Great idea!
Here’s some things I noticed when doing a trial run:
It should be DER Artikel.
This is a bit difficult to remember and messy to type
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thanks for looking at it… the first was a typo (looking at an excel database too long!)
and ffs, one can’t just add a short definition that doesn’t word jumble in Memrise!?!?! 
Memrise could vastly improve itself by allowing each level to have a short description to allow the user to know what is being tested - or notes/rules applicable to the level itself. It’s bad enough one can’t even change database column headers by level.
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Had you hoped that the addition of the underscore mark would make the words cursive??? Because that doesn’t work (obviously) …
You will have to find a different way to highlight words, I’m afraid.
Oh, and that is how the algorithm works: everything will get jumbled so that the person being tested can show that they know the right answer.
Thanks! I gave up searching through forums trying to find what symbols can do what and when.
Is there any way to make info in ( ) optional or not marked wrong if missed? I’ve tried to mark/note genders in the attributes (Hinweis-hints) column as always shown. I’m trying to get this so genders are learned not as a ‘gotcha’, but as an always right/correct first association. As soon as I get a gender wrong for a noun, it triggers a negative feedback cycle that’s hard to get rid of. 
Do you have the quick answer as to how many words or characters ‘turn off’ the need to spell something out?
I’ve not tried this yet on the app, to know if there is a difference.
The only thing you can do on your course to differentiate German from English is to use quotation marks for the German words.
That might look better on the example in my second screenshot, so that newbies to German don’t read “DIE ARTICLES!!!” (as in ‘drop down dead’) and instead read:
“die” articles
With the quotation marks telling them that the word “die” is not “drop down dead”, but the German article “die”.
Parts in brackets should be optional by design and in the courses I take this seems to be true.
As to spelling things out: I’m not quite sure I understand your goal - do you want to avoid spelling things? I remember something like 16 characters being a limit of sorts, but only for official courses.
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limits… yes, that is what I was searching for. I believe I read somewhere, after so many characters &/or words, one wouldn’t be tested requiring typing for that entry above the character/word limit, but others below it would use spelling tests also.
changing out commas now.
Will try brackets too!
If you want to avoid things having to be spelt, then you have to opt for “no typing”.
it doesn’t register " " marks… and it pulled them out automatically when I imported the databases on those problematic short definition phrases having to do with the masculine…, the feminine…, the neuter… and the plural… <-- all those the(s) were supposed to be in quotes.
as for the one example you found with “die articles…” (it also has a c, no k, and -es), you might have noticed all German nouns I used are capitalized, where I have not capitalized any English words regardless if they are proper nouns or not.
I really don’t want to have to write a “learner training/user guide”, but that might be needed. 
This is from a definition which I typed in myself (i.e. it wasn’t imported):
So the problem isn’t using quotation marks per se, but importing them from another source, then they aren’t recognised, but if you type them into the database directly, then they are.
jezziiiie.
add a column in your database (if you do not want to use “part of speech” and “gender” for this purpose, but then maybe you should detele them) and define it either as attribute or as normal column but always visible. And add there your informations, definitions, all extras
(btw, your course has as it is now so many mistakes…)
I did something similar to what Hydroptere suggests in one of my courses:
The column Artikel is shown after I answer the question (I am too lazy to always type articles in Spanish as they are mostly clear anyway) whereas the column Beispielsatz (with the word I need to know missing) is always shown. Maybe a similiar combination could help to achieve your goal.
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yaaa… different columns can’t be tested against in the same level. the idea that it shows up only after the test, or in an attribute … really makes it possible for the user to skip over it all together.
I don’t see a user coming back to the same word in a 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th level to learn the information that is housed in column 3, 4, 5 or 6 and that is what it would take to learn (by the Memrise way) German
For example… here (in levels 7 & 8) I have used 2 columns across 2 levels to get 3 (4 actually) different pieces of information (English, Präsens (simple past) & Präterium/Perfekt) about 1 verb. Of course, this is for “simple” weak German verbs, to accomplish similar for stark verbs, i will need to go to 4 or 5 columns, and at least 3 levels per verb.
https://www.memrise.com/course/1611794/german-demystified-2-verbs/7/
yes, aware of ability to add columns… ^ see comment above.
as to (btw…), in what regards; formatting, or how Memrise uses symbols? If I use genders directly out of a German grammar appendix/glossary, then never repeat/include the gender/article again if the word repeats… I don’t know where “so many mistakes” are.
@amanda-norrsken, @Foorgol, @Hydroptere
Reality is with Memrise, one cannot teach German…
Givens:
- Column headers are uniform throughout all levels. → one cannot mix verbs, adjectives, nouns in 1 course, otherwise the user to prompted to give a “verb” when one needs an “adjective”, etc.
