I've been experimenting with Memrise for several days—long enough to conclude it merits a mention.
Memrise is a vocabulary review system that specializes in languages, of which there are an incredible number, from French to Quechua to Klingon! (Alas, no Swiss German, no doubt hampered by the lack of an official written form.) There are other subjects, as well, but not many yet, and they are not well developed. The Periodic Table course, for example, would do better not reversing the "o" and the "u" in fluorine, and settling on either of the two acceptable spellings of the element Al, instead of compromising with "Alumnium." (Or is that a new element, named after all college graduates?)
I'm loving the Introductory German! My favorite language course is still Pimsleur, which along with Hippo gets the correct sound and feel of the language and its structure into my brain. But I also need a way to build up vocabulary, and Memrise is the best I've found so far. The vehicle is a simple "garden" system: new words are seeds, and through practice you sprout them, help them grow, "harvest" (more like transplant) them to long-term memory, and water them to keep them healthy. E-mail reminders bring you back to your "garden" at varying intervals—short for recently-learned words, longer for ones you know better—so you don't lose what you've learned.
It's easy to use and kind of fun. I find that I'm picking up vocabulary pretty well so far, though I do wonder who decided which words to introduce first. I mean, die Bundesrepublik? "Federal Republic" is not exactly a term I use every day. Or how about der Mülleimer? Dustbin? Dustbin? Dustbins are things people in the English novels I love to read are always "tipping" things into, but I'm sure I've used the term fewer times than Federal Republic. And is blöd (stupid) really an essential vocabulary word? Still, in addition to these oddities there are more useful terms, such as das Haus (house), vielleicht (maybe), and der Name (name). And I've finally caught the difference between der Staat (state) and die Stadt (city).
Unfortunately, I can't make the audio work in Firefox, and so must use IE or Chrome if I want to hear the words pronounced. That's something I find very valuable, not only for understanding and speaking, but because having heard the sound of a noun I'm much more likely to be able to remember whether it's die, der, or das, something I always have trouble with. I'm beginning to think of the article and the word as one entity, which of course will get me into trouble when I have to worry about inflection, but I'll climb that hill when I get to it.
It's also German German, and so uses the Eszett instead of the Swiss double "s." However, it accepts the double "s" when I have to type in an answer, so I'm fine with it. Letters with an umlaut are easy to enter, via either a mouse click or the Windows U.S. International keyboard (which I prefer because it is faster).
Here's hoping I manage to stick with the program, and not lose everything when I go on vacation....
A few comments on their selection:
"Bundesrepublik" is also used as shorthand for "Germany" - a lot like we might say "I'm from the States" instead of "I'm from the United States of America." Proof, if you needed any more, that it's German.
"Mülleimer" also means trash can (the say-it-as-it-is American cousin of the more distinguished dustbin), so you can freely use that term.
"Blöd" probably isn't essential, but can be a useful mild exclamation along the lines of "oh, nuts."
Now you also know what a "Stadtstaat" is!
Change of topic / I can't resist: What's wrong with the term "acceptible spellings?"
Sigh. I've fixed it. Pride goeth before destruction, etc.
Interesting. I figured that "dustbin" was a specialized item for coal dust or something. Ordinary trash? How unromantic.
Leave it to the Germans to find a five-syllable "shorthand." :)
Shorthand for "Bundesrepublik Deutschland" - but among soccer fans, "Schland" has become faddishly popular. Anyway, a native German will say "Bundesrepublik" faster than a native Alabaman will say "Stayutts."
Thanks for sharing!! This is going to be a great way to fill time when I'm not job hunting!
You're welcome. What will you be studying? Dutch?
The sound doesn't work in Iceweasel, either.
One caveat: Because the content is community driven, there are, as I mentioned, errors. Think Wikipedia, but with a smaller community and less oversight. I tried to fix a couple of errors, but was only able to make suggestions—and in such a way that I have so assurance they will be seen by anyone who can actually fix the problems. But we shall see.
One more: Much of the community involvement is in providing "mems"—hints for remembering the word you are trying to memorize. Some are useful—though I'd rather remember the word itself than a trick—but, people being people, some tend toward the vulgar. Sadly, these are almost unforgettable.
I'm actually starting with brushing up my French. I have a few disks for learning Dutch that I need to dig out. :)
No Wolof or Mandinka! Sigh!
Janet's working on Swiss German for me, but I don't know anyone who can help with those. :(
Let me say that Janet unequivocally knows how to choose more useful words for her Swiss German course than the creators of the Introductory German course I'm taking. Instead of dictator, association, rubbish, and concept, we get mother, hello, thank you, and chocolate!
