Today, I am delighted to announce that Scholarium has officially opened its doors.

For many years, the Neo-Khuzdul courses have existed through a growing collection of written lessons, grammar documents, vocabulary lists, recordings, exercises and other study materials.

These resources made it possible for people from across the world to begin learning the language, even though some of the content was never originally designed as parts of a single educational platform.

A student might watch a lesson on YouTube, download the accompanying documents through Patreon, practise vocabulary through Brainscape, complete exercises through Google Forms and then return later to search for the next part of the course.

Each system served a purpose, but the course itself was scattered across several different platforms.

As the course continued to grow, I increasingly felt that Neo-Khuzdul needed a proper home.

That idea became Scholarium.

More Than a Collection of Lessons

The original goal was relatively simple: create a place where students could follow the Neo-Khuzdul course in the correct order and easily find the exercises and resources belonging to each lesson.

It did not remain simple for very long.

Once the basic Classroom began to take shape, new possibilities appeared. Exercises could record results. Lessons could react to a student’s progress. We thought of adding Flashcards, removing yet one more external thing. Flashcards could become structured practice sessions rather than static lists. Students could earn badges, maintain study streaks and see how far they had progressed. We added the videos, the documents for each lesson. Bit by bit the external parts fell away.

The project gradually developed from an online course reader into a complete interactive learning platform.

Scholarium now brings together lessons, lesson documents, videos, exercises, examinations, flashcards, crosswords, language games, listening activities, Story Letters and progress tracking within one connected environment.

Students begin by creating their Scholar profile and entering the Classroom. From there, they can continue through the course lesson by lesson, completing the required material while also choosing additional activities whenever they would like more practice.

The intention is not to force everyone into exactly the same study routine. Some students learn best by repeatedly reading grammar explanations. Others need vocabulary practice, translation exercises, games or practical examples before a new rule truly settles in.

Scholarium has been built to support all of those approaches.

Learning Through Stories

One of the features closest to my heart is the Story Letter system.

These letters allow characters to contact the student directly and ask for assistance. A Scholar might be asked to translate a message, identify the correct route through an ancient hall, help someone prepare for an important conversation or solve a problem using material learned in the course.

The exercises remain educational, but the language is placed within a story and given a purpose.

Instead of translating an isolated sentence simply because it appears on a page, the student may be translating it because a character is waiting for an answer.

Some Story Letters are small and humorous. Others form longer adventures with several stages and different outcomes.

Together, they help make Scholarium feel less like a collection of tests and more like a place inhabited by people, stories and consequences.

Practice Without Endless Repetition

Language learning requires repetition, but repetition does not always need to feel repetitive.

Scholarium therefore includes several different ways to practise the same material.

Vocabulary can be reviewed through its own lesson-based flashcard system. Practice mode allows students to work through the cards at their own pace. Memory mode provides a different form of recall practice, while Challenge mode offers a more demanding test of vocabulary mastery.

Students can also practise through crosswords, timed language games, translation exercises and listening activities.

The purpose of these systems is not simply to award experience points or fill progress bars. They are intended to give students different routes towards the same goal: becoming comfortable enough with the language that words and structures can be recalled without constantly consulting a document.

Badges, experience, streaks and other rewards provide additional encouragement, but they remain secondary to the learning itself.

Completely Free

Scholarium follows the same principle as the Neo-Khuzdul dictionary, grammar documents and course materials that came before it.

It is free.

There is no subscription required to access the lessons, no premium tier hiding part of the course and no payment required to continue studying.

A great deal of time and work has gone into creating the platform, and its continued development will require even more. Those who wish to support that work can still be to do so off course but financial support does not determine who is allowed to learn.

Knowledge should not be locked behind a gate simply because someone cannot afford the key.

What Scholarium Replaces

Scholarium is not merely another platform from which to access the course. It is now the central home of the Neo-Khuzdul learning experience.

This means that several older systems are no longer required.

Brainscape Flashcards

Brainscape is no longer required for the Neo-Khuzdul course.

