Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I grew up trilingual, speaking native Arabic, near-native French, and English from the age of eight. I was very happy with this versatile knowledge until I met my husband and he also started teaching me some basic Spanish. I spent a few months analyzing Spanish organically; it’s relatively easy if you already speak French and someone explains the basic rules to you. Then I graduated to Duolingo to (supposedly) take my language learning to the next level. I tried app after try, but the end result is unequivocal: Duolingo doesn’t work for me. So I moved my language learning to Memrise and I have nothing but positive things to say about it.
Why Duolingo’s methods failed me
Duolingo’s boring and useless repetitions annoyed me. I swear I learned that “mujer” means woman. Duolingo doesn’t care. The gamification-focused system wants you to come back every day and repeat the same exercises over and over until you reach a new level. Only then will I be able to unlock more lessons.
Read more: Gamification has taken the fun out of exercise and learning
Duolingo’s learning path is also geared towards useless phrases that I will never use. Things like “cats drink milk” or “monkey eats an apple”. When would I ever say that? (It’s worth noting that I’ve only tried a few Duolingo courses, namely French-Spanish, English-Spanish, English-German, and French-Italian, so things may be different with other language combinations. )
Duolingo was determined to teach me useless sentences about cats and apples.
Despite the boredom and lack of motivation I felt, I kept coming back to Duolingo and giving it my best shot. I failed repeatedly. Until I decided to see what other language learning apps were out there.
Memrise’s approach to language learning is different
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
After a few mistakes, I landed on Memrise looking at an English-German course while shrugging my shoulders and thinking, “Well, how bad could it be?”
Not bad. Not entirely. In fact, surprisingly excellent. After 10 minutes, I had learned a few words and was watching a video trying to pick out those words in the middle of a conversation. The next day, I went back for a second session, then the next, and the next.
In less than a week I had a very basic understanding of the German language.
In less than a week and with only 15-20 minutes a day, I had a (very) general understanding of the German language, something I never felt after countless and countless hours on Duolingo. I’m still using Memrise now and I’m almost done with the first German course. I’ve also started learning a bit of Italian, why not?
The first thing I noticed about Memrise was the “I know” button when I entered new words. Tap it and the app will consider it a known word and skip it (unless you’re revising). Plus, at any time, you can mark words as known or difficult, and then choose to review the words you’ve learned or continue learning new ones, progressing at your own pace. No more meaningless repetitions.
To combat boredom, Memrise uses fewer repetitions, local videos, adaptive learning, and multiple quiz methods.
The second thing that surprised me is how Memrise teaches you words and phrases. Use matching games, writing challenges and pronunciation tests. The best are short videos of local people speaking words in addition to text-to-speech voice, and boy, is there a difference between the two. Locals speak faster, smoother and skip or mix up some letters, while robotic pronunciation is slower and more articulate. I’m learning how German is actually spoken, which is infinitely more useful when I’m trying to understand a real human being.
Memrise also provides a literal word-for-word translation for each expression. For example, many of us know that “Gesundheit” means “bless you”, but did you know that the literal translation is “health?” Word for word, “es ist leider nichts mehr frei” translates as “unfortunately it is no longer free”, but is used to convey that a place is fully occupied. Take the time to check these literal translations as you learn expressions and you’ll quickly expand your vocabulary and grammar without even realizing it.
More options: The best German learning apps for Android
Better yet, the courses first focus on tourist expressions like “what’s the Wi-Fi password” and “where are you from?” instead of ducks eating apples. There are also grammar rules and lessons, which helped me understand sentence structure early on, rather than guessing as time goes by.
The additional feature that sets it apart
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
The one feature that made me fall in love with Memrise is the immersive video section. Unfortunately, it’s not available for all languages, but when it is, it makes all the difference. In it, you watch short 10-15 second TikTok-style videos of locals having a fake conversation with themselves (but dressed differently). It’s a little hard to explain, but the amateur performance, the props and the situations; everything is beautiful and fun. You’re not supposed to understand everything, but you’re supposed to understand if a character should go left or right, if they like sushi or pizza, if they’re local or from the US , etc.
Memrise’s super fun TikTok-style immersive videos boosted my confidence in the words I had learned.
The app relies on your understanding of context and your ability to pick up words you’ve already learned. And it works very well. Even from the first video, I was able to grasp the situation and respond correctly despite knowing only a few words at the time.
As I said, this immersion mode is available from English to German, but I haven’t seen it in some other courses. It’s a shame because it really makes the app endlessly fun and useful.
After a month, I traveled to Berlin and was amazed at how much German I could understand.
After less than a month of using Memrise for 10-15 minutes a day, I traveled to Berlin and was amazed at how much ambient German I understood. I wasn’t fluent in the language, obviously, but I could understand the general meaning of the conversations, announcements, and announcements everywhere around me. Last year, I was in Köln and I didn’t get a single word apart from “bitte” and “guten morgen”, so I can fully credit Memrise for this whole improvement.
Our picks: The best language learning apps on Android
Some missing features
However, like any app, this one isn’t perfect. It took me a while to figure out how to skip reviews to learn more words or how to see the list of words and expressions I’ve already learned. I’m also annoyed by the lack of a search function. I would like to search for “noch” and see all the expressions in which it appears, for example. Also, I noticed that some languages don’t get the royal treatment that the English-German course does: they have fewer local videos and no fun TikTok-style quizzes.
But luckily, the service is free for as long as you want, so you can try it out and see if the language combination you’re interested in offers everything you need. A pro membership unlocks an offline mode, the option to review difficult words and a few other extras; it’s a neat addition, but by no means essential.
Have you used a free language learning app?
181 votes
Yes, Duolingo.
77%
Yes, Memrise.
7%
Yes, another app. Tell us in the comments.
3%
No, but I am considering them.
10%
No, and I don’t think I’ll be using one anytime soon.
3%
But is Memrise enough to master a language?
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Perfection aside, however, Memrise has completely won me over, which is why I’m writing this article and sharing my experience with you. The app is often overshadowed by its huge competitor, but I think it deserves recognition for its different methods and fun approach.
But is it enough?
Honestly, if you’re serious about a language, I don’t think Memrise is enough on its own. You will need a varied mix of learning methods such as videos, podcasts, grammar lessons and interactions with native speakers. In this context, Memrise can be an additional tool in your belt.
The return on investment with Memrise is incredibly high, unlike Duolingo.
But if you want to quickly grasp the essentials of a language, either for a short trip or out of sheer curiosity, this should be your app. The return on investment, i.e. the number of useful words and language concepts you learn in a short period of time, is incredibly high and leaves Duolingo in the dust.
Another Opinion: Do Free Language Learning Apps Really Work?
comments