“Mnemotechnics” and “learning a foreign language” are incompatible concepts ?! Let's see

Hello, Dear users!



Writing this publication inspired the indignation of a recent article by a habrauser who said that the mnemonics was “a very good way to memorize information, which is absolutely not suitable for learning foreign words.” I fundamentally disagree with this statement, and therefore, I would like to prove the opposite.
If you are interested in how to use memory technology to memorize foreign words, then welcome under cat.

Introduction

To begin with, I would like to explain to you the structure of your further narration so that you can immediately go to the sections you are interested in without wasting time on the unnecessary.
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In this article I will try to reveal the following points:

1. Who is talking?
2. A brief excursion into the basic rules of mnemonics.
3. Theoretical use of mnemonics when memorizing foreign words.
4. Practical use of mnemonics on the example of the Japanese language.
5. Problems and major issues arising from the transition from theory to practice.

1. Who is talking?

In my opinion, this is important, since a young man at 20 years of age and a man at 40 years of age will have different perception filters, and therefore it is important to indicate the position with which the presentation will be carried out in order to better understand the author’s readers, along with the written .

I, a student of the 3rd year of law school, have been using mnemonics for about a year and a half to learn a foreign language (Arabic and Japanese). He himself became acquainted with the phenomenon of mnemonics as a child from his brother (there was some old book, the title of which I don’t remember). I was interested in it, and I decided to get to know it more closely, so I bought Super Lomine’s book “Supermemory” (I do not recommend spending money on it). Then I was fascinated by all this, but only when I tried to apply everything that was written there in my life, I realized that there was nothing behind beautiful words.

Some time has passed. I became more interested in all of this (self-development), took a fast reading course and then stumbled (or did I find it more correct?) On a mnemonic course called "Giordano's System". At first I read the author's book, I liked it, and therefore it was decided to take this course, because at the cost a little money came out. Immediately I will write that I in no way belong to the authors of this technique, only as a former student. If you want to get more information about this, then refer to this article on Habré.

I use mnemonics for memorizing words, phrases and texts in a foreign language, but more for words, which we will consider in this article.
Due to the fact that there is not much time for such things, I consider learning a foreign language as a hobby or, as they wrote in this article, as an exercise for brain training.

Arab "actively" engaged in the past year. Now he, like English, on the "passive" study, that is, is reduced simply to reading the relevant texts in the original. And Japanese, as you have probably guessed, is in the position of "active" study. By “active” learning, I understand language learning in a complex way, developing all the parties (reading, writing, listening, speaking), and not just reading.

It is rather difficult to make a quantitative measurement of the amount of memorized information due to the spread in the volume itself. For example, I recently recalled about 35 kanji characters and 40-50 simple words at a time. And the other day there are only 12 hieroglyphs and 20 new words. That is, there are restrictions only in your willingness to devote one or another amount of time for memorization. More on this later.

2. A brief excursion into the basic rules of mnemonics

If you want to get acquainted with the theory in more detail, then I recommend reading the “Textbook of mnemonics” under the authorship of Kozarenko V. A. There everything is clearly stated.
I will give here only those moments that are necessary to memorize foreign words.

First you need to understand that the brain does not remember the images themselves that appear in the head, but the connections between several images. It is very important to remember, because it is necessary to emphasize this directly at the time of memorization. The brain is a generator of information. The generation process is carried out on the fixed connections with the presence of appropriate incentives. Without stimulation, the brain cannot create information. Isolation of the sense organs (sensory deprivation) leads to memory “hanging up” and disrupting the activity of the whole brain.

The more often one or another reaction is caused in the head by means of an appropriate stimulus, the stronger this connection is fixed. But at the same time, links can be replaced (rewritten).

Further, there are natural associations (connections that actually exist between the objects we perceive). Due to the fact that these connections already exist, the brain remembers them automatically. The author highlights many techniques, but since the article’s scope is limited, and the purpose of my narrative is not to go deeper into mnemonics, but to demonstrate the effectiveness of mnemotechnics, I will not present all the techniques, only what we will use in the article.

