Learn How to Read Chinese and Have Fun Too

Memrise is a new flash-based language learning application that is making quite a splash. Although it's still a little rough around the edges, the team behind the idea know their stuff and haven't been afraid to let the rest of the Web know it either, including getting a mention on Slashdot that has let to an influx of curious language learners.

The basic idea is that you use a set of flash cards to learn words. Something like you may have done as a small child learning to read for the first time. The clever part is that the guys behind the site (it would be good to see a female presence on the team, but that's by the by) have blended the science of learning and memory along with the most effective 'tricks' and techniques for making things stick, and have wrapped it all up in a system that feels more like a game. 

There are many different user-developed language learning wordlists represented on the site, some much better than others, as is the risk when you open the doors to the public. However, the flagship content are the Chinese Mandarin vocabulary lists created by one of the founding team, Ben Whately. These are divided into Comprehensive Mandarin (1961 words) and Survival Mandarin (238 words).

Ben hasn't segregated his own lists from the others in that users are free both to add their own mnemonics (pictures and word associations to help the words 'stick') and to vote up those of other users. They do stand out in terms of quality though, and it's clear a lot of effort went into creation associations that will work for language learners.

I'm not writing off user-created wordlists, in fact I'm having fun also revising and picking up new German words from a vocabulary set that someone created. But if it's Chinese you want to learn, then Ben's your man. He's taught me 100 Chinese words in a week, starting from zero, and that represents only a small amount of enjoyable effort each day.

Memrise uses the concept of a Memory Garden, which is effective and appealing (even to those of us whose own gardens need work!). 

Each time you decide to learn you get to plant 7 memory seeds. These are 7 new words, although in the case of Chinese Mandarin language learning you will find they are placed in sets where you might learn a couple of different characters each representing a word, and then the next word will be a character made up of the 2 previous ones. 

Revision to 'set' the words in your memory is all part of the process. After around 4 hours you get to harvest your seeds which have been growing in your greenhouse. The system will test you and if you are having no trouble remembering the words, they are planted in your garden.

You can and should visit the garden after a longer interval to water your plants (remember, each word is a plant) which gives you another round of vocabulary revision.

Of course, many who set out to learn how to read Mandarin Chinese will also want to learn to speak the language. Memrise does include some sample pronunciations for words but there are other, more structured Chinese language learning systems out there.

My own favourite is the Earworms musical brain training audiobooks which I have successfully used for learning other languages. You can read my review of Earworms language learning if you'd like to know more. The idea behind Earworms is that they use catchy songs or jingles that get stuck in your head -- and then you can't forget them even if you try!

Pimsleur and Michel Thomas are also well-known language learning audio series. I've tried both and they are very solid and reliable ways to learn. Pimsleur course are high-quality and comprehensive. Michel Thomas has his own language learning system that works for many people where other language learning techniques fail.

Small children pick up language so much better than adults. By combining language learning with fun cartoon-style TV shows, you can help kids to learn languages in a fun way.

Ni Hao Kai Lan is a popular show on Nick Jr. in the USA that is just for little ones. It is not language heavy but will get them started in Mandarin and has a focus on emotions. There are now also Ni Hao Kai Lan computer games, printables, crafts, and much more to keep your kids interested in learning with Kai Lan.