Memrise Review

Sunday, December 5th

2021 Chinese Lesson Reviews

Memrise

• No cost to use basic Memrise account
• More features available with paid Memrise Pro subscription
• Uses video clips of native Chinese speakers in authentic environments
• Access user-created content as well as Memrise lessons
• Several fluency levels available
• 30-day money-back guarantee

For over a decade, Memrise has helped more than 60 million people in nearly 200 countries to learn a new language. Their Chinese lessons do a fantastic job of helping you remember what you learn, but without the stress and pressure you might feel when using other instructional platforms.

Fun and memorable native speaker video clips

One of the biggest ways Memrise stands out from other language programs is their native speaker video snippets. For instance, if you start with Memrise Mandarin Chinese 1 - The Basics 1, your very first lesson will consist of learning how to say hello, yes, and no: in Pinyin, with the characters, and with short video clips in authentic Chinese settings (factories, tourist destinations, random public streets, you name it).

Will you top the leaderboard?

As you master each word, you'll see a little plant icon on the page start to "grow" to represent your progress. At the end of each lesson, Memrise tells you how many points you earned, the time spent towards any daily study goals you've set, and where you rank on the leaderboard. You can ignore that if it doesn't inspire you, but lots of people find it motivating to do just one more lesson if it means beating their nemesis for that day or week.

Full of "aha!" moments

We absolutely love how Memrise shows you so much about each thing you learn: how it sounds in real life, the Pinyin for pronunciation help, the characters in Chinese, and both literal and figurative translations. (For example, most people learn early on that "nǐ hǎo" means "hello" , but Memrise is the only program we found that took the time to explain that the literal meaning is "you good" .) Plus, with the video clips, you get the opportunity to see how native speakers look when they're speaking: what gestures they use, the expressions on their faces, and so on. Big points to Memrise for teaching that from the start!

Lots to learn for beginners and advanced students alike

It's almost impossible to "finish" the Chinese lessons on Memrise. There are three main courses, Chinese 1-3, with 22 levels in the first two and a whopping 89 in the third! And, if for some reason that's not enough, Memrise also allows users to submit their own courses for others to enjoy. Interested in Useful Cantonese for Hong Kong? Chinese Emperors? Dim Sum? How to read a Chinese menu? These are just a few of the user-created courses offered through Memrise's Chinese lessons.

Free to sign up, pay to get all features

You can do a LOT with Memrise's free account, but if you want everything it has to offer it will require a subscription. A paid account lets you have much more control over how you practice what you've learned, like speed reviews or working on your listening skills alone. Each set of words and phrases finishes with review options, but most of them will be locked until you subscribe to Memrise.

Costs

• Free for basic account
• $8.99/month
• $90/year
• $139.99/lifetime membership

Won't cost an arm and a leg

If you choose to subscribe to Memrise Pro, you'll usually pay $8.99/month, $90/year, or $139.99 for a lifetime membership. But, there's almost always a promotion on offer if you're patient. You might get a discount in your email once you've used the free platform for a while. We've also seen annual plans at a 50% discount as we've returned to the Memrise site over time. Best of all, some students have scored a half-off discount on lifetime access through a special holiday promotion. Any paid plans on Memrise are backed by a 30-day refund policy, in the event that you change your mind.

First-place winner for Chinese lessons

Memrise is the best all-around option for studying Chinese. Learn with authentic videos? Absolutely. Get content that grows with you as you advance in fluency? That too. Easy and fun to use? For sure. Add "affordable" , "popular" , and "satisfaction guaranteed" to the list and you'll see why Memrise is the obvious choice among Chinese lessons in our review. This program earns our highest recommendation.