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Have you ever wanted to learn another language or improve a language you're learning? Expand upon one that you've already learned? Well now you can - and the best part? It's free! Memrise is a website geared towards anyone, young or old, who wants to learn something new. There are over 200 languages available for you to learn, as well as countless other subjects - maths, art, geography, philosophy . . . You name it, there's probably a course on it! And if there isn't? Make one!
Memrise uses past scientific research in order to make learning easier and more efficient; past studies have shown that in order for us to retain information, we must see, hear or speak it at least six times. In order for you to visualise your learning, Memrise uses the analogy of a garden; you plant 'seeds' (words) and then you must 'water' (review) them or they'll wilt. It's this system which is most helpful to me; I don't have to worry about forgetting words because after certain periods of time (which increase the more times you review the words) you automatically go over them. If you get it wrong, no worries - you'll just have to review them again sooner than you would have if you'd got it right.
With each word that you learn or review, you'll earn points. After you've got a certain amount of points, you'll earn a rank, the highest of which is currently the Overlord title. You'll need to earn 100,000,000 points to get this. Your points are recorded by week, month and all time. If you follow people, they will be added to your leaderboard - you can see your friend's scores and have competitions to see who can get the most points each week or month. This works especially well for those who need motivation. Doesn't everyone like to be a little competitive, though?
I use Memrise for about an hour or so daily, competing against my friends at school. I've already introduced this website to my French class as a way to help those who struggle with French. I don't struggle with the language, but I still use it to make sure my grammar and spelling are maintained. However, even back at the basics, there are some things which I didn't know before I started using Memrise. It's been remarkably helpful. Very soon, I plan to introduce it to the year eleven GCSE students at my school to help them with revision. You can create your own lists of words or dates or statistics and use the technology to help you remember. I've been trying to expand my vocabulary, so I've used Memrise to do so.
I've also started learning Latin and Spanish, which are completely new to me. I've made really fast progress, proving that Memrise can be used to learn something completely foreign as well as support a familiar subject. Languages are incredibly useful, especially when it comes to travelling or even working in a job that requires you to be multi-lingual. Did you know that learning a second and third language really increases your chances of being employed? In a world when there is much competition for jobs, anything that you can add to your resume/CV really helps. It takes so little effort, which is definitely a bonus. Why don't you give it a try and tell me what you think? What other ways can you think of using it? Let me know!
Author's Note: Find the website at www.memrise.com. All views expressed in this article are my own.
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