Memory Dictionary for Memorizing Text

General Memory Chat
1

I had an idea for memorizing text (perhaps verbatim), and I would like to know if anyone has attempted it before. Essentially, I find that it is occasionally hard to memorize text that has to be relatively accurate on the spot because it is hard to come up with the images for some specific words that do not have an easy image associated with them and because it is impossible to exactly translate words to images back and forth - one time you translate “memory” you may translate it with the image of a brain, another time with the Anki logo, and another time with a book, and each of those images could possibly be used for other words. My idea is essentially to learn a language with each word having a single definition in the form of an image, predefined in an Excel spreadsheet or something.

Say I have some text I’d like to memorize. If I have a memory palace or a peg list, I can attach the image I have predefined as the definition for each word in each successive spot of the memory palace, and go through and receive the words verbatim. If I have a very large memory palace, I could memorize many different words for a large text. Essentially, the goal of this is to have a rigorous way to exactly turn words into images and those images back into words.

After the hardest part of making the dictionary of images and learning them (which would, to be honest, be fun), does this sound like a system that could work for memorizing any text that I want to? Is there any reason to do it other than the fun aspect of creating a language? I could perhaps implement something like a PAO system, with a few people and actions as well as an object for every word - then I could use a single 1000 loci memory palace and go through it 100 different times with 100 different people and memorize an entire 100,000 word book - it would require a LOT of effort, but much, much less than just memorizing with standard verbatim techniques, I feel. I could use different actions for the people to represent verb conjugation or singular/plural or a noun.

Does it sound like an idea that could work after I put in the initial effort of learning the language? Is there any point in doing it other than for the fun of it?

3 Likes
2

Probably not. But if you enjoy the challenge, give it a try!

This sounds good in theory, but in practicality this is almost certainly not viable. After just a couple passes through your gigantic palace I almost guarantee that there will be ghost image interference. Especially if you find the same words occurring over and over again, which you undoubtedly will. Just think of how many times a character’s name is mentioned in a single novel. Every time that word appears, you’ll need to drop an image of them at a loci. At some point one character may appear at almost every single loci during one pass or another due to where that word falls in the sequence.

According to: RPubs - Harry Potter and the Text Analysis ,the Harry Potter book series contains about 1 million total words. It uses about 35000 unique words total. Each word occurs about 28 times in the series. Now obviously some words will be used WAY more often… according to some sources, the word “Harry” appears over 16000 times throughout the series. That means that for every 60th or so word is the word “Harry.” With so many “Harry” images hitting so many loci on so many different passes, I think it would be next to impossible to keep things straight.

The obvious solution is to not repeat loci, but you probably don’t have enough time to prep a million or so loci palace journey…

2 Likes
3

I suppose that does make sense. Perhaps I could find some way to condense more information into a single loci, but it’s impossible to put 100 words into a single image, most likely. Also, if I were memorizing a book like Harry Potter, I could probably create a list of, say, 100 modifiers I can add to my images that indicate specific words - that way, “Harry” would not need a specific image, but could be tagged on to the image of the next word, say by giving the image a red tint (or something like that) - this would decrease the number of times that word would repeat.

And perhaps a million loci is a bit much, but it could be faster than alternatives, assuming someone were to dedicate their life to memorizing Harry Potter. I feel like it would be most effective for memorizing very short ideas in very few words, though.

1 Like
4

Hi Tim, what systems do you use for memorizing text verbatim?

2 Likes
5

Since you’re interested in memorizing texts verbatim, I think you may like to read the following post by one of the legendary users of the forum:

There’s also a thread on memorizing the new testament that you may find useful:

Memorizing texts verbatim using a memory palace is really hard, so I’d probably mix it with lots of repetition. Something like John Place’s method (you can find it on google) would be better as the main technique.

5 Likes
6

The only “texts” that I ever want to memorize verbatim are song lyrics and some poetry. That has always come fairly naturally to me via music so I don’t really have a specific system or technique other than repetition and linking words to music and rhyme. The poetry I like is usually easy to visualize, is highly musical or rhythmic, or has a strong emotional connection for me, so memorizing is generally easy for me with that subject matter.

I’ve never felt any desire to “become a walking encyclopedia” as I don’t see much use in being able to just reproduce information without understanding, nor do I think a realistic method exists for it to be practical. I have memorized some data tables and sciencey things “verbatim” but that was more to practice word visualization and number systems. I do like to theorize about it though, and I’d encourage anyone to explore ideas if it’s something they feel strongly about, but for me personally I don’t consider it worth the time as it’s not something I really enjoy or have ever had a need to do.

4 Likes
7

I have to disagree. There are books out there that are really well written like food encyclopaedias, recipe books and textbooks about how to build cars from scratch to name some examples; that would be priceless and impressive to have photographed into memory. But yeah it depends how you’d like to record the information for memory. People prefer paper and pen or saving it on a computer for memory. But recording it in the brain still proves as an interesting pass time.

2 Likes
8

If anyone is indeed interested checkout “how to become a walking encyclopaedia” on the forum

1 Like
9

I’ve recently begun to build up a reusable vocabulary, because it was happening organically anyway. Rather than only concentrating on individual words, I’m particularly looking for phrases that occur often. The inaugural entrants into my phrase vocabulary were images for “all the other”, and “and not only that, but”, which I happened to encounter multiple times in a short period.

The Gregg shorthand system has a book of common phrases used to increase speed in dictation, which are useful as inspiration.

3 Likes
10

Using Gregg Shorthand as an example for what words/phrases can be shortened is a great idea!

2 Likes
11

As an actor plus someone who memorizes syntax (programming) and definitions, I have a bit of experience memorizing verbatim.

I agree with Tim’s answer that if it intrigues you, try it!

That’s why I’ve memorized Python Programming Documentation and other computer science related materials.

I disagree with Tim (very respectfully, I might add) on the value of memorizing texts verbatim.

I’m a lover of language, of syntax, a writer, a lyricist, a musician, and a guy who generally pays way too much attention to the different ways his mouth can create sounds.

I’m also probably the single most magnificent stranger on the internet you’ll ever find at unnecessary digital bragging! I’m pretty great at it! I know, I know, I appreciate your uncontrollable awe. I’m good at appreciating uncontrollable awe, too.

Okay, jokes and kidding aside, I’ve memorized a fair number of things verbatim (including things I didn’t understand at all).

All knowledge requires mental digestion (or processing), and before you can start that processing you must be exposed to the information.

The best actors I’ve known memorized their scripts before they understood them completely.

They didn’t understand all their lines first and then go “Ah-Ha! I know how I’ll memorize this!”

The reason the best actors memorize their lines is because: Once you have the words comfortably in your mind and body, you can play.

And that’s why they call it a Play.

Memorization verbatim is about being able to Play with your information without needing to constantly stop, walk across the room, and check your lines.

If you’re interested, in the thread I’m linking I do share a bit of how I memorized lines verbatim for a show:

If it intrigues you, experiment!
Follow Tim’s guidance there!

Regards,
Beau

2 Likes