Memory Palace: Method of Loci vs Journey Method

So, I will try to explain this as well as possible because this is something that is important to me.
Firstly, my first trials were a success.
Before, I wanted to learn the dictionary of phrasebook (about 500 words), and it took about three days and I can still remember and disgusting amount of words, even though I haven’t practiced/reviewed them in roughly a year.

So, why am I here?
I am mainly looking to distinguish something.
Recently, I remembered the entire layout of my college, but I noticed there was a problem with my associations not being as real.
It is hard to explain, but when I go through my house and go through the college, I have a harder time remembering them.

With that being said, I also have another quandry.
It doesn’t seem to be much of a problem, more of a question.
I am deciding to make a big amusement park with many loci/places/locations in it, versus using an apartment building.
My feeling is that the apartment building seems entirely too similar, so it won’t feel as real versus something that is a lot bigger and can be subject to change.

If anyone can give some insight on this that would be amazing.

What I am trying to do now, is learn about 10k words (minus the words I already know), in about 6-7 months.
I don’t have a problem making associations with them.
My main problem is just deciding how best either palace would work.
Thanks in advance!

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In your case (you are trying to learn 10k words) I would recommended creating your own memory palace. Instead of remembering real places, you should build memory palace dynamically(while you are memorizing), so it could be more flexible for words that you are learning.

Creating your own palace might be difficult, especially in the beginning. However it is a great alternative when it comes to remembering thousands of words.
1) your options are unlimited
2) dynamic palaces are flexible, they always fit the words you memorizing
3) you do not have to remember real places

From my experience I can tell that it is the best method to learn this amount of words. I memorize about 300 words a day, which would be impossible without creating my memory palace, while I am learning.

If real places work better for you (and for most people they do) you can just modify them a little. When you don’t remember some spaces, feel them with your imaginations.

However, you should consider creating your own palace.

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300 words a day? Can you be more explicative of your process?
I only managed about 500 in about 2-3 days.

Memorizing words is my passions. Therefore I spend a lot of time practising it.

The method depends on what kind of words you want to remember.

The process of learning foreign words (e.g. 50 words from dictionary) consists of:
1) building dynamic palace

You imagine general structure in the beginning and you make it more detailed, when you create an image for a word

  1. creating image/images for word

It is often hard to create an image from word. That is why you should break it

  1. simultaneously you place the image in the palace

See I had a dynamic memory palace, but I often assumed that it had to be well defined and finished.
I knew I was putting too much importance on it, but didn’t know if I was right.

I am using my college campus now, versus what i had before which was like a very big hotel with a bunch of rooms.
But I was afraid that because everything looked the same that my brain would mix up the information, so I was trying to think of what to do next.

Hey Grey,

I have a question about making dynamic memory palaces. How can you remember your palace in details? In my experience, the point of a palace is to have a familiar place where you can place information. How do you make palaces on the go? I want to learn German, so I am really interested in the process. And your concept of making new palaces by yourself is definitely interesting, so if you can, please give us more information on your palace-making process.