Okay, I'm cranky.
Mar. 21st, 2018 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelI am less enchanted with memrise than I was initially.
Some issues:
a) On the iPad, some of the font is way too small, and selections tend to be underlined. This means that (for the Spanish course) i and í and l and t and ! and ¡ all look alike, and because of the underline g and q look alike, and (for the Japanese course) any kanji more complicated than the basic are impossible to "read" and I end up guessing from what's available. There is no option to enlarge. There's also ridiculous amounts of white space that could be used for ... oh I dunno, maybe larger font.
(yes the iPad has a zoom feature, but then I'm having to scroll all around the screen, or zoom and unzoom and zoom and unzoom.)
b) On the computer, there are two review methods; speed review, presumably timed, and classic review. Which is ... also times. Not in the sense of "you have an hour before the session times out", not (just) in the sense of "you get extra points for completing quickly", but in the sense of "15 seconds to answer each question *or you get marked wrong*". With a mouse and onscreen keyboard I can't always type quickly enough, much less if I have to think to recall the answer. I could live with "bonus for completing within 15 seconds", but even if you're typing it will mark you wrong once time is up. There is no non-timed recall through the computer.
c) Punctuation is erratically mandatory. One of the sentences it teaches is "cheers!" In Japanese, this is ikō ... except they have it as ikō! with the exclamation mark. Similarly in Spanish, "let's go!" is ¡vamos!" You will get marked wrong for just "ikō" or "vamos". Which is kind of wtf.
d) There are weird unexplained jumps. It made sense to learn "watashi" (I/me) and "no" (possessive particle) and put them together to get "watashi no" (my), then learn "namae" (name) and do "watashi no namae" (my name). And then they jump to "悲しんでいます / kanashindeimasu" (being sad) without having introduced sad, or talked about the difference between imasu and desu, aside from lumping them together as "politeness particles"
e) They don't reinforce kana spellings of kanji. So they teach that 幸せです / shiawasedesu means being happy, but they never review it as しあわせです, and I can memorize that the kanji 幸 corresponds with happy but then they do the audio "shiawasedesu" and I go "...baroo?" Especially since I can't see the kanji all that clearly.
There are other issues too, but those are the main ones. And I'm kind of disenchanted. I think I need to find a different source for learning the grammar, and stick with wanikani for kanji -- you have to pay after level 3, but I can probably wheedle a sub as a birthday present this year, and anyway I'm only on level 2 -- and ... I don't know. Something.
Some issues:
a) On the iPad, some of the font is way too small, and selections tend to be underlined. This means that (for the Spanish course) i and í and l and t and ! and ¡ all look alike, and because of the underline g and q look alike, and (for the Japanese course) any kanji more complicated than the basic are impossible to "read" and I end up guessing from what's available. There is no option to enlarge. There's also ridiculous amounts of white space that could be used for ... oh I dunno, maybe larger font.
(yes the iPad has a zoom feature, but then I'm having to scroll all around the screen, or zoom and unzoom and zoom and unzoom.)
b) On the computer, there are two review methods; speed review, presumably timed, and classic review. Which is ... also times. Not in the sense of "you have an hour before the session times out", not (just) in the sense of "you get extra points for completing quickly", but in the sense of "15 seconds to answer each question *or you get marked wrong*". With a mouse and onscreen keyboard I can't always type quickly enough, much less if I have to think to recall the answer. I could live with "bonus for completing within 15 seconds", but even if you're typing it will mark you wrong once time is up. There is no non-timed recall through the computer.
c) Punctuation is erratically mandatory. One of the sentences it teaches is "cheers!" In Japanese, this is ikō ... except they have it as ikō! with the exclamation mark. Similarly in Spanish, "let's go!" is ¡vamos!" You will get marked wrong for just "ikō" or "vamos". Which is kind of wtf.
d) There are weird unexplained jumps. It made sense to learn "watashi" (I/me) and "no" (possessive particle) and put them together to get "watashi no" (my), then learn "namae" (name) and do "watashi no namae" (my name). And then they jump to "悲しんでいます / kanashindeimasu" (being sad) without having introduced sad, or talked about the difference between imasu and desu, aside from lumping them together as "politeness particles"
e) They don't reinforce kana spellings of kanji. So they teach that 幸せです / shiawasedesu means being happy, but they never review it as しあわせです, and I can memorize that the kanji 幸 corresponds with happy but then they do the audio "shiawasedesu" and I go "...baroo?" Especially since I can't see the kanji all that clearly.
There are other issues too, but those are the main ones. And I'm kind of disenchanted. I think I need to find a different source for learning the grammar, and stick with wanikani for kanji -- you have to pay after level 3, but I can probably wheedle a sub as a birthday present this year, and anyway I'm only on level 2 -- and ... I don't know. Something.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-24 07:45 pm (UTC)