WalkingAlone13 wrote:zenmonkey wrote:Somewhere along the way we are confusing memorisation methods with language acquisition. Using Cicero's Roman room method, Loci, Links, Pegs, etc.., one can memorise and produce vast information sets but not necessarily use them productively.
Don't confuse someone who can memorise Pi to the 7000th position with a mathematician.
And while learning can be greatly assisted by SRS, these contests are a memory exercise, not a language exercise.
I am unsure whether I've just interpreted your message correctly or not, as I agree that in THAT particular competition, it was indeed more of a memory task. However in your first sentence you noted methods, which if you are counting Memrise as said method, I don't agree. Memrise does use SRS, whether or not you use the mnemonics is entirely your decision. The mnemonics are, of course, a memory element and not a language element, but the SRS component as well as the fact that you are actively typing the answers and hearing the audio (dependent on the course) and reviewing the items are language elements. But SRS is a means of language acquisition and can lead you to actively producing coherent sentences as well as speech, I've seen many people achieve very good results with it. It was also how I got to basic fluency in Finnish before getting to see how well I could actively produce the language when moving to Finland.
I meant that there are specific methods for memorising very large sets of data - at one point I could produce the card order of a deck of playing cards after looking at them for 10 minutes. (It didn't mean I could play poker). There are people that can memorise an entire deck in less than a minute. These methods are what I am talking about - pure memory tools - Memrise isn't a particularly effective 'pure memory' tool and I am not criticising it or SRS at all. I use ANKI a lot. To memorise large card sets *for a contest* in a short time is an exercise of memorisation methods not for language acquisition.
It's like the guy who memorised all the 7 letter combos to win at French scrabble but doesn't speak French.
I thought the SC was pretty free when it came to the kinds of material used. Really, I think these problems may come from sticking to the original definitions of the challenge too tightly, by this exlusion of live things, you would exclude theatre in the language as well, which would be absolute nonsense. Perhaps the solution is not creating yet another challenge but just making it clear these things are still ok to use? After all, the SC is to make us listen and read a lot and everyone is competing against themselves, it is not a large inter-personal competition in need of strict rules, I'd say.
Although the performance I want to attend is about a real person from 100 years ago 
