I’m really excited to be here! I started learning the major system about ten days ago.
I watched an interview with Nelson Dellis and then bought his book. From the sources he mentioned, I found this forum.
As I began building my major systems using just two numbers, I quickly realised I was doing this across three languages. I’m Italian, living in Ireland since 2014. Back home, we also speak Friulian.
I started coding words in all three languages without even realising it, and sentences are quite funny! Since I’m just getting started, I’m still not sure whether one number should have just a few associations or if the real goal is to use as many words as possible. Also, I’m not sure if this multilingual approach is a good idea or if I might hit a limit in a day.
I’m still not sure whether one number should have just a few associations or if the real goal is to use as many words as possible.
3-Digit objects are better, but 2-digits can still be quite good. Memorizing (very) large quantities of information against the clock is where they suffer. 3 digit objects are for people who take this seriously and are considering competing in the future. But many competitors do not use them.
You are supposed to associate exactly one word/image with a two digit number, unless you are using PA/PAO. For “many words,” 3-digit objects are the path. If you do stick with this and eventually decide that you want to take that route, you will find your multilingualism to be an enormous boon. German helped me with my sixes.
You will be able to fill out the 3-digit objects with precise adherence to the phonetic order, and with minimal waste.
Don’t begin a word with a vowel or a different consonant than you are supposed to.
If you’re using multiple languages for your 100 objects, this cannot hurt you. It just isn’t likely to help you all that much. However, you can use the languages to keep the words short and (more importantly) select the most memorable words.
What system are you intending to use? I haven’t looked at any of Nelzor’s stuff, but he is a PAO fan, so if he wrote something about digit memorization, he may have espoused it.
My recommendation is to stick with 100 objects flat. Learn to make them interact in a chain as you move through your palaces. You’ll be up and running more quickly, and despite its simplicity, this method is NOT worse than PAO.
Also, I do not believe you that “Frulian” is a language. Nice try. You can save that gibberish for 845 or 852 if you ever need it.
Three languages is awesome Matt, especially since they form a triangle-like structure; Friulian seems to have significant linguistic differences from Italian, which is good for uniqueness and robustness.
I’d say that if you’re using two-digit numbers for a major system, go for it—do all three languages! As long as you have multiple and non-intersecting (i.e. you won’t confuse one word in a language with another) words, it offers several benefits.
#1 You’ll have a harder time simply forgetting a two-digit number, as it’s much less likely for you not to find at some association in one of the three languages.
#2 Similar to the previous point, you can make several stories or associations between two pairs of digits, which increases strength of association and makes it harder for you to accidentally choose the wrong number pair.
#3 With different languages, fewer numbers will fail to make intuitive sense to you. I’ve noticed that in English, I have trouble with about 30 of the 100 two-digit numbers, as the word/object association just isn’t that strong. Add Chinese in there and this number decreases to 3.
#4 Sentences being funny is a big advantage, because it makes them easier to remember.
You should not hit a limit, except for the limits of your vocabulary in any of the three languages. As you practice, it is likely that one or two language words stick out for every number. This is good—you have clearly-defined images/words for each two-digit pair, as well as a fallback if you need. For awhile, when I used PAO in cards, I had two different people, verbs, objects for the diamonds, which turned out not to negatively impact me at all. In fact it obviated 15-second pauses where I just couldn’t remember what the 7 of diamonds’ verb was.
I have another question about the system: how do we convert things into objects?
From the memory league tutorial and other resources I’ve read or watched on YouTube, it seems like they often talk about converting things into objects or people. However, in Nelson Dallas’s book, he uses the major system to convert things also into verbs like moan or rage. What’s your advice on this?