Memorise Languages with Memrise.com

During a conversation with a colleague of mine about learning languages, it was suggested that I take a look at memrise.com, a website that serves at a platform for memorising phrases and gaining virtual rewards based on the accuracy of your memory. After curiously looking at the website, I’m somehow addicted to the this new way of learning.

How it works

To start with, the website gives you a selection of topics to learn from; Languages like French or Spanish, or even paintings and signs. From here you’re taken straight into a process that involves studying terms.

What makes memorising these terms so fun is that there are mnemonics to help you memorise the words. The sillier the mnemonic, the most likely you are to memorise it, e.g. the term “limogre”, meaning to dismiss in French, the suggestion was “Imagine DISMISSing Shrek as childish nonsense. You are DISMISSing the LIME-OGRE”. Silly, no? But it works!

Each term also comes with examples of how the term is used in a sentence. The format for this can be in text or video. With each type of suggestion, you have the option to browse through a whole selection from other users and rate your favourite.

While you are memorising terms, you are randomly tested on what you’ve been learning, and depending on the speed and accuracy of your answer, you get awarded points. If you get an answer wrong, e.g. the spelling of a term, the website helps you remember it by typing it out.

When you’ve finished with the process, the terms that you’ve memorised are presented in a short memory section known as “Greenhouse”. The terms appear as flowers, and the more successful you are with the terms, the more your flowers grow. They will eventually be added into a long term memory section known as “Garden”.

It will be interesting to see this method of learning used to learn website development languages such as html and javascript.

So why not give it a go? There’s a lot more to it than what I’ve mentioned in this article so it’s best that you try it out for yourself.