Do you like to learn a language in a simple, easy, and entertaining way? Then finding the Best Spanish flashcards app can be the best thing you can do today.
The flashcards proved to be working effectively for decades. Paper flashcards have been used since at least the 19th century (1), and since then, it has been a preferred study method for millions of people. Right now, the days of paper are over! Today you can have easy access to millions of flashcards just using your mobile apps. You can now make your own presentation and decks, or you can have access to other user sets to optimize your learning like never before.
Why Flashcard apps help to learn Spanish
There are at least two reasons why Flashcards are super effective.
1. Flashcards encourage “active recall”.
Flashcards are built on the principle which actively stimulates memory during the learning process. While during passive review, the learning material is processed passively.
In other words, you are trying to remember the words from scratch rather than just staring at the text in the book.
Active recall forms stronger neuron connections when you learn this way because it is more difficult for your brain and it makes it more likely to remember.
2. Flashcards trigger metacognition in the brain
The flashcards are allowing you to check your correctness, to see if your answer was right. Before revealing the answer side of the card, you are actually asking yourself: “Is my answer correct? How well did I know this word/phrase?”
This act of self-reflection is called metacognition, and it has been proven by multiple studies that it ingrains the memories deeper in your brain.
What are the best flashcard apps to study Spanish
There are many flashcard apps out there, some of them are great, some are underdeveloped. And I know how frustrating and time consuming it can be to find the right resources to study. I did research and reviewed several Flashcard apps which are great to learn Spanish. I also included the screenshots of the software layouts, so you don’t have to download and register in each of them. The reviews and the images will give you an idea of what you will find in each application.
Below you will find the review of:
- Brainscape
- Memrise
- VOClab
- StudyBlue
- Quizlet
While the flashcard apps are a great tool to learn Spanish, in order to improve your Spanish conversational skills you might need to combine it with other great online programs and apps that will help to enhance your skills.
Brainscape
Brainscape was created by scientists from Columbia and Yale Universities. They based this app on a system called ICE (Intelligent Cumulative Exposure ), which presents the flashcards in a gradually increased difficulty.
The app includes 10000 audio flashcards with Spanish phrases. And the flashcards include not only separate words, but also phrases and constructive sentences.
The structure of learning with this app also includes the repetition of the problematic concepts until you master them.
They give you the option from 1 to 5 to rate the card, depending on the level of confidence you have on this card. For example, If you rate the card 1 or 2 – the app will repeat it very soon. If you rate it 5 – the app won’t repeat the card for a while.
Price
Some flashcards are given for free. Which helps to try the app and see if you like using it. To unlock all lessons you will need to pay 9,99$ a month.
Memrise
This Spanish flashcards app is probably one of the most popular language-learning apps. The flashcards on Merise are prepared by linguistic experts and the app supports over one hundred languages and other topics.
Lessons begin with a couple of new words or phrases to learn. They are usually presented with a short video with native speakers pronouncing them and teaching language learning tips.
After that, these words will be repeated several times through audio, video, or written form until you memorize them. You can even add your own “mem” to remember the word or phrase better.
After several concepts, the app will quiz you on what you’ve learned.
Price
$8.99 – subscription for one month
$5.00 – if you subscribe for a year and pay the full year’s price upfront.
$99.99 – lifetime membership
To be honest, most of the value from this app is available for free, and in my opinion, it is not worth paying for the upgrade.
To be specific, by paying for the premium version, you will have access to difficult words function, chatbots, grammar bots, statistics, and a full range of the official courses. But as I said, most of the materials you will receive in a free version.
VOClab
Easy to use and nicely designed application, which is using the spaced repetition system (SRS), i.e.revisiting your cards at longer and longer time intervals. Usually, they keep a tradition of 2x2x2, which means 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months.
The app considers your age and how many languages you already learned to optimize the algorithm and maximize your learning benefit.
The founders built the app based on the 2 stage memory-maximizing system, which they call ART-IQ.
Stage 1.
The first stage features flashcards, accompanied by audio.
After each word, you need to tell the system if each question was easy, medium, or hard to answer. It helps the dynamic algorithm to calculate your optimal learning. As a result, you are building your vocabulary at your maximum efficient speed for each word, not too fast and not too slow.
If you get the answer wrong, the card goes back to the first stack of cards. If you get it right – it goes to the next stack.
Stage 2.
Immediately after learning 20 words, VOClab will give you a multiple-choice quiz. It is a great tool that will help you to stick the newly discovered words in your long-term memory by allowing you to recognize them while they are still fresh in your short term memory.
Another cool feature of the app is that it gives you words from a particular category, for example, words related to restaurants, shopping, etc.
And If you already know some Spanish, Voclab will let you focus only on the words you would like to study.
Price
In the free version, you have access to 100 words and some restricted features. But at least it will give you an understanding of the learning process with this flashcard app. To upgrade, you will need to pay $9,99, and it will provide you with access to all the features and 5000-word database.
Studyblue
One of the most popular flashcards app to study various topics, including the Spanish language. It is straightforward and easy to use software, which you can use on your desktop or mobile.
If you are looking for an application where the creators prepare all the materials for you to learn, then probably it is not the best tool. In this app, you will have to create the flashcards yourself. You can share them with your friends and classmates, or you can use the cards created by other users.
However, it can be an excellent tool for teachers to create flashcards for their classes or for classmates to make the study more collaborative.
Every user has unlimited access to a vast amount of study materials and the ability to copy and modify any flashcard deck.
StudyBlue also provides a quiz once you finish the flashcards set.
Price
Free to use.
Quizlet
Quizlet is a very helpful tool where you can create your own sets of vocabulary words and add creative images and other details to each definition to make the learning more enjoyable.
You can also access an online database with 13 million flashcards created by other users, which are sometimes very well designed.
The same as in the Studyblue app, you can share your set of flashcards with your students, classmates, or friends.
You can use this app both on desktop and on your mobile and it allows you to study offline.
A lot of teachers are widely using Quizlet to create the flashcards for their classes.
The drawback is that you access not only highly useful material. Some cards might be useless and there is also no means of actually verifying information.
Price
You can use the app for free with the basic features as long as you want. To add some advanced settings like adding your images, creating an unlimited number of classes, or scanning content to build sets, you will need to pay $25,62 for a year.
So here you have it, five best Spanish flashcard apps for easy-access vocabulary practice whenever you have free time. So choose some, download it and get started today!