12 Incredible Memrise Alternatives for Unbeatable Learning
Just because they’re totally beguiling doesn’t mean they’re your soulmate.
No, we’re not talking about that person you just swiped right on.
We’re talking about language learning tools.
And while popular options are undoubtedly attractive, there are plenty of fish in the language education sea.
There are alternatives to all the most popular tools, whether you’re looking for Babbel alternatives, busuu alternatives or Pimsleur alternatives.
If Memrise is the apple of your eye, we can’t blame you. Maybe it checks off a lot of items in your “must-have qualities” list for language apps.
But that doesn’t mean you should make your relationship with Memrise exclusive. There are some terrific Memrise alternatives out there, and there’s no shame in playing the field!
Contents
- Why Use a Memrise Alternative?
- How to Get the Most out of Memrise Alternatives
- Native Content
- Fun, Interactive Activities
- Flashcards
- Structured Courses
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Why Use a Memrise Alternative?
One reason to use a Memrise alternative is to change up your routine. Don’t get us wrong—establishing a routine can be a wonderful way to study a language. But once you get stuck in a rut or bored, changing your study patterns might be just what you need to reinvigorate your passion for language learning.
You can also use a Memrise alternative for a new perspective on the language that you’re learning. Seeing your target language in a different context can increase your skills, build your confidence and help abate your fear of speaking a foreign language, so a new perspective could be just the ticket to inching closer to fluency.
Using a Memrise alternative is also a terrific option if you like certain aspects of Memrise, but the Memrise program isn’t quite perfect for your needs. Maybe you don’t like the format. That’s fine! Other tools have different formats. Maybe the premium features you want seem too spendy. No worries. There are plenty of free language apps available. Regardless of what your hangup is, you may find that one of these Memrise alternatives better meets your wants and needs.
Plus, using the right Memrise alternative can let you enjoy more of your favorite Memrise feature. If you love one of Memrise’s features and just can’t get enough of it, Memrise alternatives can provide more material similar to that trait you love. You can consider Memrise alternatives as the perfect supplement to your darling Memrise.
How to Get the Most out of Memrise Alternatives
Consider which of Memrise’s features you hope to replicate.
The easiest way to find quality Memrise alternatives is to seek to replicate individual features rather than the whole app. Because of this, considering which feature you hope to see more of will help you select the right alternative to meet your needs.
Test out a variety of options.
You don’t have to commit to the first alternative you try. In fact, trying several options is a terrific way to see what you like best and what helps you the most. And because it’s in the name of research, you have a valid excuse to try as many alternatives as you want!
Consider pairing multiple options.
Mixing and matching Memrise alternatives can give you a well-rounded, engaging and fun learning system all your own. You choose which options you like and which meets your needs, so when you pair multiple options together, it can be the ideal customized solution you’ve been looking for.
Use whichever alternative(s) you choose frequently.
With any language learning app, system or program, repetition is key. Once you know which alternative or alternatives you want to use, make sure you use them often. This will help reinforce your learning so that you can keep building towards fluency without backsliding.
12 Incredible Memrise Alternatives for Unbeatable Learning
The 12 Memrise alternatives listed below are grouped by prominent features similar to Memrise’s most notable features: native content, interactive activities, flashcards and structured courses.
There is, however, some overlap between categories, so you may find that some alternatives are similar to Memrise in more than one way.
Native Content
One of Memrise’s greatest features is its abundant library of videos that feature native speakers. Not only do these videos expose you to real-world language use, they can also familiarize you with accents and help you tune your ear to better understand native speakers, which can be tricky for some language learners.
FluentU
Like Memrise, FluentU also houses an impressive collection of authentic videos from which comprehensive language lessons are crafted.
The gallery of clips is extensive and diverse, using content that you may not have initially thought of as materials for language study. Examples include movie trailers, news snippets, informational talks and music videos.
Each video comes with interactive subtitles that teach you words in context. To expand your understanding of a given word’s usage, FluentU can lead you to other videos in which that word is spoken. That means you’ll be picking up vocabulary by hearing it in a variety of situations, and not just one set example.
FluentU’s focus is to help learners to get an in-depth experience with a language. Due to its curated format that categorizes clips by topics and difficulty, FluentU can work great for language learners of varying levels.
Easy Languages
Love Memrise’s on-the-street videos featuring real people? Easy Languages might be your next big passion.
Easy Languages is a YouTube channel that features on-the-street interviews with real people all around the world. These videos are usually meant to be easy to understand. While they feature authentic language, they also frequently address culturally relevant topics to give you a more well-rounded learning experience.
Easy Languages videos cover a huge selection of languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and many more. And because Easy Languages groups videos neatly into language-specific playlists, it isn’t too hard to binge-watch videos in your target language.
Wikitongues
Whether you want to supplement your Memrise videos with more authentic content or you can’t find authentic content in your target language on Memrise, Wikitongues might be just what you’re looking for.
Wikitongues is an innovative and exciting non-profit platform that offers videos on YouTube. Not only is this organization working to preserve and document languages, it’s also sharing what it collects, enabling language learners to benefit from its research.
Wikitongues also collects videos featuring native speakers of less common languages and regional language variations. As a result, people studying less common languages not covered by Memrise might be able to find videos on Wikitongues, making it a perfect alternative for the intrepid language learner.
Plus, because Wikitongues also offers videos featuring diverse regional variations of languages, it’s a terrific option for anyone looking to study versions of their target language that they might not hear as often.
Fun, Interactive Activities
Memrise offers interactive activities designed to reinforce learning and give you practice writing, reading, speaking and listening. Not only do these activities help provide learners with well-rounded skills, they’re also fun and engaging, making it easy to study longer without feeling like it’s work.
