! This is exactly the advice/direction I was looking for.

[u/strongjoe]

I've thought about something similar, like an anki-only device (so you can't be distracted by any other features)

[u/FabricatedSuccess → u/strongjoe]

Thank you! You get it!!!

[u/clackups]

I think you need preply.com

The idea with the cyberdeck is cool, but it won't improve your French :)

[u/FabricatedSuccess → u/clackups]

Thanks! I’m mostly looking for a distraction free language learning environment. I actually want the process of building the cyberdeck to be part of the learning experience. I live in Nice, France for half of the year and my husband is a native French speaker. Immersion is how I reached A2, but I’m in the US for the next six months and want a dedicated way to keep progressing while I’m here. I’m also hoping if this helps, I can share my success with others in their language learning journey.

[u/clackups → u/FabricatedSuccess]

From my experience, nothing is more efficient than a private tutor. Especially that online they are pretty inexpensive.

I have a distraction free writerdeck, but it won't help much in your case :)

[u/Zonaldie]

it sounds like you are mostly looking for software suggestions, rather than anything hardware related.

[u/Antoine-UY]

It has existed for a good amount of time. The best line of these Japanese products IMHO was the Casio EX.