Do you feel that your vocabulary practice is not going anywhere? If you have doubts about your current learning method, you’ll need a guaranteed app that enhances your memorization patterns. Let’s find out how language learning programs such as Memrise value your cognitive training through this Memrise review.
Remember how you rode your bicycle for the first time? It’s not an instant skill you get to pick up in one go. You’ll need to develop a pattern for long-term results. Parallel to learning your target language, you must start with the basics. Vocabulary building is a sure way to explore a native language.
With that said, language learning apps know the challenge of introducing a new language. You might have jumped on the bandwagon of thousands of these apps before. Yet, the user experience is either a steep learning curve or a super easy carnival ride. Memrise enhances your cognition skills by developing a creative and easy way to memorize foreign words through memorization techniques. Its goal is to help users expand their vocabulary by learning words efficiently.
That’s not all. In this Memrise review, we’ll discover what else how you can maximize language teaching platforms even with a free version.
What Is Memrise?
Memrise is one of the most awarded applications garnering the Google Play Awards for 2017 and second place as the best app for iOS for both the iPhone and iPad.
Behind Memrise are two remarkable founders, memory guru Ed Cooke and Greg Detre, a neuroscientist who specializes in the science of memory and forgetting. The app was conceived as a combination of scientific theories about learning with entertaining content.
Memrise uses mnemonics, a technique used to facilitate memory by connecting words and pictures, making it easier to remember expressions in foreign languages.
The tasks on the application are shown in English and the target language (German, Italian, French, Russian, Spanish, etc.) to create a connection (association) between the two languages. All tasks are accompanied by the pronunciation of native speakers through short videos or quizzes, making this application even more dynamic and original.
Users start learning through different sets of tasks. You plant seeds on a recommended path, or you can choose to learn from topics like education, health, basic greetings, food, opinions, and more.
What Is It For? Memrise is a language learning app that offers an effective learning process for memorizing basic vocabulary, foreign words, and phrases.
Languages Offered: Memrise offers courses in 23 languages
Memrise Languages
| Arabic | Japanese (script) | Japanese (no script) | Chinese |
| Korean | Danish | Mongolian | German |
| Dutch | Norwegian | English (US) | English (UK) |
| Portuguese (Portugal) | Portuguese (Brazil) | Polish | Russian |
| Italian | Slovenian | Spanish (Spain) | Spanish (Mexico) |
| Icelandic | Yoruba | Turkish |
Level: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced learners (depends on the language)
Pros:
- Manage to learn your vocabulary words bit-by-bit
- Learn through user-generated courses
- Two powerful memorization techniques
- Simple progress tracker
Cons:
- Paywall only features
- Can’t practice native speaking skills
- Memrise is only vocabulary-focused
- Features are different for every platform
Who Is Memrise For? For language newcomers that need a solid vocabulary app that builds keyword memorization techniques.
How Does Memrise Work?
Creating an account is easy; you just need to register with your email address, and it becomes a free account. After signing up for a free account, you can access the lessons immediately.
Memrise aims for your foreign language knowledge to grow naturally, visualized by planting seeds in your daily lessons. You’ll find these words grow as they are repeated throughout your chosen topic. Select the official Memrise courses to begin your daily lessons. Or you can learn from other user-generated courses instead.
Memrise uses spaced repetition system wherein users will first learn how to pronounce the vocabulary word and how it is written. You’ll receive two to three succeeding words and match those words with a short quiz. Put your listening skills to the test by repeating the audio file while learning those new words.
You can also do extra practice with difficult words and phrases you had mistakes. If you want to review what you’ve learned, there’s a practice area to stop your memory of those new words from fading.
A Memrise Review On Its Unique Dashboards And Design Per Platform
Memrise has three platforms that you can choose from. If you’re on the desktop, you can visit your dashboard and learn either in the Home tab or the Learn tab. From the dashboard, you’ll see the recommended activities for today. For the Memrise app version, you’ll have different features and user interfaces for Android and iOS. Lessons are called Launchpad, and you’ll get to access a course dictionary for all the words and phrases you’re supposed to discover and memorize.
Memrise also offers an offline option for their mobile versions to continue learning without an internet connection.
Overall, Memrise designed its language platform with the thought of mobile users for how compact the app version is. What’s even a good advantage is if you’re using the iOS version since it unlocks the beta version and the Explore mode. More on that later!
Jumpstart Your New Words And Phrases Using Highly-Effective Memrise Features
From a personalized learning experience to exclusive features you can’t get anywhere else, Memrise is a sure deal. Your time with Memrise will be a valuable experience with the latest features you can learn from day 1. What’s even better is that you’ll remember them straight away in the free version of Memrise. Jumpstart your target language’s recalling techniques with some formula-approved Memrise features.
