Cardemic | Devpost

Create cards page(main)
Game page
Discover page(discover other packs)

Inspiration

Whenever I’d watch an English-language video, I often stumbled upon unfamiliar words. Stopping the video to check the meaning broke my immersion, and the frustration always lingered. I imagined a smarter solution an app that could predict unknown words ahead of time, giving learners a seamless and enjoyable experience. Throwing in swipe-based interactions, inspired by apps like Tinder, could make vocabulary learning intuitive, addictive, and genuinely fun.

What it does

Cardemic transforms YouTube videos into a playful vocabulary building experience. Simply paste a link, and the app fetches the transcript, identifies words you likely haven’t learned yet, and generates a game with cards. After a short, engaging session, unfamiliar vocabulary becomes second nature, ensuring uninterrupted video enjoyment.

How we built it

We built Cardemic using React Native and Expo for a smooth, cross-platform experience. Firebase powers our authentication and backend seamlessly. The core magic comes from Google’s Vertex AI, which intelligently analyzes video transcripts, selects challenging vocabulary tailored to each user’s proficiency, and creates convincing distractors.

Challenges we ran into

The hardest part was getting the AI to consistently identify unknown words from YouTube transcripts, then deliver accurate translations and convincing distractors. Moving quickly with AI meant dealing with numerous edge cases, each requiring careful attention to maintain reliability across any language pair.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully created an app that’s language independent and intuitive. Without manually coding rules for each language, Cardemic accurately predicts and teaches vocabulary across numerous language pairs. Seeing our concept become a functional, engaging tool felt incredibly rewarding.

What we learned

Working with AI accelerates development tremendously, allowing rapid prototyping and experimentation that would otherwise take weeks or even months. However, this increased speed brings its own complexity, requiring us to continuously identify, manage, and refine numerous edge cases that emerge at nearly every step.

What's next for Cardemic

Soon, Cardemic will support vocabulary extraction from webpages and PDFs, and introduce features like leaderboards and streaks to keep motivation high. Our goal is to make vocabulary learning feel effortless and addictive, turning any content, from anywhere, into an engaging, swipe based learning experience.