Flashcards are a good way to pick up new vocabulary in a foreign language. It’s good to use them as a supplement to other resources, because if you only use flashcards, you’ll get bored very quickly!

There are three flashcard apps I’ve been using over the past couple of months to help expand my French vocabulary… Memrise, Memwords and StudyBlue. They all support a few languages. 

The first app I tried was Memwords.  I would consider myself an (early) advanced learner. Given that, I found Memwords to have words that I mostly know.  Even after I paid for the more advanced app with more vocabulary, the words were too easy.  It may be good for beginner or intermediate learners.  It has fun games that reinforce the vocabulary you learn. However, Memwords only lets you study a specific number of words a day. After that you have to wait until the next day to practice again.  I found this frustrating.

Memrise is a free app that has different "courses" to download. It gives you a lot of control over the difficulty level of the words to study.  You choose the "course" that’s best for you.  Then you’re presented with the words in different ways. 1st the app tells you a new word and pronounces it.  Then, it tests you on the word.  It asks you to choose the word from a list.  Then you might have to spell it.  Later, after you’re finished studying the word, it still comes up in reviews. This is a good method of learning new words without feeling like it’s too tedious.

StudyBlue is a free app that lets you make your own flashcards for any subject. I found it very useful.  When reading in a foreign language, it’s good to jot down unknown words. With StudyBlue, those words can be put into virtual flashcards.  It even has built in pronunciation for some languages (French is one of them). So you can add this feature to your flashcards.  The only problem is that these are like traditional flashcards.  So you’re presented with the words in the same exact way each time.  It can feel tedious after a while.

In the end, depending on your level and purpose, these apps can all be used to help you advance. Persevere in your language learning and you’ll quickly find you’re improving!

-Mama Lisa