Hello! This is my first post so I’m not sure that I put it in the right category.
Feel free to move it if you want.
I live in Sweden and we have this standardized test similiar to the SATs in the US.
One part of it is choosing a synonym of 20 random words.
A lot of the words are reused and therefore it is recommended to memorize words.
I could find a lot of recommendations on how to memorize a new language but how do you most efficiently memorize words in your own language.
English isn’t my first language, I apologies for any grammatical/spelling errors.
So if I remember correctly, tree in Swedish is something like trad. You image for the letter T could be a tree.
Do that for every letter of the alphabet, ideally with specific images. The trees in the Wizard of Oz, for example, are highly specific and already dynamic and animated. It doesn’t matter that they are called something different in different languages because you just pick what they are called in your mother tongue.
Then do the same for your number systems, which are bi-directional and can be used for language learning too.
I don’t think I understand. So let’s say I have T for träd.
Lets say another word on T comes up? or let’s say the word isn’t so concrete and I need to memorise the meaning of it?
Do you have a list of words that you know are going to be on the test? Or versions of the test from previous years?
I’m asking because my first question would be how many words you have to memorise. Do you have to essentially memorise the dictionary (taking out the words you already know, still thousand words)? Or is it a more manageable amount like 100 words?
Also I’m not sure why it would be so different to memorise words in your own language then in a foreign language. It’s just monolingual, creating imagery, placing the words in a memory palace (if this is the technique you choose), etc. would be the same, wouldn’t it?
This might sound a bit strange, but I’m not aware of a single word that is not concrete. “Conceptual,” for example, is the concrete means by which we trade our labels that something is conceptual.
But when we talk about the conceptual, how do we do it? By concretizing it through language. So whatever the word is, we make the mnemonic images ideally trigger both sound and meaning at the same time. This isn’t always possible, but if you study and practice these techniques in the full manner they deserve, you will soon have the skills in your grasp.
As for more T words and Z words and B words, etc. one solution is multiple Memory Palaces. That’s what I do, and there is no way to run out that I am aware of… though I have heard many attempts to rebut this view in my time.
I do have lists that I’m trying to memorize, but they’re in the thousands. 4000 ish.
From what I’ve read you take the foreign word let’s say manzana and create a picture from it’s meaning “Apple” and what you think it sounds like. I’ve already got it’s meaning but they’re usually older words so I’m struggling with putting it together with something. There aren’t a lot of verbs either so it would have to be people using those things, do I use a different character for each one or how do I do? I just recently got into these techniques so I’m sorry if I’m asking alot of dumb questions.
Let’s use the word Abdicate.
It sounds like a name Abdi or Disikera (to disect) but I’ll use Abdi for the example, and it means to step of the throne, would my picture be my view of Abdi stepping of the Throne?
This is my thought process, genuinly. As I wrote earlier, I’m very new to it. Appericate any help.
When I have created all these images/stories. Do I then put into a memory palace even if it is in the thousands or do I just remember the stories alone.
I’m making the exercise of putting myself in your shoes.
My thinking is: if there’s going to be thousands of words I need something simple (quick) and effective.
What I would do: (it doesn’t mean you have to do this, just to give an idea of a possible way to go at it, you’ll have to adapt based on the tools at your disposal and preferences)
Open anki (or any other spaced repetition app that allows to very easily create personal cards) on my phone, create a new deck.
Create a new basic card in this deck. In the field Question I type “abdicate”. In the field Answer I type “King Abdi goes down from his throne and Cate Blanchett takes his place” (this should help me remember that abdicate = renounce the throne/a function).
Then I do the next card with the next word on the list. (Only if I don’t already know the word of course).
Every day during my spare moments (waiting for the bus, riding the bus, waiting in line at the post office, …) I do the anki reviews to check that I remember the words I’ve learnt.
After a week, I’ll evaluate if I really remember the words well. Also I’ll calculate how many words I still have to learn and if I still have enough time until the exam.
There are other ideas that come to mind, but that I choose not to use right now, because I feel simplicity is more important. I could :
Go for a walk with my list in hand and place the words (and their mnemonics) along the way. Better for retention, and pleasant, but probably not necessary and a bit more time consuming if I’m not yet used to create memory palaces on the fly.
Give the words to chatgpt and ask him to make exercises for me. But if I have never used chatgpt to learn languages, it may take me a while to learn how to formulate a prompt to get interesting and effective exercices.
…
You just have to choose something, try to do it for a while, evaluate if it works, then adjust if necessary. Any large scope memorisation project is personal and is going to evolve along the way.
