Deaf People use mnemonics unknowingly • How my Deaf Friends boosted my memory skills

 Here is an interesting subject from my personal life...

 I started doing volunteer work in the deaf community. Since I don't have much time I'm going to skip the detailed stories and cut to the chase. 

Things I’ve learned recently:

• Deaf people think in pictures and actions, NOT audible words nor written words (even if they are literate in the language of their origin)

• when deaf people take notes the PROPER way that corresponds to ASL (american sign language) the draw pictures

• sign language uses a lot of ACTING it out which helps u to remember a point because u SAW the action rather than READ the action or hear it

 Basically, when a deaf person learns something new that is being explained to them in their language, its like watching a movie.... EVERYtime. 

Personally, I prefer a.person explain to me a difficult concept to understand in *ASL, rather than english.

What’s my point?

Its interesting…

A deaf friend of mine posed a question to me: How would you DRAW a picture of the word “Trust”?

This question blew my mind!

(Not that I didn’t know the importance of creating mental images from my experience with mnemonics)
The point my deaf friend was making to me was that I need to STOP thinking in terms of words and sounds, rather one should learn to SEE EVERYTHING!

 Not long after this I went to an all day seminar where I usually take notes using English shorthand. I decided that this time I would forget anything English and take notes ONLY with drawings...

My goal was to SEE EVERYTHING as my deaf friend instructed me… so that’s exactly what I did. I toom notes with little doodles and drawings.

Later I was able to take my “notes” and use them as an outline for explaining these same concepts to other people in the other spoken languages that I know…without translating from one language to another.

So I leave y’all with the same question that my deaf friend posed to me…

How would you DRAW the word “Trust”?

-Guajiro

*as opposed to Exact Signed English (the unnatural way many deaf are improperly “educated” in the united states)

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that’s really neat :slight_smile:
i never really thought about it much, but it makes sense that they would naturally gravitate towards thinking visually.

I would draw ‘trust’ as someone firmly and confidently grasping a rope.

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^He’s deaf, by the way^

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YOU TOLD MY SHAMEFUL SECRET!

runs off crying

slams bedroom door 33 times

falls down on bed and sobs uncontrollably into pillow

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There is something I realized last month and that is, all the 100,000 most popular words in English are already taken - which means someone somewhere is bearing a name from the list. My mission in the next 3 months is to download 5000 images of those 100,000 words and master them.
This will help with speed reading and better comprehension.

If you want to join the movement this is how I’m doing it.

  1. 5000 words from Word frequency: based on one billion word COCA corpus - the best site for words ranking.
  2. Images from www.reverbnation.com and www.twitter.com and some times www.google.com

When I got this idea I thought I won’t find images for words like “I”, “a”, “be”, “from” “the” etc. But I was wrong, they all exist. People answer those words as aliases - especial some crazy musicians.

Some of the (preposition) images I’ve downloaded and memorized are really helping me when I read. When I’m reading I don’t even look for them, but they show themselves immediately as if they’re my family members. I have connection with them. Hehe

This has helped in reducing subvocalization and by the time I’m done with the 5000 images I’ll be targeting to read as fast (with comprehension) as Howard Berg (the world fastest reader). (Wink)

I WANT TO URGE EVERYONE TO USE IMAGES NOT WORDS WHEN LEARNING ANYTHING, EVEN IF IT’S AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT.

I creased a music theory mnemonic system where all the notes and chords are assigned a unique image.
Example C Major is an image of Catherine Major(singer)
F Major is Philip Major(driver). Dominant, Diminished, Augmented, Sus2, Sus4 chords and all are assigned a unique image.

I just mastered the C4 note some days ago. This is how I did it.
I played the C4 note for more than 20 minutes with my ring finger in a row (it was painful), because the ring finger of Catherine Major represents C4 (thumb=1, index=2, middle=3 ring=4 and pinky=5)
So, as I was playing the C4 note I listened with all my heart, soul and feelings while imagining the note is being played by Catherine Major with her ring finger. I associated the sound to her ring ringer.

Now, this is the GOOD PART. Whenever I hear the C4 note all I SEE (not hear) is Catherine Major and her ring finger.

And finally, I just discovered that 4 Digit Number System is EASIER than 3 Digit Number System. Food for thought.

