So I will be honest I don’t really consider any (or many) memory techniques all that useful for language learning.
There are mnemonics and these have some value but its not that much of a game changer.
However recently I have started to become interested again. I am actually still maintain my last line of think that no memory techniques are very directly useful for language learning, however I actually realize now that some could be very useful for a more “indirect” type of learning.
What do I mean by that? Well I’ve been working on my speaking skill, and listening is closely connected to listening. That is, if you understand how to say something you will probably be pretty good at picking it up in speech.
So I had spent a lot of time in past memorizing phrases and sentences and I became familiar with the idea of memorizing speeches. I always regarded the idea useful but never felt sufficiently advanced until now to tackle memorizing an entire speech. I do wish to emphasize that learning a speech as a rank beginner is probably not at all useful. This is suited for the intermediate or advanced learner.
Now I find myself ready to tackle such an undertaking. I have selected a youtube speech that I like. It resonates with me and feel I could be the one saying it. Its 19 mins long. Perhaps thats too long to begin with. I could try to find a shorter speech or maybe I should start with 1 min?
I am aware of actors memorizing very long lines in a short amount of time however that is in the mother tongue.
What are some techniques I might use for learning a speech? Perhaps it would even be better to memorize both the English and the second language. I’m not sure. I don’t even need total accuracy. But I want to have a fluent piece that I can rattle off.
Indeed, what makes me a lot more excited now than before is knowing that memory techniques are well suited to memorizing speeches and that a memorized speech is a very valuable tool for the intermediate language learner.
My Latin rhetoric teacher always recommended that we memorize Cicero’s Pro Archia poeta, which is about forty minutes if recited quickly, but he said to do so with handwritten flashcards and lots of reading aloud, as he apparently had. I would imagine one could memorize sentences or phrases by rote then keep then in order with a memory palace, in which ease phrase or line is represented by an image. I began memorizing the Somnium Scipionis (a prose text, not a speech) paragraph by paragraph, starting from the last paragraph, using memory palaces and, later, an illustrated edition I had created for myself, although I eventually abandoned this idea to focus on memorizing short poems.
That worked well, but the Somnium Scipionis is too dense and abstract, I think, and thus exhausting to try to convert entirely into images to be placed in a palace, especially because Latin word order is often rhetorically significant so I needed to memorize it quite exactly. You say you don’t need total accuracy, however, so this might work better for you.
I think I would do a lot of blind shadowing, a bit of the first letter method (or redux), and a memory palace to keep all the different lines/paragraphs in order.
I discovered blind shadowing last year (through old Alexandre Arguelles videos, still available on YouTube) and I must say it did help a lot (beside being enjoyable and something I can do while doing chores). Maybe it’s because you’re concentrating on only one element of the language at a time… I don’t exactly know. I know that the sentences I’ve learnt that way feels really internalised and I can use them without thinking (unlike when you’re shadowing and reading at the same time).
I picked a very short piece (on purpose). Its about 10 minutes long.
I think actually it won’t be that hard because its essentially a story. I’m trying to pick pieces similar to this for that reason.
Good morning and happy May Day.
I came out cycling in nature a bit and found this nice place under a very big spruce tree.
The sunshine is really beautiful, and I was riding some trails earlier — the weather is lovely.
I actually kind of prefer this cool morning weather over the afternoon heat.
It’s supposed to be +17 this afternoon and +20 tomorrow.
I took some photos and videos just for my own enjoyment — landscape shots and things like that.
I’ve noticed this funny thing: even though I film videos every day, the downside is kind of like “the shoemaker’s children have no shoes.”
I’ve realized I take far fewer photos and videos just for myself about everyday things.
I used to be a really enthusiastic photographer.
I took pictures of everything — work, everyday life, whatever.
I was always taking photos — specifically photos — and sometimes videos too, just as memories for myself.
I’ve always loved looking through photographs.
So that’s one of those things I’ve been thinking I really should do more.
You shouldn’t forget important things like that.
There are ants crawling along this trunk, by the way.
They keep falling from up there.
I don’t know if you can see them there.
I really don’t know much about heat pumps.
But a lot of people were criticizing the Midea one, saying it’s bad.
Well, I don’t know then.
I haven’t really researched it at all.
I’ve just asked for prices and made decisions based on that.
I guess at least it’ll cool the apartment down.
That was the whole point.
The heating part was more like a bonus.
But we’ll see.
The pump has already been ordered.
I’m not going to start changing it now.
And those studded tires, changing the subject, have been sold.
Well, they’re still with me physically, but they’ve been sold — the deal is agreed.
I definitely had to lower the price quite a lot, but they went for 450.
Those tires probably originally cost around 900.
Good that someone’s taking them now.
At least that matter moves forward too.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about my plus channel.
Leave a comment about what you’ve thought of the plus channel videos.
Sometimes I wonder whether this plus channel should become my main channel, or whether I should just stop actively making content here.
My thoughts have been swinging between those two extremes.
I’ve been thinking I need to cut down my content production pretty brutally and focus more on one channel.
I’ve already partly done that by dropping some other social media stuff.
It’s a strange thing — sometimes it feels like my main channel has become kind of a mental burden.
Because whenever I make something for it, there’s this huge pressure that it has to succeed.
I kind of miss the early days of doing YouTube two years ago.
Everything was new and exciting, and there was no pressure to perform.
It was just doing it purely out of love for it.
And that’s what this plus channel has been for me.
These plus channel view counts aren’t exactly taking us to the moon.
But it’s been a good support pillar for me personally.
I’ve done YouTube in a pretty messy and random way most of the time.
At some point I kind of started finding my own style.
But somehow I feel like I’d want to make this plus channel really versatile.
Just film whatever comes to mind.
Maybe I actually will.
Maybe that’s why TV keeps repeating the same program formats year after year — because they work.
Once something works, they just keep doing it.
Sometimes with content creation you wonder if people are already getting bored.
And yeah, quite a few people have commented that they’ve had enough already.
But still, gas prices, electric cars, and stuff like that keep people talking.
This morning I got one really good message from a follower.
I won’t read it here, but that feedback really encouraged me.
It encouraged me to think about many things and move toward a new direction.
I don’t know.
The weather here is really nice.
I’m going to continue cycling now.
We’ll see.
And one more thing about posting daily.
My wife has said that I don’t need to make a video every single day.
She’s probably right about that.
You don’t have to do it every day.
It’s probably become a habit, and then it’s hard not to do it too.
I should learn to take it a bit easier.
One evening I wondered if you know any YouTuber who makes two videos every day for two different channels.
I don’t know.
It’s probably not very healthy.
But one thing I do know is that cycling is healthy.
I’m heading off to continue my ride now.
Just some morning thoughts.
I don’t have any ready-made answers.
But on the other hand, that’s exactly what makes life interesting.
Let’s keep moving forward.
Hey, happy May Day everyone.
That’s it then — bye.