Recall fading memories through practice Exercises
Can’t recall your favorite ingredient from that Brazilian recipe? The Memrise app will help you review which terms and keywords you’re having trouble with. You’ll have to fill in the words through writing exercises. With their memory recall processes like mnemonics and Spaced Repetition System (SRS), you can easily associate words with feelings, visuals, and phonological similarities.
Speed Review Tests
Like recalling words with the classic review, speed review tests measure your progress in your new language. However, this feature is timed, so you must type as fast as possible. It’s a great training process under pressure that will train your brain. Users must get 15 answers in a row to earn an extra life. The faster you choose the correct answer, the higher your score is!
Exclusive Sign Language Courses
Did you know that Memrise-created content also provides various user-sign language courses? You can choose from American Sign Language (ASL), Argentinian Sign Language, Australian Sign Language (Auslan), British Sign Language (BSL), French Sign Language (FSL), Korean Sign Language, and lastly, Swedish Sign Language.
I’m pretty much enthusiastic about this feature of Memrise as there are not many native speakers that teach sign languages for free online. Additional features like an exclusive language learning program for hard-to-research languages make it more appealing for new users.
Explore Vocabulary Through Object recognition (For IOS)
Technology has always brought us innovation by introducing a faster way to learn online. Right now, virtual reality and augmented reality have taken over education by storm. Memrise has courses rich that are technology-driven for learning with your camera.
Want more ways to learn new words and phrases? Memrise offers the Explore mode through object recognition. Language learners must point their phone’s camera at a specific object, and the translation for that target language will appear on the screen.
However, this feature is only available for iOS 12 or later versions and is part of the beta version of Memrise. Android users need to hang tight as it will be launched for the platform soon!
Learn with locals Through Videos
Using videos of native speakers, you can step up in your pronunciation practice. Learn with Locals has 1,000 videos of a native speaker pronouncing the phrase you’re learning. You’ll have to match the correct answer with the video clip at the end of every lesson.
However, this feature is only for selected languages such as Danish, English (UK), French, and Russian. On top of that, it’s only for the mobile app versions of Memrise too. But, the takeaway is it only costs you a free account to access, so it’s quite a bargain.
Memrise Subscription Costs: Should You Pay For Premium Subscription?
Memrise offers plenty of quality language learning content. But how much does Memrise cost? Is Memrise free? Let’s find out!
Memrise Free Version
Want to learn more than one of the official courses? Memrise allows you to access all their languages for free. Done learning Icelandic and want to learn more Turkish? Switch lessons with just a few clicks! You can learn words and phrases right away without worrying about how the status of your progress.
The free version is best for beginners that want to test their language literacy and is already enough to get you to at least the A2 tier for memorizing vocabulary.
Memrise Pro: Premium Subscription
What is in it for the Memrise paid version? You’ll enjoy full access to all 22 Memrise language courses with complete lessons unlocked. You can also practice speaking fluently with videos of native speakers. Don’t like the ads? Memrise Pro disables all the ads for a more pleasant and seamless language learning journey.
Let’s look at the breakdown for the costs of Memrise Pro. You can choose from $8.49 per month or pay the annual subscription of $29.99 per year. We recommend that you get the yearly premium subscription if you’re using Memrise for the first time since it has a 50 percent. That means you’ll just be paying $2.50 per month. Great catch, right? If you’re enjoying Memrise paid subscription and want to pay for the lifetime membership, you’ll just have a one-time payment of $119.99.
Where Does Memrise Excel Where Other Apps Don’t?
Break down your vocabulary words
Since the target of Memrise is to focus on vocabulary, they ensured that you focus only on your selected words. You can set how many words and phrases to learn per day. Hence, spaced repetition works well for difficult words since you’ll only get to repeat those five, fifteen, or thirty words daily. When you don’t pressure yourself to learn a lot of words per grammar lesson, you’ll retain these words and phrases much longer.
Take Advantage Of User Generated Courses
If you can’t find a language you want to learn from the official Memrise courses, then you can try learning with user-generated courses. Language learners often find this feature the most beneficial of all Memrise features because of its variety of languages. Can’t find Swahili in the official Memrise courses? Don’t go outside looking for a textbook in your local library. Amazing lessons are ready for you in the user-generated courses menu. You’ll even be happy to watch videos from native speakers, complete with hand gestures and facial expressions.
