Memrise Launches Female Empowerment Course Series

The courses - which will be available in French, German, European Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Korean and Japanese - include a collection of phrases (such as "I think your comment is inappropriate" or "don't interrupt me" to "I know what I'm talking about" and "can you let her finish speaking please?") that women can use in everyday conversations when speaking another language. Be it standing up for yourself in a meeting or responding to unwanted attention, Memrise has designed these mini-courses to support women in translating phrases that they may need abroad but that are equally difficult to contextualise in other cultures.

Memrise decided to update its courses after surveying nearly 1,000 existing users to find that 62% believe it is very or extremely important to understand how to address social and gender differences when learning a language. In addition, over a third (37%) of the respondents expressed personally experiencing social and/or gender related 'faux pas' due to the language barrier.

From awkward social moments to more serious matters where women and their allies need to stand up for themselves, Memrise is hoping users find these new courses beneficial to their learning experience.

Fanny Stassar, French Senior Content Producer at Memrise adds, "These additional phrases will help to support people throughout the world in regaining workplace and travel confidence when dealing with microaggressions, such as mansplaining, and will hopefully open conversations for language learners of all levels."

Kesi Irving, Travel Blogger at Kesi To and Fro, attests,"As a female traveller, it's important to know specific words to gain confidence and keep me safe while on the road. I love that Memrise has actional steps to support female travellers, especially during women's history month."

About Memrise

Memrise is the language learning platform that teaches you real-world language the locals actually use.

We use audio and video clips of real locals speaking in different situations, plus proven memory techniques, to give people the language skills they need to survive – and thrive – in the real world. This immersive form of language learning helps you develop real-life language competency – and is fun, fast, and addictive.

Founded in 2010 by Ed Cooke and Ben Whately, Memrise won the Google I/O 2017  'Best App Award'. Today, there are just under 60 million Memrise users in 189 countries learning languages on iOS, Android, and Web: https://www.memrise.com/   

About the Research

In February 2022, Memrise surveyed 919 of its users to understand their perceptions and preferences around social and gender differences when learning a language.