Memory techniques

[Lamonte]

What is your preferred approach to memorising vocabulary and/or other aspects of language? Is the approach you'd LIKE to use different from the approach you ACTUALLY use?

I prefer using sentences with SRS and repetition. I have an index card based SRS system, with each card pointing to a page of 10-35 sentences. Each card is reviewed and marked 14 times in an 18 month time frame.

I used to think of vocabulary in terms of a single word and an equivalent English meaning. However knowing the word didn't always help with reading sentences. Kind of like learning how to pedal a bike but not working on the other things needed to ride the bike. A basic sentence is "word+word+word = thought." So a sentence covers not just vocabulary, but also grammar, syntax, etc.

I figured its easier for me to learn the sentence through repetition than to brute force memorize single words.

Who of us makes a conscious effort to form new memory connections? (I'm guessing most). And who tends to form these connections naturally without too much conscious effort?

I prefer natural connections through reading, listening, writing and pronunciation. Over time most of the content "settles in" and then the exceptions come to the surface.

Do you prefer to form artificial or absurd connections, or do you prefer to find logical and reasonable connections that fit into an existing framework of understanding?

I prefer logical and reasonable connections. While absurd and funny connections are memorable, there are too many words to make them all cute.

How varied are the memory connections that you form? E.g. Do you connect words with colours, emotions, temperatures, or anything else unusual?

For me, deep connections form with hearing and reading the text along with an emotional "attentive" state. That means I pay attention to a sentence and make its own story, depending on the speaker and what I imagine is involved.

Vedo un mio vecchio amico questa sera. (I'm seeing my old friend this evening.) For this sentence I imagine myself in Italy meeting an Italian who says this to me. I linger on this around 4-8 seconds, maybe visualizing details, and then move on. I don't do this for every single sentence. Also, when I come across the sentence again I don't necessarily try to recall the details or even the scene. The emotional connection is the key - just like seeing an old friend.

Does anyone use the sorts of systematic memory techniques used by memory champions at all, e.g. along the lines of the roman room?

I love memory techniques and have read many books on it from Harry Lorayne to Joshua Foer. However I don't use the techniques for languages. Encoding single words with an English meaning is great for a vocabulary quiz in class, but it doesn't help me with reading sentences, pronunciation, etc.

Do you prefer to memorise with the help of a repetition algorithm (e.g. SRS) or do you prefer to let repetition happen naturally?

Both, I think. I use an SRS with specific intervals. For a page of sentences I read a sentence, translate and then check the translation. The whole page is pass/fail. If only a few (1-5) sentences give me trouble, I move the page onward. I found that being patient with self and not expecting perfection is helpful. Usually these errors get smoothed out by the 4th or 5th repetition.

To make an analogy of SRS effort with running, my approach is not a sprint, but alternates between moderate running and slow jogging.

[ryanheise]

Thanks everyone for sharing your approaches so far. It's interesting to see what different people lean towards, and it reminds me how different we can be in our preferences.

Just to prove how different people can be, I'd like to share a story of an old work friend who had an astounding ability to form connections in his brain between topics that would seem to me to be unrelated, but to him were still "obviously" related in some sort of abstract or analytical sense. Along with this ability to form connections came an excellent memory, and also excellent analytical skills. I just had to take the opportunity to ask him how he thought his brain worked, and I learned something really interesting about him. He has (or claims to have) no visual memory. Shocked by that, I asked: "Even when you look at this room and then close your eyes, don't you at least see an after image for a moment?" to which he replied that he didn't. I knew that I could see an after image, and based on that visual memory, I could draw a picture of what I remembered. Instead, when he closed his eyes, he explained that he could tell you that the length of that desk over there was about 1.8 times its height, and that the number of books on that shelf over there is interesting because its the same number as XYZ, and I can tell you that these two objects over here are made of the same material" etc. and using these details he would be able to reconstruct what was in the room from memory, but he had no visual memory.

Since he was Russian and English was his second language, I also asked him about how he approached learning English, and he said he was forced in school to memorise phrases and he was annoyed that they didn't take a more grammar-focused approach, so he basically ignored his school teachings and just studied the grammar rules on his own, and then fit everything else into that. I can see how this approach would suit his sort of mind

When I read Lemonte's response above, describing how he remembers a sentence by imagining the story behind it and visualising the details, this is something that would probably not work for my Russian friend, but it actually sounds really great to me personally since visualising things feels a bit more natural to me. It's something I have already done to a limited extent in the past, but I'm glad I read Lemonte's description, as it inspires me to try focusing more on visualising in the future.

[Gustav Aschenbach]

Apart from that currently I'm using Glossika (for ingraining basic grammar patterns) and I'm planning to learn some grammar from a textbook (using Anki for reviewing). Later on, when I'm at a C2 level, I'll be limiting myself to watching videos in Swedish on YouTube like I do with my Spanish. I noticed only one drawback of this approach; since it's only around 100-200 of reading/listening in total before switching to videos on YouTube, my Spanish writing skills are rather poor and I don't expect it to be any better with my Swedish. I speak Spanish proficiently and if it comes to Swedish I need a bit more of speaking practice.

Wow that's really impressive. So basically only Anki plus 10 minutes of listening/reading per day. It's great that you have attained such a high level of comprehension!

[Voytek]

Yeah, it's been only around 1000 hrs invested in Swedish but we have to take into account it's been a bit over three years now since I started studying the language and it took around 200-300 hours to prepare my flashcards. If one wants to learn a language fast I wouldn't recommend that approach. I chose it because I was studying English, Spanish and Swedish at the same time and didn't care about Swedish much, just toying with it. This is what I'm doing with Japanese now, just toying with it and when I'm at a B1 level I shall hunker down to it.

[lingzz_langzz]

I feel like we need to bear in mind one really important factor (or at least this is something that I noticed in myself):

The way we memorise (and in general the way of learning a language) should change together with the level of our TL. What does it mean?
Well, if you like flashcards and do 200 per week when you´re a beginner, that´s fine, but is it gonna work for you at C1 when you decide to keep learning? First of all there won´t be that many unknown words anymore. Second of all... you can already use the language so why would you stick to flashcard STILL? This horrifies me, at least.

I think flashcards for me could work at the beginning, like the first 200 words maybe when the motivation is huge and everything is new. However, not with a language similar to the one I already know.

I tried a lot of things already and neither of them seems to stick with me for a long time, that´s why I assumed that it somehow changes with time.