Scholarium has its own flashcard system, tailored to the vocabulary of each lesson. It includes several different ways to study, including Practice, Memory and Challenge modes.

Support for the Neo-Khuzdul content on Brainscape, together with the availability of that content there, will end soon as well.

I invite everyone to continue their vocabulary practice through Scholarium from now on.

Patreon Lesson Downloads

You will no longer need to download lesson packages through Patreon.

Within one week of Scholarium’s launch, the existing Patreon lesson downloads will be removed and replaced with a link to Scholarium.

All the material previously included in those downloadable packages is already available directly within Scholarium, together with considerably more content.

Instead of downloading and organising separate files, students can access the correct lesson materials through their guided learning path.

Patreon may still be used for announcements and voluntary support, but it is no longer required to access the course.

Google Forms Exercises and Examinations

The lesson exercises and examinations currently hosted through Google Forms will also be taken offline within one week of Scholarium’s launch.

All these exercises and examinations are now included directly within Scholarium.

Its exercise system has been designed specifically for the Neo-Khuzdul course and provides far more possibilities than Google Forms could offer, including integrated scoring, lesson progression, tailored feedback and a wider variety of exercise types.

The older Google Forms versions therefore no longer serve a useful purpose.

YouTube Video Lessons

The existing video lessons will remain available on YouTube.

Their descriptions will be updated with a link to Scholarium so that people who discover the course through YouTube can easily find the complete learning platform.

However, using YouTube is not required.

The videos are included directly within Scholarium and can be watched as part of the guided lesson path without the advertisements that may otherwise appear on YouTube.

The YouTube versions will remain available primarily so that new learners can continue to discover the course and then join Scholarium for the complete, all-in-one learning experience.

Continuing from Your Previous Progress

Those who have already started the Beginner Course through Patreon, Brainscape, YouTube or Google Forms can request through Scholarium to have their learning journey begin at a particular lesson.

However, I strongly recommend beginning with Lesson 1 and working through Scholarium one lesson at a time, even when this means briefly repeating material you have already studied.

Scholarium contains considerably more than the previous learning path.

Earlier lessons now contain new exercises, Story Letters, games, listening activities, flashcard modes and other content that did not previously exist.

Skipping directly to a later lesson may therefore mean missing activities and experiences created specifically for your current level.

Starting again does not mean discarding what you have already learned. It gives you an opportunity to refresh that knowledge while discovering everything that has been added around it.

Built Through Testing

A platform of this size cannot be properly tested by its creator alone.

I would therefore like to offer a very sincere thank you to Angela, Jarak, Shanti and Sly, who spent time testing Scholarium, exploring its features, reporting problems and questioning things that did not work as clearly as they should.

Their feedback uncovered errors, improved explanations and helped shape many of the systems that students will now encounter.

Testers often experience the least polished version of a project. They encounter the broken buttons, unclear instructions and unexpected results so that future users do not have to.

Their patience, honesty and careful feedback have been invaluable.

Scholarium is a better platform because of their help.

The Beginning of Something Larger

Although Scholarium is now open, this release is not the end of its development.

New exercises, flashcard decks, crosswords, Story Letters, listening activities and language games will continue to be added. The existing lessons and features will also continue to improve as more students use them and provide feedback.

Larger additions are planned for the future, including thematic content packs, expanded adventures and new ways for Scholars to explore the world surrounding their studies.

Scholarium is therefore not a finished book placed upon a shelf. It is a growing school whose halls, libraries and passages will continue to expand.

Some of those passages are already being built. Others still exist only as notes, sketches and ideas.

All of them begin with the same central purpose: providing a better way to learn and practise Neo-Khuzdul.

The Doors Are Open

Whether you are completely new to Neo-Khuzdul, have studied parts of the course before or have followed my work for many years, you are welcome to enter, create your Scholar and begin learning.

You can watch the introductory video HERE

You can enter Scholarium here: myscholarium.com

The doors are open. The Classroom is ready.

Welcome, Scholar. Your lessons await.