Hello Steemers/Steemians!
I have been on Steemit for about 10 days now and I have noticed that many posts share one big passion: traveling!
I'm no stranger to traveling, in fact, I have been traveling since I was less than a year old! One of the main concerns when going to an exotic location is the language barrier. So, what do you do before packing up to fly across the globe? Get a phrase book? Hire a translator?
Why even settle for a little bit of vocab? This memory trick can even speed up learning a whole language!
There's only ONE requirement for this: an open mind. So without further ado, lets get started!
This memorization technique involves visualization. Basically, what you're going to do is concentrate and create a representation for the pronunciation of the word you want to learn.
The visualizations must to have these TWO characteristics:
- Absurd/Paradoxal
- Tailored to YOU
Why absurd?
Think about this, if you go to a zoo, are you more likely remember a regular monkey or a giant pink kangaroo drinking cappuccino with a fedora?
I know it may sound absurd (sorry 😅), but this is essentially what makes this memorization technique so strong.
Why tailored to you?
Not everybody imagines in the same way. In fact, there are 3 ways we can visualize: audio, visual and kinesthetic. It's the same principles when you remember memories, I usually see and hear the scene in my head while others may feel it. How you visualize is entirely dependent on you and there is no best way to do it.
Now that you know all of this, I'll give you an example! Keep in mind that I'll show you how it best works for me, but I can assure that you'll fully understand how it works.
Автомобиль, car in Russian.
STEP 1: The first thing to do is to figure out how to pronounce the word, Google Translate does a pretty good job at it. Автомобиль is pronounced avtomobil with the emphasis on the last syllable and the second o pronounced a bit more like an a. If any Russians are reading, this is based on Google Translate so feel free to correct me ;).
STEP 2: Create an anchor visualization. That is a representation of the meaning of the word in English, or whatever your native language is. In this case, I'm going to imagine a stereotypical car driving along an empty road.
STEP 3: Create the representation of the pronunciation of the word. This is where your imagination will go wild! Most effective way to do this is to create a little scene as opposed to a static image. What you want to do is find sounds in the word that resemble words and elements in your native language. I have divided it like this:
STEP 4: With all these elements you're going to imagine a short scene. Mine would go like this (I'll also add a picture to try and make it clearer):
A regular CAR is driving down an empty road, suddenly the camera zooms out revealing that the car is in a tv on the A/V channel. The ground starts shaking and a giant TOE bursts out from the ground! While trying to escape, the car gets trapped in front of a MOBIL gas station, the toe jumps on the sign and pounds the o into an A.
That's basically it! Just imagine an absurd situation! This example is, of course, purely visual. As you try it yourself you'll discover what best works for you.
You're probably thinking that it's pretty long, and for just ONE word! Well, explaining it isn't quick! As you repeat this process you'll get quicker, a lot quicker. After a few HOURS, it's possible to do this in SECONDS! All you need to to is practice.
Probably the biggest issue one could have is imagining relatively quickly. Practicing this helps, but brainstorming helps ENORMOUSLY with imagination. Try this: find a simple problem, lighting a candle for example, find 300 different ways to solve it, ANYTHING goes! You'll be using Pokemon and summoning demons in no time!
Apart from being super effective, this memory technique is REALLY FUN!
This method can significantly speed up learning a language, and yes, you can also use it to memorize grammar structure!
I'll be using this to prepare for my trip to Japan next September, and that will be language number 4 for me!