Cicero Method. In this method, links between objects located in familiar rooms or on a familiar street are used for memorization. These connections do not need to form, that is, they do not need to remember. They are formed in your brain automatically due to the repeated and regular perception of related objects in your apartment, at work, on a familiar street.

Through the method of Cicero, we will form supporting images that will stimulate the recollection of memorized words.

We met with natural associations, but now we’ll turn to artificial ones (these are the ones that we will form to remember this or that information). Immediately I will say that with the formation of communication, the logic and illogicalness of communication, the emotions that arise during the formation of communication, thoughts, and so on, do not matter.

What matters is the following. Remember the simple rules that in no case can not be broken in the process of creating a connection:

1. Images must be large . Any visual images, whatever their actual size, should be reduced to the same size. If you imagine an ant, then it should be increased to the size of a watermelon. If you imagine a plane, then this image should be reduced to the size of a watermelon. Small images should not be presented. Links between such images will be fixed very badly.

2. Images should be voluminous . An example of such images can be holographic images or images created on three-dimensional graphics programs. Such images can be rotated and viewed from different sides.

3. Images must be presented in color . If you imagine a leaflet on a branch, then the leaflet should be green, and the branch should be brown. If you represent the image of "traffic light", then try to see green, yellow and red colors. Some people see color well, others worse. However, try to represent him. It trains well. In non-smokers, problems with the presentation of color sensations usually do not occur.

4. Represented images must be detailed . If you represent the “phone” image, you need to mentally examine it and clearly see what parts of the phone you represent. If it is a cell phone, then you can select the following images in it: antenna, display, buttons, cover, strap, leather case, battery.

There are mental operations involving the process of "memory." The main thinking operation in mnemonics is the “combination of images”. Images can be combined in imagination in many ways. It depends on the memorization method used. In any case, remember the following important rule.
When memorizing any information, using any tricks, only two visual images are connected in the imagination at a time. I repeat, this is very important. In practice, you will understand why it stands out.

The next significant operation for us is “selection of images (parts of the image)”. This mental operation is used to “disassemble” the holistic image into its component parts and to obtain a large number of simpler images. For example, you can disassemble the image of the “radio tape recorder” into its component parts and present each part separately: a knob, a knob, a button, a cassette, legs, etc. This we will use to memorize the meaning of the word, and then on this image its pronunciation.

Operations “modification” and “transformation of images” I touch only partially. Speaking very superficially, they consist in the fact that you have different images for one word, for example, “bow” (a bow is a plant, a bow is a weapon). But even these “plants” and “weapons” can still be modified many times. I think you imagine how many different bows (weapons) are there? This is important so that as the amount of information increases, the images do not mix. For example, for the English word "ax" you will have one image, and the Japanese word - another. I'm not sure that in this article I will touch on this problem in more detail.

There are 4 stages of memorization:
1. Coding. You convert words into images.
2. Memorization. You form a connection between reference images and memorized images.
3. Fixing connections in the brain. Exclusion of intermediate images from the head through the formation of a direct connection word (pronunciation) - the image-meaning of the word.

For coding, there are several techniques, but in our case the following are important:
1. Word-image. For such simple words as pencil, briefcase, TV and so on, you use the images that you have while recalling these words. It's simple. We will not stop.
2. Reception of symbolization. Everything is much more complicated here, especially at the beginning. It is used to convert abstract words into visual images. An abstract word is a word that does not have a fixed figurative meaning. For words, cold, courage, jealousy, to enter and there are no other fixed images, so you need to select (first, select, and then this process is automated) the images individually. The author gives the following images: Cold - ice, jealousy - a wet handkerchief. Enter and courage in the example is not, but for me, these words are symbolized by the following images. Enter - foot, stepping over the threshold of the open door (describe long, but the image is capacious). Bravery is an old steel heart.

The next term is figurative codes. This concept is interpreted broadly, but for convenience we will reduce to a meager value. Figurative codes = phonetic figurative codes. The bottom line is that for a particular sound, an image is created and the phonetic image is added to the image-value for reading. While this may seem complicated and confusing, but going to practice, you will realize that this is quite simple and logical.

Memorization.
It is carried out, as mentioned above, by combining images. For this part you already have the relevant theoretical knowledge, so this part will be considered in the next chapter.

Bracing connections in the brain.
In Mnemotechnics, this is the repeated recollection of information. No reading. The scheme is as follows: you memorize information (create connections). After that, all together repeat in your head (control recall). If the repetition takes place without error (matching with the source), then a repeated recall should be carried out in about an hour. And then for 3-4 days to remember the information three times a day. This may seem like a long process, but I assure you that viewing images is a quick thing when the skill is already formed. This can be done everywhere, so allocate additional time for this is not required. After all, everyone has moments when it is necessary either to wait for something or to do mechanical work that does not require the inclusion of the brain. At these moments, you can engage in securing ties.

I tried to briefly outline the necessary information to go to the next chapter of this article.

3. Theoretical use of mnemonics when memorizing foreign words.

So, let's try to apply, as outlined in the previous article, the provisions for our needs, memorizing foreign words. The general scheme will look like this:

1. First of all, it is necessary to form reference images. In my case, formed about 500 images. They are more than enough for a foreign language. But for informational purposes, we take only 10 images (to understand the process of memorization.
2. Then we need to select the words to memorize.
3. To form images-values ​​for these words. It is important. Note that when memorizing the word “hammer”, the image will be the image of the hammer, not the Hammer machine.
4. Connect the reference images with the image values ​​in order.
5. Ensure that these images are remembered without gaps.
6. Now it is necessary on the part of the image-values ​​to attach the phonetic figurative codes or auxiliary images by which you can read the word.
7. Check recall all memorized information.
8. Fixing these links.

4. Practical use of mnemonics on the example of Japanese.

Lyrical digression. Since we do not use hieroglyphs, we’ll just write reading in Russian.
We go according to the plan outlined in the previous chapter:

Reference Images

As already mentioned, the reference images are formed according to familiar objects. I did not write above, but for convenience (not to be confused), these images should be formed, mentally courting the apartment in a clockwise direction. You need to create YOUR images, and not use the suggested below. Spend a few minutes on this. In my case, for example, take the following:

Words to remember

Image Values

Compound images.

There is a matter of technology. The main thing is not to break the rules (size, volume, color, detail) of the images. During memorization, you need to submit a reference image and image-value so that they touch each other. Next, remember that the second image (value) must always be either on top or on the right, or pass through the first one. Let me explain by example. If the images “plane” and “needle” are joined, then they must be presented in such a way that the needle pierces the plane (and their dimensions relative to each other should be the same). A TV and a book, then there is a book on TV, and the book should not be just like a regular book, but the size of a TV.
Next moment, remember only one connection at a time. Images hold for about 6 seconds.

Consider our example:
It is necessary to connect the switch and the book. We represent on the switch on top of the book (they must be in contact and be the same size). Hold these two images for 6 seconds. Then go to the next, forgetting about these. etc.
At the moment of making a connection, you should only see a switch and a book. Nothing else. It is important. During memorization, the concentration should be maximal, because it is difficult to keep the detailed, volumetric, large and color image of the switch and the book in the head for 6 seconds. Do not close your eyes, but fix your eyes on a monochrome surface.

Further, when you form all the connections in order, check yourself. Sit down and remember each image. If there are gaps, then re-link with problem words. When you can accurately recall all the words, then go to the next stage.

Memorizing pronunciation

In this part there may be difficulties due to the fact that you have not formed a phonetic shaped code.
The essence of this stage is to memorize the pronunciation. But before that, I want to immediately warn you that if you remember the sound of a word the first time, then you shouldn’t remember it separately. Go to the next word. These images will be auxiliary. Over time, on the second or third day of fixation, you will no longer need them, due to the fact that the image-meaning connection and pronunciation will be formed.

Take the image of the "book". Using the technique of highlighting parts of the image, we will form new images from the book.
Let's get the book closer until the left upper part of the spine is visible. This is our new look. On it we will attach the syllable "ho" (Khomyak - the image of a hamster), considered above by the method "combination of images". Next, let's approximate the bookmark of the book and combine it with the syllable “n” (Nose - the image of the nose). And so on. If you already have one top ho ... you can remember the "hon", then the second image does not have to be remembered. In practice, I memorize the first two syllables. Then the brain can automatically read them. Maybe this is due to the fact that I watched a lot of Japanese animation in the original in the school with subtitles, and the brain remembered them. Or maybe not. But with the Arab was not like this. I had to fix all syllables. See for yourself.

By the same principle, associate the pronunciation with the image-value.
Here is a list of images to individual syllables, formed by the author. According to it, you can easily connect pronunciation and image-value.

The only problem with which there can be a problem is with the word “new”, since there are 5 syllables there, therefore it is necessary to select 5 parts. I suggest this option:
1) Before the car.
2) Headlights.
3) Wheels.
4) Rear view of the car (this view is unforgettable).
5) Dashboard.

Connect in series, but separately Apricot, Tarakan, Raquette, Syrop, Needle with selected parts. It's simple.

Then you check whether you can recall a value from auxiliary images or not. If not, then you need to strengthen the connection, securing again. If you do not get distracted and consistently form all the connections, then the percentage of primary memorization ranges from 70 to 80 percent. As skill develops, quality increases.

I will not dwell separately on securing ties, because it has already been said, where and how to conduct it. I will repeat only that fixing should be done by recalling information, and not by reading. You quickly run through the images "book" - "hon" ... until the end. And then go about your business. 3 times a day for 3-4 days.

When you fix the image-value and sound, then if you meet in the text "hon", then the "book" will automatically pop up. I want to note that the writing of hieroglyphs can also be memorized, but an additional element is added when, after pronunciation, it is necessary to draw a hieroglyph mentally.
On the fourth day, a situation may arise that you did not remember the words, but you have it arbitrarily flashes in your head. The author calls it a reminiscence. No big deal, this is a sign that the words are remembered.

Problems and major issues arising from the transition from theory to practice.

Here, I will publish important, from my point of view, questions that habra users will ask if they arise. But before that, I would like to solve the problems that I encountered when I began to practice Mnemonics when learning foreign words.

1. When connecting images, the second image is not remembered.
This question is solved by practice. At the author all training is stretched for 5 months, three lessons per week. The main thing is not to deviate from the basic principles set out in the theoretical part.

2. How to memorize long words? Indeed, not all images can be divided into many parts.
When words are remembered, in practice, the method I introduced you to (combining sound by figurative codes) with other methods, for example, by consonant coding, is combined. The word “terrible” is replaced with a Thermometer (consonant word) + Pin and Loupe (these are figurative codes for the corresponding sounds of the English language). Thus, you can compactly write long words, which are not so much. “AtarasiKunaKatta” - translated as “was not new”, but this word is derived from “Atarasi”, and “kunakatta” is just a suffix. And you learn it while studying grammar, so the need to memorize it separately does not arise.

3. Will my support images end?
In practice, 200 figurative codes are enough to memorize 50 new words every day, because the images are overwritten.
For example, you learn 50 words on the first day, on the second the next fifty-fifty (but still repeat the first 50), etc., and on the fifth day you already learn the new 50 on the first 50 reference patterns, but repeat the previous 150, to consolidate .

4. Is the mnemonics easy?
Not.It is quite laborious. Especially at first, when you try to remember a word, but hang on the fact that you can’t find a suitable image. But it is more effective and more exciting than the tedious repetition of the word again and again. Over time, the process is automated and everything will be faster, but this is not easier. The brain will still strain.

5. Restrictions in the amount of memorized information?
Only in how many support images you have and free time. Images do not merge and do not mix.

the end

Thanks for attention!I hope I have convinced you that mnemotechnics can be used to memorize foreign words, and I was interested in learning more about this tool yourself. This article is only the tip of the iceberg of these wonderful techniques and methods.