Gorgo uses memory techniques that work with your brain. No streaks, no ranking, no infantilizing.

A surreal painting showing a man washing dishes in a kitchen, with a large, realistic green cat made of leafy greens in the foreground. The background includes a beige wall with a decorative vase on a pedestal. The image has humorous text about a cat named Le chat.
A surreal painting showing a man washing dishes in a kitchen, with a large, realistic green cat made of leafy greens in the foreground. The background includes a beige wall with a decorative vase on a pedestal. The image has humorous text about a cat named Le chat.

Ok ready?

A voice, “Le chat. Loo sha... sha… like chard.”

He continues.

“Chard cat. On the counter. Green leaves. Breathing. Leaves rustle. Smells like vegetables.”

-

You will not forget it.

Gorgo is built around the way the brain actually holds onto things—spatial memory is one of the oldest cognitive systems the brain has.

The technique is called the method of loci, or memory palaces. It's 2,500 years old. In Gorgo, every word lives in a scene. The scenes are in palaces. To remember a word, you visit. The visiting doesn't feel like studying. It feels like noticing things in a place you've been before.

The research is thrilling…
Maguire, E.A. et al., “Routes to remembering: the brains behind superior memory,” Nature Neuroscience (2003); Wagner, I.C. et al., “Memory training for memory athletes,” Neuron (2017); Kubik, V. et al., “The method of loci in the context of psychological research: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” 2024.

Gorgo is starting with French, but the tool was built to scale to many other languages. Those will come eventually.

Mnemonics work for all words, not just A1. Gorgo focused on the most frequent 3000 words.

  • A surreal painting with a giant cooked chicken in the sky above a mountain resembling a volcano, a large black bomb-like object on the mountain's surface, and a small person standing on the ground looking up at the scene.

    Conduire To Drive
    Con-door… Sounds like condor.

    The man grips the steering wheel. The condor could feel the mans exhaustion, but there was nothing to do but drive.

  • A modern indoor pool area with people swimming and relaxing on lounge chairs, shaded by black umbrellas, bright skylight in a minimalist architectural space.

    Ombre Shadow
    Ohm-bray… Umbrella. Beret.

    The swimmers float. The felt berets warmed under the sun, casting useless, circular shadows. Not shade, per say. Shadows.

Words become objects.

The shelf fills as you progress through a palace.

Mobile game screen with a virtual puzzle game interface, including a partially filled grid with images and icons, and a section labeled 'Palais de la Grenade' with various game characters and objects.
Mobile game screen with a virtual puzzle game interface, including a partially filled grid with images and icons, and a section labeled 'Palais de la Grenade' with various game characters and objects.

Dual coding: Allan Paivio's dual-coding theory holds that information stored along both verbal and imagistic channels is recalled more reliably than information stored along either alone.

The smell of vegetables or the heft of a kitchen counter extends the principle along as many channels as the scene will accept.

Join us in Gorgonia.

We’re looking for adult French learners who are seeking an alternate learning experience to Duolingo.

Get updates for Beta