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Can you explain this?

@LociInTheSky

It’s only for those using Consonant+Vowel+Consonant.

This is how it works.

You have to master your 3 digit system first, because it’s the PILLAR of the 4 Digit system.
Have a recall of any of your 3 digit images in less than a second.

This is how I internalized it.

First of all memorize the 1000 images in rhyming order as in ( SEL = 075, TEL = 175, NEL = 275, MEL = 375, REL = 475, LEL 575, JEL = 675, KEL = 775, FEL = 875 and BEL = 975. ( I was previously memorizing it in bulk, but discovered this method to be way superior) I didn’t use any loci in memorizing them and there is a reason for that.

One thing I did to help me with the instant recall was to mimic the posture of all my 1000 images after I was done with the ryhming memorization.

And the funny part is when someone is holding a guitar with a funny look, I’ll hold my guitar with that same funny look and similar dress code, if I have it. I brought all the clothes on my closet, so I could dress and act like them while chanting their names. (Stupid? You never know how POWERFUL it is)

It took me two days and it was worth it. (I don’t recommend this if you aren’t comfortable with that. I’m just sharing)

4 DIGIT SYSTEM.
This system is built in a family-like order. Anybody can be anybody’s father or mother, their is no age boundary.

So, now you’re done with the tough 3 digit system and you can recall any of them immediately.
Open 1000 folders on your computer with a sub-folder inside each one of them.

How to label the folders.

Example: SEL = 075.
So, ‘075’ should be the folder name for Mother Sel, while ‘075 [0-9]’ should be the sub-folder, where ‘Sel’ will house her 10 children . Her children will answer her name as their first name and given last name.

(Sel.ena G.omez (0757) might be one of her children, if you use the Major System)

Because you’ve mastered their MOTHERS/FATHERS, there is no way you won’t remember their children using their parents as an anchor/trigger point.

So, if somebody says the numbers 9 (you should be thinking of the letter ‘B’ not P), 6 (you should be thinking of the vowel ‘ih’), 5 (you should be thinking of L which leads you to BILL, the father of all Bills). Now, you have a standing point, so if they add another number to 965, let’s say 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, then you’ll pick one of Bill’s children.

9650 = Bill S (Bill Subritzky, Bill Simmons etc. Choose one and stick with it)
9651 = Bill T (Bill Tush, Bill Thomson etc.)
9652 = Bill N (Bill Nye, Bill Newman etc.)
9653 = Bill M (Bill Murray, Bill Maher etc.)
9654 = Bill R (Bill Rancic, Bill Russell etc.)
9655 = Bill L (Bill Lee, Bill Lawrence etc.) (Bill G.ate. My hard G = 5 not 7, but it’s revered for my 2 Digit System)
9656 = Bill J (Bill Johnson, Bill Jacob etc.)
9657 = Bill K (Bill Kaulitz, Bill Clinton etc.)
9658 = Bill F (Bill Fagerbakke, Bill Fay etc.)
9659 = Bill B (Bill Bellamy, Bill Bright etc.)

If my seem difficult at first BUT I PROMISE YOU YOU’LL NEVER REGRET IT.

My 3 digit system is supper strict, but my 4 digit system is flexible.

In my 3 digit system names like Michael, Billy, Johnson, Nelson etc do not exist, but Myke/Mike, Bill, John, Nel etc do exist. But my 4DS uses either Mike or Michael, John or Johnson depending on who’s more popular and memorable.
I can’t image assigning 3576 to Mike Jeffries instead of Michael Jackson/Jordan. This is why it’s flexible.

All my 3 digit system names start with either (s,t,n,m,r,l,j,k,f or b) and they all end with either (z,d,n,m,r,l,sh,k or p) Which means a name like ‘Bob’ does not exist in my 3DS, but ‘Bop’ does. With the 4DS ‘Bob’ does exist as a child or children of ‘Bop’.

Anything starting with (z,d,h,w,y,hard-g,sh,q,v, or p) is for my 2 Digit System. And all my 2 Digit System use the same [æ] vowel as in ‘cat’ in the middle. It stops me from wandering. The exceptions are War, Qar, Par and a few others.

