This app was mentioned in 7 comments, with an average of 1.14 upvotes
You can try
Learn Memorize Chinese (have pinyin)
Chinese Mandarin Study - Picture vs Character (no pinyin)
Easily remember hundreds of words / vocabularies by playing.
play flashcard app can be good to memorize. remember last time when you study, the teacher also showing flashcard to you? i'm using https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jensonm.learnchineselite . Able to memorize 200+ words on offer so far.
Well, if you can memorize 3000 Chinese words, you can consider yourself proficient in Chinese.
http://learn-memorize-chinese.blogspot.com
Or try out the app
Chinese Mandarin Study - Picture vs Character
I myself learned hundreds of words here. Not thousands yet, but good enough for basic Chinese
Yeah, Chinese characters are scary. However most of the words can be remembered easily if you understand the origin of the characters. For example 木 = wood, double 木 = 林 = forest, triple 木= 森 jungle.
You can learn those origins/radical here.
http://learn-memorize-chinese.blogspot.com
Or you want app, you can use
70% characters have meaning as you mentioned. Another 30% is just brute force memorizing, which I myself have problem memorizing.
This site explain most of the words meaning. Like how you combine wood to become tree. 木 = wood, double 木 = 林 = forest.... or a bigger forest, triple 木 = wood, 森 = jungle.
http://learn-memorize-chinese.blogspot.com
Or try out the app, brute force memorizing but really helps alot if there's someone/something to ask you question
Do more multiple selection exercise.
try this. portrayed learning in a gaming way. Can easily memorize hundredd of words within a week
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jensonm.learnchineselite&hl=en