Hi!
Sorry for late reply. Life & kids got into my way. I’ll try to catch up now. I’m using ASUS ZenFone almost for everything I want to do on Internet. I also use memrise through browser for mixed reviews and course creations.
I don’t use browser-memrise for learning on phone because of the small screen
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Thanks for moving the posts!
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Hi, @cos !
I’m back and ready to fight back 
You are right, a course CAN include a keyboard or special characters but often it doesn’t. And sometimes in some Russian courses the characters are included in a funny-disturbing way.
Not everyone has a Mac. Not everyone wants that also.
I’ll post some screenshots I made couple of days back to show you about so called spoiler keyboard.
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When ever I have to answer a question a phone keyboard is blocking the spoiler keyboard. When I don’t know the answer I can peak at given letters for a hint. That means I have to close phone-keyboard. It is so easy to put a word into DW inside a session and after session do them when I have time. If I do long session via browser I don’t know at the end all the words I got wrong because it asks them again and again in the same session. If i get it right 3 times in a row program doesn’t mark it with thunderbolt.
So I keep spending more time doing the session, because words that I got wrong by mistake (like typing s ibstead of a or a synonym not inserted by creators) keep coming up in the same session.
If I use app for reviewing at the end I always know which words need to be revised. I’m not afraid of DW section - I use it a lot. If I have to close keyboard a word goes to DW (some exceptions). (Do you know that you have to delete a word by yourself from DW if you have inserted it by yourself) After DW session I delete words I get right.
If the system gives me mistaken words on review-session (on browser) I always know them even if I actually don’t (good short-term memory)
(I have to post it and read both your post and mine once more to know what I have answered and what not)
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Actually working with the app makes learning better. Let’s say I don’t know the answer and I close the keyboard. Then I have a chance to guess the word. I’ll try till I succeed. In this way you learn more than on PC because you are thinking on a word harder and make new connections.
I have auto-detect enabled so when my answers don’t go through I always close the keyboard. Sometimes a question has multiple right answers. I always try to put the first on that is detectable. Some alternatives are easier to remember so on PC when I have to hit enter I always use the easier ones and forget others. My vocabulary wont increase.
(I will continue at some other night…have to wake up in 4 hours… sweet dreams for everyone who is not sleeping yet and good morning for those who have already woken up)
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I know in a foreign European language, some creators have included “special characters” (eg accutes and graves) which show up, but I guess the app version has limited the Japanese characters, a bit like a tapping test.
[Perhaps the creator should suppress (un-tick) typing?]
This is from my own course where special characters are enabled. Not a pretty sight and not useful at all for quick typing
You have to pick all the letters from this “keyboard” because a is not а.
(Almost) Same thing on app.
Browser-memrise is good when you want to learn only words and with no or very few special characters.
Because of the timer you don’t just have time to read and respond to phrases. In some of my courses I want to make multiple choice tests not so obvious, so there are several similar answers that you have to read through very carefully to pick the right one. With timer ticking you don’t have te time to do that and you end up picking up only keywords. Hence you are not learning that well… you just get lucky.
To really fully learn a language in my opinion you need sentences, you need grammar.
(I’ll continue next time - lots of sun into your days)
The web version (you have shown above Atikker) certainly looks complicated (PS complex or cluttered with the whole character set and looks confusing to me) and the selected characters on the app must be much easier to use.
Okay fine @Atikker, you love the mobile apps that I think are an embarassing disgrace. You can stop now, I get it.
Changing your own keyboard to type foreign languages is something that can be done on desktop but unfortunately Windows makes it harder than it should be from what I hear. It’s still possible. But this isn’t a feature of the memrise mobile apps, it’s just an inherent advantage of touch typing devices that they make it easier to switch keyboards. Memrise could’ve just taken advantage of that fact in their apps, but instead they chose to create spoiler keyboards - which are not hidden for me when I try the apps on either iOS or Android. They pretty much destroy the ability to use the apps for real learning, but apparently fool a lot of people into not realizing how much time they’re wasting answering things right and not learning as much.
Regardless, it’s definitely a good idea for memrise to create apps for iOS and Android, and I’d love it if they made good ones. Instead they made this icky dreck, and used it as an excuse to abandon development of the web site. I was horrified when I first tried the apps and found the silently hide and skip all the multimedia levels, and continue to be horrified that years have passed and they’re still pushing these apps without fixing that. It’s a hostile slap in the face to all pre-existing course creators like me who took so much time and care to make courses before the mobile apps, and integrated multimedia levels as critical pieces of our courses.
To me, the mobile apps are a sign of Memrise’s hatred for existing users and for course creators, and their shoddy quality, mounds of bugs, and gaping holes, are nonetheless being used as an excuse to ignore user requests, feature suggestions, support of course creators, or fixing usability problems with the web site that actually works at a basic level.
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and the fact that one needs grammar is an argument that the app is better than the web version? I don’t get it
In what measure is the web version complicated? it has too much jinglebingle, but it is not complicated at all…
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Hi @joshua and @OliviaZavala,
As your app versions of MemRise is taking most of your time and is your preferred vision, I have been trying to understand what changes I need to make to my courses to allow app users to have a great experience and have a way of communicating with me.
Unfortunately I (like a few of us web-only users) do not have a smart phone but I do have a BlackBerry PlayBook (tablet), an OSX iMac PPC and a Windows 10 laptop.
I guess there are millions who have a Windows 10 computer, so are you planning to create an app for it? (I can’t find one in the store.)
It would be so helpful if I could see what app users see to test the efficacy of what I am doing or what I need to do, and so this is what this thread is about.
Many thanks.
There are significant differences between the iOS and Android apps. If they did ever make an app for for other platform or device, it would likely be different again. It wouldn’t help you learn about the quirks of the iOS and Android apps, it would only add yet another variation.
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Thanks Cos,
All I am after is to know how much information the App user gets.
How do people select courses?
Can they search by key words? Is it shown in a similar fashion to our web view?
Do they get information on the number of people doing the course and how long it will take?
Do they get to see the top nine scores/ ranking and theirs (like we see on the web), for the week, the month and all time, once they are into it?
I now know they don’t see any Multimedia levels and I think they don’t even see our introductions (or ‘course description’) and links (if any) to the Forum.
Presumably they see the image?
Do they see the name of the creator?
I believe all they see is what we retrospectively add to the ‘Sort description’ field.
Do they know anything about this forum?
Any screen shots would be appreciated.
Actually I’d like an app for my BlackBerry PlayBook (aka tablet) instead of using the web browser method on it.
PS - the Google Play link is most helpful - thanks.
The biggest difference seems to be how the app is advertised on the store:
“Memrise: Learn Languages Free”
It seems to concentrate on MemRise’s own language courses and it’s not advertised as an app to learn (virtually) anything (as I think the web version does).
I wonder how many people who use the app find they can learn other things besides languages?
This page explains searching for courses (including non-languages) on an Android device. [Thanks AlanH]
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This screen-shot provided by Atikker shows what a course looks like on an Android device:
