Here’s my take on a Consonant-Vowel single-syllable Person/Object system for single cards.
The advantage of a single syllable system is that there is less time spent reading and subvocalizing when encoding. The phonetic structure provides a simple syllable that is intended to trigger an association with an image. For example: “Vay” could trigger the image of Darth VAder. Rather than reading “vader” you just read “vay.” This may seem like a very minor improvement, but if you can go from reading and thinking “vader, lawnmower, caveman, gyroscope” (10 syllables) to “vay, mo, kay, jy” (4 syllables), you can see sizable improvement in your encoding time.
The Ben System is probably the most well known single-syllable system, but it is a large system for 2-card pairs and many people are not up for the task of constructing it. Josh has also shared his single syllable CV system for 2-digit numbers and has explored using it as a card system, but I wanted to tweak things a bit in my own way. I also wanted to provide an option to use this technique in a “person object” structure to give additional options for people when memorizing.
I’ve got two variations for the phonetic assignments.
In both approaches the card is read with the value first and the suit second. The suits get long vowel sounds:
gets A like “say” (visually the spade is shaped sort of like an A with the point at the top)
gets the E like in “see” (visually if you imagine writing a lowercase “e” you’ve drawn the left half of a heart.)
gets O like in “go” (the club symbol contains round shapes)
gets I like in “pi” (the diamond has straight lines like capital I’s)
I’ll lay out two ways that values could be assigned. The first follows traditional primary major system assignments for the Ace-10 values and assigns “extra” or “secondary” sounds to the picture card values. If you already are familiar with Major for numbers, but haven’t jumped into card memorizing yet, you may want to try this, so that you don’t have to re-associate number sounds. In this setup Jack gets the D sound, Queen gets the B sound, and King gets the V sound, splitting those sounds away from their typical numerical associations. (Incidentally, these are the value mappings I use in my full 2704 two-card system, so this single card approach can serve as a springboard towards that system if someone wants to go big in the future!)
| VALUE | SUIT | V. SOUND | S. SOUND | CHARACTER | OBJECT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | |
s | ay | satan, sadie, sagan | safe, sage, sail |
| Ace | |
t | ay | taylor | tater, tape, tail, taser, table |
| 2 | |
n | ay | nate, neymar, neighbor | nail |
| 3 | |
m | ay | maid | mayflower |
| 4 | |
r | ay | rey | ray laser |
| 5 | |
l | ay | leia | ley |
| 6 | |
j | ay | jay (jason voorhees) | jay (bluejay) |
| 7 | |
k | ay | caveman | cake |
| 8 | |
f | ay | fae (fairy) | phaser, face |
| 9 | |
p | ay | pedro | pay (money bag) |
| J | |
d | ay | david, dale | danish, date |
| Q | |
b | ay | bane | bagel |
| K | |
v | ay | vader | vase |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 | |
s | ee | seer (fortune teller) | see saw |
| Ace | |
t | ee | tina, tifa, tebow | tee, tea |
| 2 | |
n | ee | neo | knee |
| 3 | |
m | ee | me | mead |
| 4 | |
r | ee | reaper | reef |
| 5 | |
l | ee | leo | leaves |
| 6 | |
j | ee | jeeves | jeep |
| 7 | |
k | ee | key | key |
| 8 | |
f | ee | fiona | fifi (poodle) |
| 9 | |
p | ee | peter pan | peach, peeps, peak, peel, pee |
| J | |
d | ee | demon, devo, deep, DJ | deed (document), deer, deet (bug spray), |
| Q | |
b | ee | beast, bee, beiber, BB-8, bean | bee, beet, bean, beaver, bead, beef, beak |
| K | |
v | ee | venus | venus |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 | |
s | oh | sosa, soul (ghost) | sewing needle, soap, soda, sofa, solar panel |
| Ace | |
t | oh | toad, tony | toe, toad, toast |
| 2 | |
n | oh | gnome, noah | gnome, node, notepad, nose |
| 3 | |
m | oh | mo | mower |
| 4 | |
r | oh | rowan (atkinson) | roe (fish eggs), row (boat, oars), rope, rose, roll, robe |
| 5 | |
l | oh | loki | loaf |
| 6 | |
j | oh | joker, joe, jotun | joke book |
| 7 | |
k | oh | kobe, cole, conehead | cone, coke, coat, coal, comb |
| 8 | |
f | oh | foe (thanos or other villain) | phone |
| 9 | |
p | oh | poe | poker |
| J | |
d | oh | dopey | donut, doe, door, dodo, dome |
| Q | |
b | oh | bo, bone (skeleton) | bow and arrow, bowl, bone, |
| K | |
v | oh | vogue (madonna) | vogue (magazine), vote (box or sticker) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 | |
s | eye | cyclops | silo |
| Ace | |
t | eye | tyler | tie |
| 2 | |
n | eye | knight, nye | nighty |
| 3 | |
m | eye | mice | mic |
| 4 | |
r | eye | riker, ryan | rice |
| 5 | |
l | eye | lion, lightyear | lyre, lime, line |
| 6 | |
j | eye | giant | gyroscope |
| 7 | |
k | eye | kylo | kite |
| 8 | |
f | eye | fighter | fido |
| 9 | |
p | eye | pirate | pie |
| J | |
d | eye | di (princess), diver | dice, diaper, dime |
| Q | |
b | eye | biden | bike |
| K | |
v | eye | viking | violin |
If you don’t care about strictly following Major, here is a second option for assigning sounds, based more on the visual shapes of the values.
