Memorize with Memrise!

I have secretly been working on my Arabic. It is not on my official schedule, but I gave an informal talk a few weeks ago about my experiences studying Hebrew and Arabic, and to prepare I did a little studying, and then I got rehooked. 

One of Multiple Drill Types with Memrise

Arabic was my second language in this project. I spent just two months on it in 2009. The writing system never really got beaten into my head properly, but two days ago I discovered Memrise. First impression: it is amazing, and I can’t stop using it, even though I really need to do some laundry and unpack from a trip to Boston earlier this week.

Memrise has lots of languages. I don’t know whether I personally would use it for a language with a Latin-based alphabet (maybe not), but it has intensive, varied drills for Arabic that are giving me reading and writing skills at a blistering pace compared to what I have experienced through other methods. The site claims to be based on scientific principles of memorization, and from these initial experiences, I believe it. In that sense it is Pimsleur-like: you learn, you are reminded, you are reminded again, and things gradually become a part of you.

If you are studying a language with an unfamiliar writing system—Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, Hindi, etc.—check it out. I would love to know what you think. I am only 48 hours into my experiences, so I still have much to figure out about Memrise’s features.

By the way, I switched from the website to an app version and am currently using it on my iPad. I prefer the website in some ways, but no more clicking!

I neglected to mention a critical point: this is FREE!