Duolingo
Duolingo is a huge name in language learning, and it’s no wonder why.
The learning program offers an engaging and varied mixture of activities to help learners build vocabulary through reading, writing, speaking and listening activities. And if that’s not enough, language learners can enjoy Duolingo for free.
Activities are interspersed and are a lot like the activities featured in Memrise, so they’re easy to use in addition to or in place of Memrise’s activities. Plus, if you’re in a public place, you can easily skip the speaking and listening activities so as not to draw irate stares.
Duolingo offers over 30 languages, so the most popular ones are covered. There are also a few less common languages, such as Navajo and Welsh, if you’re looking to try something new.
Drops
Do you ever just sit on your phone and play a repetitive game without really knowing why it’s so addictive? Well, Drops is like those games, but rather than just ending up with sore wrists and regret, you’ll be left with an abundance of vocabulary knowledge.
While Memrise intersperses activities with lessons and videos, Drops only focuses on activities. Each challenge is just five minutes long, so you’ll feel the time crunch as you seek to identify word meanings, spell words and complete word-search-like puzzles. The main focus is definitely vocabulary, so don’t expect a lot of reading, speaking or sentence-building practice. However, with audio accompanying each word, you’ll also get a hearty dose of pronunciation.
You can play five minutes of Drops each day for free. More time requires a premium subscription and probably some sort of warm-up exercise to prepare your swiping finger for the intense workout in its future.
Drops offers over 30 languages, including popular options such as Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, along with some less common options like Cantonese, Icelandic and Maori.
LangJet
Available: Android
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s language learning!
LangJet doesn’t offer the broad range of learning options that you’ll find in Memrise, but what it does, it does well. And that’s teaching a language through an innovative game.
In this high-flying adventure, language learners build their vocabularies by piloting an aircraft. You need to hit the correct translations while avoiding incorrect translations. Okay, the format may be a bit different than Memrise, but if you’re looking for an alternative fun, interactive activity to improve your language skills, LangJet is unlike any other.
LangJet currently offers Bulgarian, English, Esperanto, French, German, Russian and Slovenian.
Right now, only the lite version of the app is available, but it’s free to download.
Flashcards
If you’re looking to learn a lot of vocabulary in a short amount of time, flashcards are any language learner’s go-to option. Memrise offers flashcards as a convenient option for users. It also allows you to create your own language learning decks or access decks compiled by other users.
AnkiApp
AnkiApp’s sole focus is flashcards, so if you love Memrise’s flashcards, you might consider checking out AnkiApp for even more options.
With over 80 million existing flashcards, language learners can find plenty of great vocabulary sets. However, if you don’t find a set that matches your current need, don’t worry! You can also create your own flashcard sets featuring words, images and audio.
The basic download is free, but unlimited app access costs either a one-time purchase fee or a yearly subscription.
Quizlet
Quizlet is a flashcard app with a special bonus—in addition to more conventional flashcards, it offers games, so it can pull double duty to fill in for or supplement Memrise’s flashcards and interactive activities.
Like similar apps, Quizlet allows you to create your own flashcards or access decks created by other users, including language learning decks. Audio pronunciations are also available for 18 languages.
While the basic download is free, there are a variety of items available for purchase, including premium content. A Quizlet Plus subscription removes ads, allows you to upload images and allows you to join and/or start an unlimited number of groups.
Brainscape
Color-coded flashcards may seem like the Holy Grail to anyone passionate about well-organized learning material. If you’re one of those people, you’ve met your match with Brainscape.
Brainscape offers an array of flashcards. You can create your own, share with other users and/or access professionally made sets. But what makes Brainscape stand out from other flashcard apps is that the cards are color coded, giving you a unique option to sort your cards into clear categories based on how well you know the material.
Accessing user-made content is free. Premium content and additional features are available with a subscription.
Structured Courses
Memrise offers structured courses, which take the guesswork out of learning a language independently. Rather than deciding for yourself what to study next, Memrise can walk you through the process of learning a language step by step.
busuu
While busuu might not be the classroom-style education you’re familiar with, it does offer one big benefit you’d find in a classroom setting: structure.
Each language that busuu offers features over 150 different units that learners can follow for a clear path to increased proficiency. You’ll even have your own personalized study plan to keep you on track towards your goals.
With 12 language options, busuu users can select from the most commonly studied languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
While users can access many features for free, a subscription is required for full access.
Babbel
Structured lessons and interactive activities in one app? Yes, please!
Like Memrise, Babbel offers both lessons and activities. Lessons are designed to teach about culture while exposing learners to realistic conversations. Meanwhile, activities encourage learners to practice speaking and simulate conversations.
Babbel offers 14 languages, including popular options, like English French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. However, there are also a number of less widely studied languages, including Danish, Dutch, Indonesian, Norwegian and Polish.
While the first Babbel lesson for any language you choose is free, full access requires a subscription.
LuvLingua
If you want to strike the perfect balance between fun and structure, LuvLingua can help. This app offers both structured lessons (ranging from beginning to intermediate level) and engaging games, quizzes and activities.
The lessons start out at a complete beginner level, offering assistance learning the alphabet. From there, the app aims to expose users to common vocabulary and basic grammar. There are over 200 organized lessons per language to help students learn languages systematically. The app also features audio and some cultural information to give learners a firm foundation in their target language.
Activities include listening quizzes, picture quizzes, memory games, word guess games and more, providing an appealing activity for virtually any learning style.
LuvLingua offers 14 languages, and each language has its own app. Languages offered include Chinese, Czech, English, Farsi, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Vietnamese.
LuvLingua’s lite apps are free to download and available for most languages offered. If you like what you see, full apps are also available for purchase.
Ready to break out of the same old same old and try something new? Check out one of these fun Memrise alternatives!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
