Translate or Die

A word appears in a foreign language, four numbered translations from 1 to 4 appear beneath it, an orange bar marks the time, and you must choose before it runs out. Not a daily here: Translate or Die strings rounds together as long as there are hearts, and the only metric is the current streak versus the best score. Before starting, you pick your target from nine languages (Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Filipino, Italian, Portuguese) or take them all at once with the All option. For non-Latin scripts, the word is accompanied by its transcription beneath the original.

1. Choose a language from the "FOCUS ON A LANGUAGE" row, or stay on All for a mix.
2. Press Start Game: the card displays the current language pair, like "MANDARIN → ENGLISH".
3. Read the word, and its transcription if present, then choose one of the four numbered options.
4. Answer before time runs out: letting the timer run out costs a heart, just like an error.

It's a reflex game disguised as a vocabulary game. Four choices, a time bar, three hearts: the difficulty comes less from the words than from the game's refusal of any deliberation. The language selector also makes it a little training tool for anyone reviewing their Spanish or Japanese, and the transcription shown under non-Latin characters opens the door to those who don't yet read the original script.

Feedback is immediate and physical rather than textual: the time bar at the top of the card, the row of hearts that loses one, and a short encouragement message on loss, "Heart lost / Keep going". The STREAK and BEST counters flank the bar at all times: they're the only memory the game keeps of your run. A "Sound on" button at the top right indicates the game has sound.

All languages

The All button is offered next to the nine language buttons in the selector, and it draws from every language at once.

Single language

Nine language buttons restrict the draw to a single source, to practice Spanish, Japanese or Portuguese without being surprised by a Korean word.

• The time penalty is the same as an error: hesitation protects you from nothing. Faced with four options of which three are plausible, a quick choice is better than a cautious silence.
• Choosing a language rather than All steadies your focus: the card will then always show the same translation direction, and you stop losing half a second identifying which language the word comes from.