About Iversen word lists
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:46 pm
Hello, guys.
I've just finished memorising my first 800 German words with the Iversen method and I have a few questions to ask, as well as some observations to make. This is my first time posting here, so I crave your indulgence with regards to any mistakes on my part
First of all, I just want to confirm that I'm not doing it 'wrong'. In his mega thread guide on language learning, and also on his channel, he stated the importance of 'doing something else' in between making the memory associations and actually writing the translations of the 5-7 words down.
Let me illustrate what I understood by that, and how I implemented it into my own study.
Wordlist setup
Day 1 Ist day of repetition 2nd day of repetition
German English German English German
German English German English German
German English German English German
Memorise German column ------- take a 1 minute break-------- Write down the English translation while recalling memory hooks -------------take another 1 minute break ----------- retranslate the English column back into German [also with use of memory hooks].
This takes 5 minutes in total for each 'set' of 7 words, making it about 84 words per hour [12 sets of 7 words]. My question here is whether both 'breaks' are required or whether they have to be for a minute long or so. This is important to me because the elimination of one of such 'breaks' ie between the 2nd column and the third, or a reduce in the time of the breaks to maybe 30 seconds long would mean that I can do more 'sets' per hour.
However, would reducing the break time reduce recall rate for the memorized words ? Am I overthinking this?
Also, a question regarding the 'repetition sets'. From what I understood from the aforementioned thread and the videos, Iversen does just one repetition after the first day. However as you can see from my sample setup above, I have been doing two repetition sets. Is this overkill? Also I don't copy the L1 [English] to the fourth column before translating back into German, but I simply cover the left side of the page and retranslate the third column from German into the fourth column of English. Then on the 3rd day, I repeat the same process and translate the fourth column from English into the fifth and final column of German.
Again, am I doing this wrong? Do I need the 2nd repetition set on the 3rd day or just 1 repetition set the day after, but with the L1-L2 retranslation process this time?
In summary, do I reduce the 'break' times to 30 seconds between columns without impacting recall rates and do I need to do a 2nd repetition set on the 3rd day?
Lastly, a few observations about the method. I've found that the memory hooks have gotten easier to make and tend to jump out at me as I look at the words. Similarly, more and more 'unknown' words seem familiar because I have memorised their component parts ie qualvoll wasn't much of a mystery, given that I had already memorised die Qual and knew what voll signified. Also I find that the majority of words I forgot on the 2nd repetition were most often not the same ones I'd had trouble with on the first repetition, exactly as Iversen pointed out.
Also I find that even the most hastily made and seemingly tenuous memory hooks tend to do the job quite nicely ie for 'schonunglos' I simply imagined a shogun beating a subject relentlessly with a stick, the only sound similarity in pronunciation between 'shogun' and 'schonunglos' being the 'scho'/sho at the beginning of the words and a distinct 'n' sound etc
In all, the only problem I have with this method is the mental fatigue involved from sitting in a chair for 2 hours and trying to come up with memory hooks. To me, this is nothing compared with the soul numbing feeling of seeing 800 cards ready for review on Anki or Memrise [cue pitchforks], but it's still tiring nonetheless.
That'll be all. Would be grateful for any input in the form of observations and of course, answers to my questions
I've just finished memorising my first 800 German words with the Iversen method and I have a few questions to ask, as well as some observations to make. This is my first time posting here, so I crave your indulgence with regards to any mistakes on my part
First of all, I just want to confirm that I'm not doing it 'wrong'. In his mega thread guide on language learning, and also on his channel, he stated the importance of 'doing something else' in between making the memory associations and actually writing the translations of the 5-7 words down.
Let me illustrate what I understood by that, and how I implemented it into my own study.
Wordlist setup
Day 1 Ist day of repetition 2nd day of repetition
German English German English German
German English German English German
German English German English German
Memorise German column ------- take a 1 minute break-------- Write down the English translation while recalling memory hooks -------------take another 1 minute break ----------- retranslate the English column back into German [also with use of memory hooks].
This takes 5 minutes in total for each 'set' of 7 words, making it about 84 words per hour [12 sets of 7 words]. My question here is whether both 'breaks' are required or whether they have to be for a minute long or so. This is important to me because the elimination of one of such 'breaks' ie between the 2nd column and the third, or a reduce in the time of the breaks to maybe 30 seconds long would mean that I can do more 'sets' per hour.
However, would reducing the break time reduce recall rate for the memorized words ? Am I overthinking this?
Also, a question regarding the 'repetition sets'. From what I understood from the aforementioned thread and the videos, Iversen does just one repetition after the first day. However as you can see from my sample setup above, I have been doing two repetition sets. Is this overkill? Also I don't copy the L1 [English] to the fourth column before translating back into German, but I simply cover the left side of the page and retranslate the third column from German into the fourth column of English. Then on the 3rd day, I repeat the same process and translate the fourth column from English into the fifth and final column of German.
Again, am I doing this wrong? Do I need the 2nd repetition set on the 3rd day or just 1 repetition set the day after, but with the L1-L2 retranslation process this time?
In summary, do I reduce the 'break' times to 30 seconds between columns without impacting recall rates and do I need to do a 2nd repetition set on the 3rd day?
Lastly, a few observations about the method. I've found that the memory hooks have gotten easier to make and tend to jump out at me as I look at the words. Similarly, more and more 'unknown' words seem familiar because I have memorised their component parts ie qualvoll wasn't much of a mystery, given that I had already memorised die Qual and knew what voll signified. Also I find that the majority of words I forgot on the 2nd repetition were most often not the same ones I'd had trouble with on the first repetition, exactly as Iversen pointed out.
Also I find that even the most hastily made and seemingly tenuous memory hooks tend to do the job quite nicely ie for 'schonunglos' I simply imagined a shogun beating a subject relentlessly with a stick, the only sound similarity in pronunciation between 'shogun' and 'schonunglos' being the 'scho'/sho at the beginning of the words and a distinct 'n' sound etc
In all, the only problem I have with this method is the mental fatigue involved from sitting in a chair for 2 hours and trying to come up with memory hooks. To me, this is nothing compared with the soul numbing feeling of seeing 800 cards ready for review on Anki or Memrise [cue pitchforks], but it's still tiring nonetheless.
That'll be all. Would be grateful for any input in the form of observations and of course, answers to my questions