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August 2, 2011

Four Techniques For Remembering Your Language Lessons

Having trouble recalling your language lessons?  Here are some things you should be doing to get more of those things to stick.

  1. Keep a journal.  Writing things down on a notebook gives you a quick reference to check without having to bust out a book or open your language learning software.  It’s great for refreshing your memory, especially for recent lessons.
  2. Recalling lessons after a session.  As soon as a session is done, try to recall what you’ve learned.  Write it down on a spare sheet of paper in order to better crystallize the ideas.  Doing so allows you to recall what you’ve just listened to (or read or watched) while using your own words and making your own associations.  Chances are, you’ll end up retaining it for longer because of that.
  3. Parroting.  While listening to the lessons in your language software, try parroting what’s being said out loud.  Hearing it in your own voice can end up making the same things a lot stickier for some people.
  4. Listen to key elements.  During lessons, pay close attention to the key elements and write them in your notes.    This is good if you end up missing a lot of things during sit-down lessons.  At least, you’ll be getting the most important parts (you can replay the lesson in your language software later to get the rest of the details).
Filed under: Language Learning — Tags: , ,
March 16, 2010

A Free, Simple Vocabulary Building Strategy

Looking for a good vocabulary-building strategy that you can employ? Try this one, which is one of the first “systems” (if you can call it that) I’ve used to build up my Portuguese vocabulary.

1. Write down each word you want to commit to memory on paper.

2. Add definitions for each word, in your own terms. Use the dictionary feature in your language software (a Portuguese language learning software, in my case). Remember: make it as simple as possible, in your own terms.

3. Doing that alone will likely leave you with five or so words sticking out in your mind. Don’t believe me? Stay away from the list for an entire day and see what you can recall tomorrow.

4. Make two numbered lists – one with all the words and the other with all the definitions. These will serve as your actual memorizing tools.

5. Print the two lists out. First, look at the word. Then, look at the corresponding definition. Most of the time, an image will come to mind. If none comes, make one up – the more outrageous, the better. That will be your anchor. Do this for every word in the list. Devote 20 to 30 minutes a day for this.

That’s it. For 50-word lists, it normally took me a week of being able to recall majority of them, just doing this. Try it. It works.

Filed under: English Learning,Language Learning,Learning English — Tags: , ,
October 29, 2009

Five Memory Techniques For Better Vocabulary Building

Having trouble memorizing vocabulary?  You’re not alone.  Memorizing has long been one of my weakest points, dating back to the good old days of elementary school.  If your second language software lacks a few extra points to help you out in vocabulary building, try a few (or all) of these ones that have worked for me.

Apply images to words. Some words are easy to memorize using images.  When memorizing “duck” in French, just picture a duck.  However, not all words are as tangible in form.  How do you memorize words like “patience,” “someday” or “courage,” for instance?  My suggestion is to apply images according to how they sound by closing your eyes, repeating the word aloud and relating it to whatever picture comes to mind.  It may sound corny, but it works like a charm.

Semantic mapping. In this method, you create an imaginary map of a language and plot the “location” of specific words in it, like they’re countries.  Any time you need to access a word, just look at the map.

Write them down. Writing, for some reason, is very good for committing things to memory.  Remember when your teacher made you write down to behave in the blackboard multiple times?  It works like that.

Use keywords. One of my favorites is using keywords in English to words I’m memorizing in the target language.  I use synonyms, antonyms, homonyms…anything, in fact, that sounds fun.  Eventually, they acquire relative meanings in my head.

Feel it. Some people like to memorize by feeling the words.  I’m not sure exactly how it works, since I’ve never done it.  However, the general idea is geared towards kinesthetically-inclined individuals (about 20% of the general population), who may be able to relate more powerfully to “how things feel.”

Now, try the above techniques and see which one works best for you!

Filed under: Language Learning,Language Learning Software,Language Program,Language Software — Tags: , , ,

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