| VALUE | SUIT | V. SOUND | S. SOUND | CHARACTER | OBJECT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | |
s | ay | satan, sadie, sagan | safe, sage, sail |
| Ace | |
t | ay | taylor | tater, tape, tail, taser, table |
| 2 | |
n | ay | nate, neymar, neighbor | nail |
| 3 | |
m | ay | maid | mayflower |
| 4 | |
r | ay | rey | ray laser |
| 5 | |
l | ay | leia | ley |
| 6 | |
b | ay | bane | bagel |
| 7 | |
v | ay | vader | vase |
| 8 | |
f | ay | fae (fairy) | phaser, face |
| 9 | |
p | ay | pedro | pay (money bag) |
| J | |
j | ay | jay (jason voorhees) | jay (bluejay) |
| Q | |
w | ay | waiter | weigh (scale) |
| K | |
k | ay | caveman | cake |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 | |
s | ee | seer (fortune teller) | see saw |
| Ace | |
t | ee | tina, tifa, tebow | tee, tea |
| 2 | |
n | ee | neo | knee |
| 3 | |
m | ee | me | mead |
| 4 | |
r | ee | reaper | reef |
| 5 | |
l | ee | leo | leaves |
| 6 | |
b | ee | beast, bee, beiber, BB-8, bean | bee, beet, bean, beaver, bead, beef, beak |
| 7 | |
v | ee | venus | venus |
| 8 | |
f | ee | fiona | fifi (poodle) |
| 9 | |
p | ee | peter pan | peach, peeps, peak, peel, pee |
| J | |
j | ee | jeeves | jeep |
| Q | |
w | ee | weezer | weevil |
| K | |
k | ee | key, keebler | key |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 | |
s | oh | sosa, soul (ghost) | sewing needle, soap, soda, sofa, solar panel |
| Ace | |
t | oh | toad, tony | toe, toad, toast |
| 2 | |
n | oh | gnome, noah | gnome, node, notepad, nose |
| 3 | |
m | oh | mo | mower |
| 4 | |
r | oh | rowan (atkinson) | roe (fish eggs), row (boat, oars), rope, rose, roll, robe |
| 5 | |
l | oh | loki | loaf |
| 6 | |
b | oh | bo, bone (skeleton) | bow and arrow, bowl, bone, |
| 7 | |
v | oh | vogue (madonna) | vogue (magazine), vote (box or sticker) |
| 8 | |
f | oh | foe (thanos) | phone |
| 9 | |
p | oh | poe | poker |
| J | |
j | oh | joker | joke book |
| Q | |
w | oh | wodin | woven basket |
| K | |
k | oh | kobe, cole, conehead | cone, coke, coat, coal, comb |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 | |
s | eye | cyclops | silo |
| Ace | |
t | eye | tyler | tie |
| 2 | |
n | eye | knight, nye | nighty |
| 3 | |
m | eye | mice | mic |
| 4 | |
r | eye | riker, ryan | rice |
| 5 | |
l | eye | lion, lightyear | lyre, lime, line |
| 6 | |
b | eye | biden | bike |
| 7 | |
v | eye | viking | violin |
| 8 | |
f | eye | fighter | fido |
| 9 | |
p | eye | pirate | pie |
| J | |
j | eye | giant | gyroscope |
| Q | |
w | eye | white (walter) | wine, wipe, wire |
| K | |
k | eye | kylo | kite |
Hope this helps some folks get started with cards. All it takes is learning to associate 17 total sounds with their values or suits and you can start reading cards as single syllable images!