Memrise

In this blog, I am going to introduce an effective app for language learning—memrise.

Basically, memrise is an app that use flashcards to assist language learning. However, there are three main components that makes it distinguish from other flashcard software.

The Abundancy of languages

The first is its abundancy of languages. From my obversevation there are more than 50 different language courses in the software. It is surprising that it even provides minority dialect courses.

However, the quality of the courses varied from majority languages to minority languages. For example, the courses for majority language like English have audios and videos from native speakers while language courses like Sanskrit and Banglali has only textual presentation.

The Gammified Learning Style

The second is fun. It is generally believed that we learn best when we're relaxed, curious and confident, and, after all, the world is a very interesting place.

So this software turns language learning into a game where you grow a colourful garden of memory. When you learn a new word, think of it as planting a new seed in your memory. Then every time you review that memory you help it to grow a little bit - like watering a little flower. By reviewing at the right time you help it grow as fast as possible.By using this gamified learning style, you can enjoy yourself while learning languages.

Grammar Robot

The third interesting section is its grammar robot. This grammar robot is design to assist learners in grammar learning. By opening an conversation with this grammar robot, it will guide you through grammar learning. For example, if you are try to learn simple question in German, the robot will first ask you to create a simple sentence like "du bist glicklich." and show you how to make a simple question based on this sentence.

With these interesting components, memrise is really helpful in language learning. However, it is important to point out that this repetition of grammar or lexicon memorization can only be an assistance for formal language learning. It is unlikely that people can acquire a language simply by using this software.