Memorizing LanguagesThe memory system known as the Keyword Method is very effective for learning foreign languages. I've provided the following examples to help make it clear how to use this method to memorize foreign vocabulary words.
If you don't visualize the images clearly, the cues - and your retention of the information - won't be as strong. Similarly, if the labels in your real filing cabinet are written lightly in pencil instead of with a dark marker they made be hard to read, making the document you want hard to find.
I taught this technique to my son who is in first grade. He has a Spanish class once a week. He absolutely loves drawing the funny images. Thinking of these images, and drawing them, engages his memory in a remarkable way. He consistently makes top grades on all his Spanish quizzes.
To memorize the meaning of privet I simply need to think of an image that connect "hi" with "private". The image that comes to my mind is of a Private in the army smiling and furiously waving "hi". It is critical to visualize the image in as much detail as possible - the color of his uniform, the expression on his face, and so forth. (Of course, you might think of a different image. Use the image that comes to your mind most easily.) It's very simple - now when I see or hear the word privet in Russian, the image of the waving Private pops into my mind and I recognize this word means "hi".
To me, la plage sounds like the English word "applause". I therefore imagine a crowd of Frenchmen (berets on their heads, french fries in hand, and so on) standing on a sandy beach and clapping their hands vigorously in applause. Thinking "beach" pops the image of the French folks clapping on the beach, which is applause - therefore, la plage means beach. Again, it's pretty simple was to memorize something, but very effective.
Insegnante is a long word consisting of several syllables. For longer vocabulary like this, we simply break down the syllables into smaller phonetic words. The word insegnante sounds a bit like "hen's egg nine tea" (say it slowly to yourself to see this). Therefore, an image we could use to memorize this word and its meaning might be a giant personified chicken egg that has a face, two legs, and nine arms. This egg-person is holding a cup of tea in each of his nine hands. He is also standing in front of a blackboard giving a lecture to a class (perhaps about the virtues of tea-drinking). Every time he waves his arms to make a point, though, the tea splashes all over. So the word "teacher" makes me think of this chicken egg teacher with his nine cups of tea -> "hen's egg nine tea" -> insegnante. A crazy image, to be sure, but very memorable! And don't worry, unless you are studying multiple languages at once, your brain will easily be able to keep the meaning straight. (That is, you won't accidentally confuse insegnante for some English vocabulary word.) There is no foreign word that cannot be broken down into simple phonetics that you can use to create memorable images. This includes vocabulary from non-Western languages like Chinese or Arabic. This is because the Keyword method does not rely on the spelling of the word, but on the sound of the word. Try the Keyword method with the language you are trying to learn. The method and the visualization may seem odd at first, but it makes learning vocabulary a lot faster and more fun. Compare it to memorizing foreign vocabulary by repetition, and I'm sure you'll see what I mean.
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Example 1 - Spanish Vocabulary. The Spanish word for "duck" is pato (pronounced "paht-oh"). Pato sounds like "pot". I therefore picture a duck wearing a cast-iron cooking pot on his head as a hat. The duck -> image of a duck with a pot on his head -> sound of "pot" -> equals pato. And it works in reverse: if I hear pato, the image of a duck with a pot on his head comes to mind, so pato means duck.
Example 2 - Russian Vocabulary. The Russian word for "hi" (the informal version of hello) is privet, which is pronounced "preev-yet". Using the Keyword Method, I first notice that privet sounds to me like the English word "private". I've traveled to Russia four times, so this is a word I have used a lot.
Example 3 - French Vocabulary. The French word for "beach" is la plage (pronounced "la plazh"). I took French in high school and college, and I think la plage was one of those words on Day 1, Lesson 1. Anyway, it illustrates the point:
Example 4 - Italian Vocabulary. The word for "teacher" in the Italian language is insegnante (pronounced "een-sayg-nahn-tay"). By the way, I don't know Italian. Wish I did, it is a beautiful language.
