Blog
Visit us frequently to get the latest news, developments and Brainy's useful learning tips.
MemoryLifter 2.2.2 Beta
We're proud to announce the release of the new MemoryLifter 2.2.2 Beta. This version includes several bug fixes, as well as the following new features and improvements:
- The MemoryLifter Shop is now accessable directly through the start page! Including categorized listings and title search.
- Automatic update - MemoryLifter can now check for, download, and install newer releases and beta releases.
- MemoryLifter error reporting is now fully-automated. No longer do you need to manually send an email to us, now just select what files you would like to send us with the report and press send.
- Added a 'Deactivate' button to the main window to allow you to disable cards you no longer want to learn (cards can be reactivated in the Maintain Cards dialog).
Please download the new version from our 
download page or from the Liftlab.
Stop bleating. Start beating the SAT!
Purchase a Multimedia Learning Suite - Prep for the SAT from our webpage BEFORE OCTOBER 1st and get it for only $ 49.95!
The Multimedia Learning Suite - Prep for the SAT* is a complete learning system that prepares you for all three sections of the SAT test: Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. The package contains a USB Stick with a portable version of our MemoryLifter learning software and more than 3,600 multimedia flashcards, an easy-to-read study guide with helpful learning tips, and audiobooks.
The Multimedia Learning Suite Spanish
In this NewsLifter issue we would like to introduce you to our new Multimedia Learning Suite Spanish and provide you with some interesting learn tips. In addition, we would be happy to listen to your personal learn tips regarding foreign language learning. Just post your tips in our forum and share your experiences with other learners. But before we start talking about foreign language learning, we would like to thank all of you who participated in the NewsLifter survey of our last issue. We would like to announce that Dr. Macpherson from Australia has won the iPod touch®. Congratulations!
Follow this link to read the full story...
Get a MemoryLifter Spanish Flashcard Kit for FREE!
Purchase a Multimedia Learning Suite Spanish from our webpage BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1st and get a MemoryLifter Spanish Flashcard Kit for free!
This kit includes 1,000 challenging vocabulary words that are used in everyday conversational speech in Spanish and English on preprinted cardboard flashcards. Furthermore, a LearnBox is added to provide a system to structure your learning, so that facts are remembered much longer.
Give us your two cents and win an iPod touch!
In our last NewsLifter issue we asked our readers for their opinion, criticism and suggestions regarding MemoryLifter and our newsletter. Everyone who participated in the survey took part in a drawing for an iPod touch® with a MemoryLifter application.
We are happy to announce that Dr. Neil Macpherson has won the iPod touch® and wish him lots of fun with it :-). Congratulations!
Have a look at our Blog once in a while or register for our newsletter to take part in more surveys or competitions!
Learn Tips: Grammar
1. Anthropomorphization Trick
If the foreign language you are learning has genders, this may seem very arbitrary to you. In most cases, only a few regular patterns can be detected regarding how gender is assigned to a word. One way to remember the grammatical gender of a word is to imagine the object as if it were a woman or a man. In Spanish, for example, "la luna" is the word for moon. It is feminine. When you think of "moon", don't simply think of a genderless object, but image the moon having long eye lashes and lots of lipstick on "her" mouth. Image the moon having a higher pitched voice or wearing a skirt. You have to be careful with this trick, however, if you are learning two new foreign languages at once and if same words have different genders in each language.
2. Visual Categorization Trick
If your foreign language has many genders, imagine a large building with many floors, assign a different gender to each floor, and place words on the appropriate floor according to their gender.
You can also practice this trick with other categorizations such as different types of conjugations or declinations, or different groups of verbs. Instead of a building, you might imagine a big closet with shelves or a dresser with drawers.
Another way to learn the gender of nouns is to visualize a familiar place, such as your hometown, and to divide it into two, three, or however many genders there are in your foreign language. Then imagine nouns of one gender in one part of town and nouns of another gender in a different part of town.
Brand new, high-quality Multimedia Learning Suite "Spanish" available
Learn Spanish in a fun new way! New MemoryLifter Multimedia Learning Suite Spanish has been developed together with highly qualified experts.
This complete learning system includes the scientifically based MemoryLifter learning software and more than 3,500 multimedia flashcards, containing audio, images, and text – all on a compact USB stick. No installation is required, your learning progress is always saved.
Additional materials such as an introductory video to familiarize you with MemoryLifter, a complementary study guide, a tips and tricks booklet "Learn to Learn", MP3 audiobooks for playback on portable listening devices, and a special verbwheel for looking up and practicing irregular Spanish verb forms are included to round off your learning adventure.
Release MemoryLifter 2.2
High usability, sophisticated design, new features: The new MemoryLifter version 2.2 is now available for free download!
We are proud to announce the new MemoryLifter version 2.2. The new version makes your learning experience even more comfortable and fun with:
- modern, instructionally designed user-interface skins, simplified menus and toolbar,
- a new file format that allows you to store all data in one file and increases data security, and
- a server-based solution that enables you to open or learn Learning Modules from a central database.
Learn Tips: Vocabulary Learning
1. Chunk Learning
When we speak of chunk learning, we think of two types of memory training.
On the one hand, we can group sequences of information in our daily life. This is especially helpful in short-term retention. Often, we do this automatically when we need to memorize a phone number such as 3566671999. We tend to divide it into chunks like 356-667-1999. This way, instead of remembering ten separate digits, we remember three chunks of numbers.
On the other hand, we can also practice chunk learning when we want to retain information in our long-term memory. In this case, a chunk is a set of elements having strong associations with one another, but weak associations with elements within other chunks.
We tend to learn more efficiently, if we study frequently and for shorter periods of time than if we study infrequently for extended periods of time. Try to study regularly and structure the vocabulary you need to memorize in such a way that all vocabulary words in a chunk are related to a specific topic. Mind maps can help you structure your vocabulary words in this way.
MemoryLifter offers you the possibility to split your learning material into chapters. Furthermore, you could also print out flashcards of one chapter and arrange them into a mind map and create a big poster. You may think that this is tedious work, however, while making the mind map itself you will be learning the words unconsciously or along the way. The time spent will be worth it.
2. Micro Learning
There is a lot of free space in our daily lives: for example, when waiting at the doctor's office. You can review vocabulary while eating breakfast, recite the alphabet while showering or sitting on the toilet, count your steps as you walk between classes, name as many objects as you can in the target language on your to way school, or take your vocabulary flash cards with you on a road trip.
There are many moments during the day when you can squeeze in a few minutes of practice time. Through the repetition of material, it will become part of your everyday life and increasingly familiar, until it eventually becomes an automatic part of your language repertoire.
With the MemoryLifter iPhone application you can learn whenever and wherever you go and you don't need to carry much weight around with you.
