Memrise is easy. Keep adding some new words, and do the reviews when they are due, that simple.
In the meantime the spaced repetition algorithm of Memrise does its best to make sure you won’t forget anything. That’s the key feature of the Memrise, which makes it really-really effective and great learning tool. When you learn a words, you will see repetitions quite often in the beginning, but if you always give the right answer, the longer the review cycle will be. On the other hand, when you miss an answer, you’ll see that word sooner again. Memrise makes sure you won’t forget anything by monitoring your answers and adjusting when to show which item. …and if you won’t forget anything but keep adding new words, you will eventually learn the language.
I just thought this was odd as, as I said, if several minutes is spent on learning one single word then surely the whole ‘course’ would take years, or at least months to complete…
If you want to learn a language, you have to invest time anyway. If you need approx. 400 learning hours to get a fluency, there’s no wonder method that cuts down this, let’s say, to 40 hours. You can cut it to 360 with a better method, maybe. But you will need months, or years - depends on how much time you learn a day.
But hey, it’s matter of viewpoint. You need JUST minutes to learn a single word (not hours) and you need JUST months to finish the official courses (not years). Still a good offer.
Is it makes sense to learn words faster?
I think no. I started Memrise roughly 1 year ago. The counter today says cca 6400 words learned, I’d say it’s 6000 useful items from Spanish courses. I’m happy with my progress.
The official Spanish 1-7 took me 5 months to complete. In the beginning, I could average 15 items/day.
I think that’s still great that I could learn that many words per day, in a completely new language.
When later on I got more familiar with Spanish, I could make 20-25 words/day in the first 5000 words course. But not more. I had days when I planted 75 words, but then I needed the next 2 days to catch up with the reviews. My brain had the limit, not the Memrise. Learning new words any faster was pointless.
Are there other more effective methods that could make me learn 30 words/day instead of 25? Or 8000 words / year instead of 6000? Maybe. But Memrise is fun and addictive enough that I didn’t quit in this 1 year, that’s the biggest accomplishment.
BTW I use the web version, as I found the app too easy and doesn’t let me commit errors. I use all typing script quite often - typing in the same item 5 times in a planting session is more effective than selecting 4 times in multiple choice questions. Slower planting but better remembering. Overall learning speed depends on you anyway.