WHAT IS MEMRISE: The app employs research-backed methods, emphasizing a blend of memorization and immersion as the optimal approach to language learning
WHICH LANGUAGES CAN YOU LEARN: Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Yoruba.
WHO IS IT FOR: language enthusiasts, students, professionals, and anyone seeking an engaging and effective way to learn and master languages.
QUICK VERDICT: Memrise is an excellent tool for vocabulary practice, especially with its engaging features such as video content and interaction with MemBot. However, compared to other language-learning apps, it may not provide enough substantial real conversation, reading, or writing practice. While the free version is limited, the Pro plan offers significant value that justifies the cost for most users.
PROs
- Personalized learning plans based on proficiency level
- Customizable learning settings
- Natives speaking and interacting in lessons
- Affordable Pro subscription for all languages
CONs
- Limited language options based on native language
- No speech recognition tool
- Free plan limitations on chatbot and videos
- Inconsistent feature access across platforms
But is that a sales pitch? Just how good is Memrise?
WHAT YOU WILL FIND IN THIS REVIEW
My Language Learning Journey on Memrise
I’ve also been dabbling in Spanish. Since I’ve been learning Spanish on other language-learning tools, I wanted to see how Memrise stacked up.
An In-Depth Look at Memrise
Memrise was created in 2010, and the company’s headquarters are in London, the U.K.
The founders are Ed Cooke, Ben Whately, and Greg Detre. They were friends who studied psychology and neuroscience at Oxford University, and they were fascinated by how people learn.
Post-grad, the friends went their separate ways. Cooke dived into memory studies, Detre got his PhD, and Whately taught himself Chinese based on what he knew about second language acquisition.
The friends later united and created Memrise using their research.
What Languages Are Available on Memrise?
What Languages Are Available on Memrise?
Memrise offers 25 languages:
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Danish
- Dutch
- English (British)
- English (American)
- French
- German
- Icelandic
- Italian
- Japanese
- Japanese (no script)
- Korean
- Mongolian
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Portuguese (Brazilian)
- Portuguese (Portugal)
- Russian
- Slovenian
- Spanish (Spain)
- Spanish (Mexico)
- Swedish
- Turkish
- Yoruba
While you can learn official Memrise language courses (the 25 listed above), the company also has user-generated courses that are created by Memrise community members all over the world.
What Is Memrise’s Approach?
The founders of Memrise create the language-learning solution based on:
- How people remember things
- Neuroscience
- Unique approaches to learning a foreign language
The aim of Memrise is to make learning a new language as easy and fast as possible.
In fact, how you learn a language on Memrise is based on the Memrise stool. Each leg of the bar-like chair represents an aspect of what you need on your journey to language fluency.
You need to:
- Learn.
- Immerse yourself in the content, authentic material, and culture.
- Communicate.
Memrise wants the stool to support you while learning.
How Does the Language Exercises on Memrise Work?
The language exercises on Memrise are divided into three. You can build your vocabulary and then practice listening via videos and speaking via the AI MemBot.
Memrise’s Vocabulary Builder
But first, I picked a lesson and started with the vocab builder.
I started off as a newbie for Spanish (Mexico) and chose Greeting Someone as the first lesson. It seemed like a good place to start.
Before you start a lesson, Memrise gives you an overview of what you’ll learn. I like this because I can make some notes before diving into the lesson. I like feeling prepared, and I’ve found that I learn better.
The first exercise had the following:
- A video with a native speaker pronouncing the word.
- The word in Spanish.
- The English translation.
- Audio files so I could listen to the pronunciation – from a male and female voice actor.
I could use the lightning icon to mark the vocab as challenging, and in the Pro plan, it’ll give me personalized exercises so I can practice it more.
I could also continue to the next exercise, or if I was familiar with the term, mark it as “I already know this.”
The third and fourth exercises were different. I had to watch the video and match what was said.
If I clicked on “I don’t know,” Memrise took me back to the learning page for that word.
Then I learned other phrases and did more translation (or matching the English with the Spanish or vice versa) exercises.
There were also “pick the right answer” exercises.
And even a few writing ones. I like that a Spanish keyboard was included so I could start writing the words correctly from the start.
If I clicked on “Hint,” I got one letter of the answer.
Once the lesson is complete, you get reminded how far you are with your Daily Streak.
Next is the usual “lesson completed” screen. Memrise gave me a summary of how many words I learned and had started learning.
There’s also the flower icon in each exercise. Here you can see that the flower has grown with the word “cool”.
Basically, the flower grows in 6 stages, and when it’s complete (the yellow circle is full and I can see a flower), it means I’ve completed more challenging exercises to really practice and learn the word.
In the lesson, I had to listen to the vocab, translate it, and write it various times to get the icon to grow from a seed to a flower.
Memrise’s Listening Practice
Here’s a taste of what the listening exercises are like:
I had to complete two lessons to watch my first video.
I watched it and had to check whether I understood most of it, part of it, or not much. I could also replay the video or read the transcript.
Memrise’s Speaking Practice
And here’s a sample of the speaking exercises:
You basically chat to an AI-powered bot. You can write your responses or speak using the mic button at the bottom of the screen. And you can access the translations to help you understand and learn.
If the conversation is a bit too advanced, you can use the Hint function to generate a suggested response that you can use.
How Effective is the Memrise App?
Memrise can be effective to help you learn a language but it depends on how you use it.
I really like that the lessons feel like lessons and not mini tests or quizzes that you get on other language-learning apps. So instead of diving in to test my knowledge, Memrise teaches first.
The videos with real people was a pleasant surprise, and the vocabulary builder is quite effective at teaching. However, there isn’t enough practice to make the words stick with one lesson alone.
The video lessons are interesting and give you glimpses of the culture, which is helpful. And while the chatbot lessons were fun, they were too advanced for a newbie even though I get that it tries to immerse you in real-life situations.
I couldn’t get my mic to work, and the Memrise website flaked on me too while I was doing the video and chatbot lessons.
Memrise Costs and Subscription Options
Memrise has a free plan where you can learn all 25 languages, but:
- There will be ads
- You don’t have access to all the lessons
- You get 2 free videos a day
- You need Pro to unlock all the conversations, or you can watch an add to unlock one
This option is ideal if you have patience and want to learn a language but don’t have the budget to pay for Pro.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the free plan vs pro plan differences on Memrise:
The Pro Plan offers you access to all the learning features that Memrise has and no ads – at a cost.
Memrise has three subscription options:
- A monthly plan, costing US$27.99 per month.
- An annual plan, costing a yearly US$130.99 (which is around US$11.00 per month).
- A lifetime plan at US$199.99, which is a once-off payment and you’ll enjoy Pro status forever on Memrise.
Does Memrise Offer Discounts?
Memrise often offers discounts, mostly on its Lifetime plan.
At the time I checked out the website, Memrise discounted the Lifetime plan by 50%, so instead of paying nearly US$200.00 for it, it was priced at US$99.99.
After I signed up for the free plan and completed my first lesson, there was an “Upgrade to Pro” banner on my Memrise learning path. I could sign up for an annual plan at US$104.79 instead of the usual US$130.99.
Of course, you can scour the web for discount codes or coupons, but the 50% discount deal from Memrise for its Lifetime plan is a pretty good offer.
How to Cancel Your Memrise Subscription: A Guide
It’s easy to cancel your Memrise subscription. Memrise has a whole article to help you cancel your subscription.
In short, you must cancel on the platform via which you subscribed.
For example, if you visited the Memrise website and subscribed there, you must cancel the auto-renew feature on the site.
You’ll have to go to your profile and navigate to Settings, and your Account.
And if you downloaded the Memrise app and subscribed via the Google Play or App store, you’ll have to go to your Profile in Settings on your phone. And from there, go to Subscriptions and cancel your Memrise Pro plan.
What We Like About Memrise?
- There’s a free version of the app.
- Compact, interactive lessons.
- You see natives speaking and interacting with each other, which is a refreshing way to learn.
- You can also listen to a native male and female voice actor pronouncing the vocab in the exercises.
- You can customize your learning settings. You can decide how many words and phrases you want to learn and review per session, personalize the speed review exercises, and choose the test type preferences (like the jumbled word tests).
- When you sign up, select whether you are a newbie, know a little of the language, or lots so Memrise can customize a learning plan.
- There are also free phrasebooks you can access to learn words in a foreign language.
- The Pro subscription, whether it’s monthly, yearly, or lifetime, gives you access to all the languages available on Memrise. And it’s affordable.
- You can request your money back within 30 days if you aren’t happy.
What We Don’t Like About Memrise?
- The site is confusing about what you can learn. For example, if you click on Languages in the hamburger menu, it seems like you can learn 17 languages, but in the Courses section, there are 20 options. Yet, Memrise offers 25 languages.
- The languages you can learn via Memrise depends on your native language or what you are proficient in. And while that is a good thing, on Memrise, it limits what you can learn – quite a lot in some cases. For example, considering the app offers 25 languages, if you speak American English, you can only learn 20 languages, while if you speak British English, you can learn 23 languages. And if you speak Polish, you can learn 5 languages.
- The free plan is quite limiting. You can learn more with the vocab builders, but access to the chatbot and videos is very limited.
- There is no speech recognition tool to help you practice pronunciation.
- The videos in the exercises take a little long to load on the website, and it gets a bit frustrating.
- You don’t have access to the same features on the different Memrise platforms. The Memrise mobile apps offer the best experience.
- Memrise isn’t suitable for upper-intermediate or advanced learners.
- While it’s great that you can access user-generated courses on Memrise, there’s no guarantee about the quality so beware when you sign up for any user-generated language courses.
Contacting Memrise’s Customer Service
It’s easy to reach Memrise’s customer service team. The website has a helpful Contact Us page.
You can either visit their FAQ section for commonly asked questions, or if you need extra help, the company has an online form you can complete with your query.
First, select the category your query falls in and you’ll be directed to the page where you share your email address, Memrise username, the subject, and message you want to send the customer service team.
While Memrise says that their team will reply in 2 working days, a banner popped up to inform me to expect a 7-day delay.
My Review Verdict: Is Memrise Worth It?
WHY I RATE MEMRISE WITH 6.5/10
I can see Memrise’s worth in helping you learn vocabulary, and it’s fun to watch the videos for listening practice and chat with MemBot. But that’s pretty much it.
You don’t get real conversation practice like you do with various other language-learning apps, and there’s virtually no reading or writing practice (unless you count reading the video transcripts and writing to MemBot). The free version is highly limited, and the Pro plan doesn’t offer you that much more value.
Use Memrise as an add-on tool in your language-learning journey, but immerse yourself in authentic material, like podcasts, and authoritative grammar books.
Check out my detailed reviews on Babbel, Mondly, and Rocket Languages to make the right choice!
If you enjoyed my article, please feel free to share it. Have any questions? Don't hesitate to email me!
Disclaimer: I select and review independently. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions that help support my testing at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure for more information.
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