Tip1. If you encounter an uncommon name like Tyshe/Tie.sh/Tishe [taɪʃ] for 156, Kyke/Kike [kaɪk] for 757 etc Use www.reverberation.com, twitter, linkedin or Facebook to get the name with their surname and image.
I prefer reverbanation/twitter. Linkedin has all kinds of names, but 49 percent of the time there is no image associated to those names unlike the former.

Tip2: If can’t find a name with an image, then type "funny human photos’ on google to download funny and bizarre images of some crazy people and make sure they’re people you don’t already know and assign them to a family with a fake surname or just a letter like Tyshe T for 1561.
This method is even more memorable than tip1.

Tip3: Use a cartoon/caricature software to make all the 10000 images look nasty. You can outsource this to a company online for some bucks, if you want it done in a week or less.

Ad-lib.

I came up with a new 2 Digit System with the help of my Color System.
This system will eliminate sub-vocalization.

These are the color keys to learn before you can use it effectively. IT’S SIMPLE AND EASY.

0. Zero – [ziroʊ] the [oʊ] sound sounds like 0. Alternate: None. Color Yellow
1. One – [wʌn] the [ʌ] sound sounds like 1. Alternate: [aʊ] as in House. Color: Russet Brown
2. Two – [tu] the [u] sound sounds like 2. Alternate: [ʊ] Wood [ju] You or [jʊ] Europe. Color: Blue
3. Three – [θri] the [i] sound sounds like 3 which is a long E vowel sound. Alternate: None. Color Green.
4. Four – [fɔr] the [ɔ] sound sounds like 4. Alternate: [ɑ/ɒ] as in Pot or [ɝː] Earth. Color: Purple or Orange
5. Five – [faɪv] the [aɪ] sound sounds like 5. Alternate: None. Color: White
6. Six – [sɪks] the [ɪ] sound sounds like 6. Alternate: [ɔɪ] as in Boy. Color: Pink
7. Seven – [sevən̩] the [e] sound sounds like 7. Alternate: None. Color: Red
8. Eight – [eɪt] the [eɪ] sound sounds like 8. Alternate: None. Color: Gray
9. Nine – [naɪn] the [aɪ] sound has been taken by 5, so I used the alternate sound [æ] as in Mat/Nan. Color: Black

Now, this is how it works.

Everybody for 00-09 must wear a yellow on yellow dress code and they must be performing an action either walking, dancing or doing any goofy thing.
No plain background is allowed - unless the person is doing something funny. So, this picture or this picuture is better than this picture or this picture.

Do this for all the colors and assign a 2 digit value to each photo.
Spoken/written digits will be memorized as fast as Wang Feng or even faster, if you have your loci ready to absorb them.

RULES TO OBEY.

  1. NEVER know the names of image you use on your FAMOUS PLANE 2D Color System.
  2. If you know somebody, but you don’t know his/her name, then use it, but change the image if you know his/her name.
  3. Remember rule number 1.

PENALTIES IF YOU DISOBEY THE RULES.

  1. if you don’t obey the rules, you’ll start sub-vocalizing the names like the major systems.
  2. Your speed will reduce.
  3. You’ll be phonetically caught up in your head.

Example of how it works.

When someone says 2 (the only thing you’re thinking of is the color BLUE) and at this point your subconscious mind will immediately review all your blue images in nano seconds, then the second digit will trigger that funny/bizarre person wearing that number.

This system makes you relax and when you’re relaxed you focus on those beautiful colors and not on those ugly vowels and consonants

The only place you’ll use the Major System is the VERBS/ACTIONS.
Where 81 = Fighting.

Some people will think this system will confuse colors in a group, but it doesn’t. Everybody wearing a yellow/any color dress code is unique and flamboyant.

I opened a Facebook page where I’ve posted some of the color system, all 2 digit images, all alphabet images, all binary key images, and I’ll be posting all my 3 digit images. I blocked all the photos of the first facebook page I opened.

Search or “Remember Anything at Anytime” on Facebook

Maybe one day I’ll post my 4 DIGIT IMAGES.

Make sure you check out the page and LIKE it.

MORE ARE COMING FOR THOSE WHO USE MY SYTEM OR CVC VARIATIONS.

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Interesting. Also his idea of how to “draw trust” is exactlt how you sign trust in ASL, you pretent to hold a rope in the sky :slight_smile: