Our Origin Story
Image the scene… It’s the late noughties, the primary iPhone has just lately been launched and Beyoncé’s ‘Single Girls’ is on repeat on the radio. In the meantime, 3 scientists – Ben, Ed and Greg – meet at Oxford College. With a shared love of language studying, a deep understanding of neuroscience and a knack for cool reminiscence strategies, they embark on an epic journey. Following commencement, Ben strikes to China to use his theories on second language acquisition, Ed turns into US Reminiscence Champion, and Greg begins his PhD in neuroscience at Princeton.
Maintaining with the story? Okay, now let’s fast-forward to 2010. The buddies reunite in London to mix their separate analysis, and find yourself creating what’s now one of the in style language studying platforms on the planet. You guessed it: we’re speaking about Memrise!
So what was the key recipe that made Memrise so in style? Effectively, from day one, Ben, Ed and Greg held the sturdy perception that finding out languages from textbooks and inside lecture rooms wasn’t serving to individuals use a language in actual life. And in case you can’t use a language in actual life, you need to ask your self ‘what’s the purpose?’. In any case, we’d be keen to guess that each learner’s core objective is to have the ability to talk successfully, whereas having enjoyable alongside the way in which.
Ben, Ed and Greg additionally wished to problem the false perceptions that language studying is boring, inflexible and troublesome in case you’re naturally “unhealthy” at it (btw, there’s no such factor as being “unhealthy” at languages – phew!).
What the three associates all agreed upon was that full immersion is the way you actually purchase a brand new language. Why? As a result of immersion means attending to know the true language of native audio system, in addition to the idioms, pure rhythms, emotional tones, physique language, and cultural habits that come as a part of the entire bundle. In different phrases, studying a language isn’t nearly memorizing phrases. And so, the Study, Immerse Talk methodology was born.
The three legs of the Memrise stool
We’re not going to let you know that utilizing an app at residence is best than going in-country and studying a language by talking it to individuals (irrespective of how good the app is likely to be!). However, for many people, packing our luggage and shifting to a rustic that speaks that language you wish to study simply isn’t lifelike. So our 3 founders had to determine the subsequent smartest thing: making real-life language immersion out there 24/7, within the palm of your hand.
We’ve spent over a decade going deep into the research of *why* language immersion works so nicely, which has given us our underlying method to educating a language. This method could be represented as a three-legged stool. Bear with us. The stool has a stable seat – a platform that helps you in your studying journey – and three legs to assist it:
First, we train you vocabulary that you just’re really going to make use of. It’s so simple as that. Subsequent, we present you that language in real-life contexts, by way of immersive movies. Lastly, you utilize what you’ve realized to apply conversing confidently.
Every of those legs is essential. With out one among them the stool would topple. Language programs are likely to give attention to simply the Study leg, whereas language companions focus primarily on the Talk leg. However your studying journey is simply absolutely supported when utilizing all three of those stable legs. At present, our platform, and due to this fact our studying journey, is specified by 3 sections: one to signify every of those 3 legs. However that doesn’t imply that our Study, Immerse, Talk methodology is a brand new factor.
We have at all times been about immersion
Again in 2016, for instance, the Memrise group set off on a throughout Europe. With a vibrant blue, double-decker ‘MemBus’ as their residence, the group traveled 12,000 miles throughout 10 nations to create the world’s first video dictionary! They recorded 1000’s upon 1000’s of movies of locals saying phrases of their native language, with their distinctive pronunciation and physique language. When the group returned, these movies have been added to Memrise, offering learners with 1000’s of immersive classes to make them really feel as if they have been within the nation too.
Why are we telling you in regards to the MemBus 7 years on? As a result of we wish to spotlight how necessary immersive studying has at all times been, and at all times can be, to the Memrise mission. Our product and our model could have modified loads through the years, however our perception within the effectiveness of immersion as a studying device has stayed the identical.
In fact, all of this immersive studying can be for nothing with out the ultimate step of the Memrise methodology: Talk. We’ve heard ‘apply makes good’ one million occasions, however, within the case of language studying, it truly is true. With out apply, it’s unattainable to enhance. Ever puzzled why a buddy got here again from a brief backpacking journey in Mexico talking fairly first rate Spanish? It’s as a result of they’d limitless alternatives to apply over these few weeks. Even our co-founder Ben studied French for 8 years in school however freezes up when he has to talk it.
So, at Memrise, how may we presumably re-produce the expertise of speaking ‘within the wild’? This was undoubtedly the toughest a part of our 3-step pedagogy to deliver to life in our product. After many iterations, and with the assistance of some fairly cool new tech (hello GPT-3), our group constructed the world’s first AI-powered Language Associate, known as MemBot, which sits within the Talk tab of our product. And we’re tremendous pleased with it.
MemBot provides our learners fully accessible language apply. They will work on their spoken language abilities anytime, wherever, on-demand by way of a collection of thrilling conversations created by our gifted group. From one second to the subsequent, MemBot can play the function of a pleasant barista, a job interview panelist, or a buddy organizing a shock occasion. On high of this, MemBot is definitely confirmed to considerably decrease the stress that many individuals expertise when working towards with a human language tutor. Fairly cool, huh?
The place we at the moment are
In order that’s the story of how Memrise grew from an concept between 3 college associates, to a platform with its very personal AI chatbot, loved by over 65 million learners the world over (that’s like the entire inhabitants of France, by the way in which).
We’re within the midst of a really thrilling second at Memrise, with our Study, Immerse, Talk methodology underpinning every thing. Our platform does precisely what we’ve at all times believed it will do, and we are able to’t look ahead to extra of you to affix us on the journey!