An application for learning and memorizing new words from several dozen foreign languages.
A week ago, I talked about an experiment on learning English using the Lingualeo service. The work is going on, but at the same time I am getting acquainted with other applications that allow me to improve my language skills. I came across a service for replenishing the vocabulary – Memrise.
The main idea of the app is to memorize new words using 'memes'. Special pictures or text messages should be associated with a new word and so, in theory, it will be easier to remember. But in reality, 'memes' don't help. The fact is that Memrise users themselves fill in the cards for foreign words. And the creators of the service are poorly or do not do moderation at all. Therefore, most of the cards are either not completed, or filled in talentlessly. Although the rest of the mechanisms for memorizing words are implemented perfectly.
In Memrise, you can learn words from 88 languages, as well as memorize the names of plants, cities, learn road signs or learn about many other phenomena in human life. The catalog of topics is diverse. There are a huge number of courses for each language – from learning basic words to getting to know idioms or, for example, irregular verbs in English. After choosing a course, a plan is drawn up for how many words you are ready to learn per day – 5, 10 or 15.
Learning words
The process of memorizing new words itself consists of 6 exercises – 'learn new words', 'normal repetition', 'fast repetition', 'difficult words', 'listening skills' and 'meet the locals'. First, you are shown a certain number of cards with new words, where the word is written in the target language, translated into Russian, in literal translation, if this is a phrase and so-called 'memes', the word is also pronounced by the application 'aloud'.
After preliminary memorization, blitz testing is carried out to consolidate new information. A word is given, you must choose from four points the correct translation into Russian or vice versa. There is a similar task, but the word must be identified by the sound or video in which it is pronounced by a 'native speaker'. Then you will need to write a new word yourself or, if it is a phrase, compose it and other words. At the end of one lesson, the application determines what you memorized well and what should be sent for review.
The 'routine repetition' is the same as the first point, only without getting new information. This is where you memorize new words and repeat old ones.
There is a 'Fast repetition' mode, where you have about 5 seconds to remember a word and choose the correct translation, and only three chances for a mistake. This will help finalize the material. The rest of the modes make it possible to understand the correct pronunciation of words, but all of them are available with a paid subscription. Although every day one or two free lessons are given in these modes.
Paid features are also worth mentioning. The main drawback of the free version is that the application does not work without the Internet. To do this, you need to pay 200 rubles monthly or immediately pay 1300 rubles per year. Also, with a premium subscription, you have unlimited access to other learning modes and incomprehensible 'technologies' that 'adapt to you so that you memorize better and faster'. It is not clear what this function gives. The subscription price is too high for me. Yes, and I have an unlimited Internet tariff connected on my smartphone, so I don't see the need for a premium subscription.
Conclusion
Memrise will help lay the foundation for further language learning in the form of a basic set of words, but also come in handy for familiarizing yourself with rare phrases or idioms. In addition to languages, you can learn important dates from history, names of cities, countries, flowers, animals and much more. The free version satisfies everything except the offline support. For two weeks of use, the application downloaded only 30 MB of data, so this is not a very big minus.
The application itself is perfectly executed: full support for the Russian language, user-friendly interface, no freezes. In general, I recommend it if you want to start learning the language or replenish your knowledge.