Uses Two Useful Memorization Techniques
Memorization is the key to making words stick and having your brain store them for future use. As previously mentioned, Memrise promotes two learning techniques called Mnemonics and SRS. So how does Mnemonics help you learn words and phrases faster? A mnemonic device, also known as a memory device, is any learning strategy that facilitates the retention or retrieval (remembering) of information in human memory.
Mnemonics employ techniques such as elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imagery to encode any information that allows for effective storage and retrieval. It will enable original knowledge to connect with something more accessible or meaningful, resulting in enhanced information retention. Simply put, a mnemonic is a technique that aids in the recall of specific facts or vast volumes of information.
Apart from the mnemonics, from where their name, Memrise, came from, it also uses the spaced repetition technique. It repeats a new word you’ve learned for a certain time before you forget what it means. Other language learning apps like Duolingo and Anki excel in this approach.
Simplified Learning Statistics
Many users feel too distracted by a complicated learning statistics dashboard. It sometimes discourages them from doing better since they’re too pressured to keep up with the streaks and awards. You’ll find learning without stressing yourself to push for more with Memrise’s daily goals. It only asks you the number of words you want to memorize daily; review those words, and that’s it!
On the other hand, it can be a disadvantage if you need daily notifications about how you’re supposed to go about your daily goal. Many people need motivation or reminders to stay on track. Depending on your preferences, you may find this Memrise feature a pro or a con. Nevertheless, they promise a spontaneous learning experience that will keep you on your feet and feeling pumped for the next set of lessons.
Why Many Users Feel Learning With Memrise Is Not Enough
Many Lessons For Language Skills Are Behind a Paywall
For example, you need a Memrise paid subscription to listen to some of the audio lessons. Sure, you’ll get to hear some of the words and phrases while learning new words. But it’s not enough to make you form sentences and speak to a local. You’re better off looking for other free resources online or another language learning app to practice your speaking skills.
Want To Speak Like A Native? Look For Other Language Apps
Fluency isn’t just making yourself like the next librarian full of information. It’s also how you’ll speak like the locals of your target language. In that sense, Memrise lacks the much-needed speaking quizzes for free to help you apply those difficult words into actual conversations.
If you do have the Memrise Pro and you’ve been learning for quite some time, the audio mode or listening skills will appear on both the Android and desktop versions, respectively. Still, it’s not at par with apps like Busuu or Babbel that prompt you to speak.
Memrise Is Only Vocabulary-focused
A downside of focusing too much on learning new words is not using them in real conversations. You may have to rely on other language software to practice for longer sentences or enroll in private online classes. It’s not cost-efficient to have simultaneous apps that you use to learn grammar explanations or even have a solo listening practice.
Without an appropriate way to channel all the vocabulary you’ve retained, you may risk losing what you’ve learned from all the courses.
Features are different for every platform
After learning how to pronounce Pårørende (Relatives) in Danish, you’re all set to learn more vocabulary for your Danish family. You open the app thinking that you’ll learn how to say Hjælp din søster (Help your sister). But, it seems that the pronunciation feature is gone! Sadly, Memrise has exclusive features for every platform. You can only access their pronunciation practice for Android and iOS, and they are only available in selected courses.
Did Memrise Improve Its Features? Why You Should Look Somewhere Else
A recurring critique that Memrise gathers from its users is the lack of official courses for more advanced learners. Memrise tried to fix this by offering more user-created courses for other learners that feel ecstatic learning from native speakers.
Of course, this is not the best solution out there, as many of the user-created courses contain errors and mistakes in grammar lessons. You may have to filter which Memrise courses are worth your time after fiddling with the app for at least two to three months. Moreover, you’ll have to deal with frustration in speaking like a native since many of their features are behind an expensive subscription plan.
Whether beneficial or not, Memrise is a great language app if you are learning a native language for the first time. It’s also a great app to exercise the brain to develop better memorization techniques.
For that matter, we suggest you look at a Memrise alternative that contains all the language resources you need to speak fluently. Curious? Then meet the Ling app!
An All-In-One Learning Experience With Ling
The more we learn words, the better our memory grows. That’s how we strengthen our brain power. But, it doesn’t stop there! You need to nurture what you learn by having a real conversation with someone that can speak that foreign language.
Memrise will help you learn new words easily but may not be enough for advanced-level learners. If you love to learn a new language with more features in the free version, then you should check out the Ling app on the Play Store or the App Store. You’ll have access to 60+ official courses with all the listening skills, speaking practice, reading exercises, and the sought-after writing tests.
You can use what you’ve learned on the app and try communicating with the AI Chatbot. It is a state-of-the-art technology using voice recognition tools that detects if you pronounce the phrases correctly. Don’t get stuck in your learning experience with a few more questions about the Ling App!
Try Ling right away and see the quick results yourself!