- One cannot test in a single level against different columns → in German for every noun one has - 1) English/Spanish/etc translation; 2) a gender; 3) a plural form; 4) an accusative form; 5) a dative form; 6) a genitive form; 7) more? From a learning perspective, one would want to learn 1, 2 & 3 all at one time through straight up memorization. 4 through 7 are dependent upon 2 - gender. Gender of a German noun is what EVERYTHING after it is built upon - look in any of countless German books or “Deutsch als Fremdsprache” books, and I guarantee you will find countless mistakes, such as 1) introducing a new noun with its plural form & plural article; 2) introducing a new noun with its accusative article; 3) introducing a new noun with its dative article; etc. Shit quality, almost zero review seems to be the one “standard” all adhere to in Germany when it comes to these teaching books. And what do you thinks happens when someone copies out of them directly to create a Memrise course?
- without ability to use any of the following; superscripts, italics, bold, text color, simple symbols (such as * or ^), one cannot denote simply/cleanly a basic/indivisible quality such as gender, or for a verb - irreg stem formations in 1st, 2nd, 3rd person conjugations or tenses.
- Not being able to populate a tested word/phrase with close, but wrong answers, means Memrise cannot specifically teach declensions, conjugations/stems, articles, cases through spelling, “fill in the blanks” or jumbled words. All but the right answer are so obviously wrong, the user can’t possibly get it wrong.
I don’t know… the stuff/information that so obviously needs to be learned by bulk memorization (what Memrise is good at), can’t be facilitated through the tool that is Memrise as it currently functions.
Here’s some thought on how it could be changed, most notably testing against different columns (just as it can do with audio) for each item/word, and Memrise could accomplish what is necessary for German.
I have created this course, “German Demystified - Nouns, Genders, Adjectives”
“Mind numbing memorization of German nouns - with focus on their gender & plural forms; “der” & “ein” words; cases - Nominative, Akkusative & Dative; and adjectives. All declined according to case & genders. No sentences, verbs or adverbs.”
Features
- Strick typing is turned on
- Noun gender & plural form in 1st round (1st exposure) - the dog(s) --> der Hund, die Hunde
- “der” & “ein” words (articles) through their cases according to gender & plurality
- adjectives, declined according to gender, plurality & case of the accompanying noun and article
- only “hard” gender & plural formation rules included - those with lots of exception are not
- “gray” area plurals ignored --> “der Beruf, -” or “die Milch, -”
- alternative answers allowed… “der Beruf, -” or “die Karriere, die Karrieren” for career or occupation
- Cases identified accordingly; Nominativ --> Nom or N, Akkusativ --> Akkus or A, Dativ --> Dat or D, as well as Nom/Akkus or N/A when appropriate
- Geninativ not covered, although possessive pronouns within “ein” words largely do the same thing and are included
There are currently 12 database columns supporting this, so please provide a level number if you find errors needing correction.
I will keep growing the course; ie Dativ is the next part to be added
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@HansWT
Thanks for the course, I didn’t know that nouns are capitalized in German until I started your course! Well, I guess that strict typing is necessary to learn correctly, but it can be annoying by moments (maybe adding alternatives would be nice for lazy students?). Also, if you could add audio, it would be a plus.
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Thanks for the feedback @mila83!
There is a reason for strick typing and it relates to noun genders which this course focuses on… gender of a noun impacts the adjectives and articles in the different cases, and this comes out in the spelling. You are only quizzed once on spelling in the first round out of 6 small quizzes for each word. Yes, it may be annoying (I even still get some wrong), but compare that to the amount of time you will spend looking up plural forms in any other course (or most other resources) and you are ahead of the game. Similar word translations do have alternatives correct answers - just not in spelling. For example, the train(s) can be der Zug, die Züge or die Bahn, die Bahnen
I have created all from scratch, so it is unlikely I will add sound. I would be more likely to add a 2nd or 3rd language (in addition to English), than audio clips. The Wiki for German audio is not the highest quality.
Cheers & happy learning!
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PS, this course is designed to learn 5 charts like this that impact and change each other based on 1st the gender, 2nd the article type “ein” or “der” words, and 3rd the case - nominative, akkusativ or dativ. It is also designed so that you don’t have to guess on the gender of the noun, through its der, das or die nomative singular form aka its gender.
Currently building a verbs only course, organized by type of verb & their stems.
English only for the verb’s first introduction, then all rest is in German.
Level 1 - German vs English
Level 2 - German Infinitive vs Präsens (Present)
Level 3 - German Infinitive vs Präteritum (Simple Past)
Level 4 - German Infinitive vs Hilfsverb + Partizip II (Complex Past)
Level 3+ - Simple Past vs Complex Past
Completed so far…
Helping verbs - haben, sein, werden
Modal verbs - 6 total
Mixed verbs - 9 total
Weak Type A - 59+ common of thousands
Weak Type D - 21 very common
Weak Type S/Z - 19 very common
…