CHAPTER 0. For the lazy
I strongly recommend reading the entire article - it contains a lot of useful tips, examples, and techniques for learning both English and any foreign words. But if you don’t have the time or willpower (then your desire to learn a foreign language is called into question), then briefly about the highlight of all that is described below.
The cornerstone in learning foreign words is mnemonic association method. It consists of the following sequence of actions: first come up with a sound association in Russian for an English word, then come up with a scene, a plot, a story, a phrase with this association and the correct translation, and remember this story. Within 2 days, repeat 4 times - remember along the chain:
eng. word => sound association => story=> translation.
If a person knows for sure that he came up with a sound association for a given word or spotted a sound association in our database, then it will not be difficult for him to reproduce this pattern. After 4 repetitions there will be no need for the chain, because pair " eng. word => translation" will directly move to the long-term memory area of your brain (the translation itself, during the very first repetitions, lived for only half an hour in the quick memory of the brain). Until this moment, only a story could get into the long-term memory, especially if it is vivid and emotional. Sound association during repetition was invented in a new way, the story with her participation was remembered, and the correct translation was already found in the story.
1. There is an English word slave (slave, subordinate) and you need to learn it.
2. You come up with a Russian word that is consonant with English, for example, glory.
3. You come up with a short story or phrase in which both the association word and the translation appear: “Glory to the slaves - the builders of the Egyptian pyramids!”
4. You remember the story (not necessarily by heart, but the meaning with key words), which is easier for our brain than remembering a direct translation.
And a chain of associations has formed in your brain" slave=> glory => Glory to the slaves, the builders of the Egyptian pyramids! => slave ". More precisely: you try to remember only the story (if it is bright and emotional, then it’s easy), and the sound association itself will pop up in your head when you need to translate the word, through the sound association you will remember the story, and through it - translation.
The method also works in the opposite direction. That is, if you need to remember how to say “slave” in English, then, knowing that you have a story with the word “slave”, you will quickly remember it, take from it the sound association “glory”, which will lead to English the word slave.
CHAPTER 1. Installation on technology
While potential polyglots do not know anything about the technique other than its purpose, they show considerable interest in it and demonstrate their readiness to begin an assault on a foreign language tomorrow. But as soon as our story begins to present the essence of the most important principle, the mystery instantly evaporates, and they disappointingly declare that they have known this way of memorizing words for a long time without us (this statement is made by 90 of the 100 who want to learn the language using this method). Therefore, at the very first meeting, we always emphasize and outline that the success of language learning does not depend on the novelty of the principle, but on the ability to use it correctly.
To learn a language, you need to know not only the principle, but also the detailed TECHNOLOGY of its application.
The presentation of the principle itself will take several lines. The rest of the work is devoted to describing the technology. In our opinion, if domestic pedagogical science paid more attention not to a meticulous search in the works of classics for evidence of the truth of its methods, but was engaged in the careful development of technologies, then all other methods of learning foreign languages (learning in a dream, sublimation methods of memorization, rhythmic memorization, etc.) d.) would be, if not better, then at least as effective as our method. By this we want to emphasize that the method on which you decided to spend a pathologically inconvertible currency, time, does not lie on the sidelines of psychological science. It differs only in proven technology.
CHAPTER 2. Why language is easier for children
The question of why children remember both their native and foreign languages well has not yet been unanimously resolved. The only thing that unites psychologists is recognition illogical thinking of children. Only at the age of three can we say that the sun is hiding behind a cloud because we are very tired. At school we would probably get two points for such a statement. We begin to think in cliches, hackneyed phrases and stereotypes. The evil spirit of illogical thinking is purposefully driven out of us. And after all this, we try to learn a foreign language and are amazed why our cluttered head works worse than in childhood.
Imagine a two-year-old child who needs to remember a word he heard for the first time in his native language, for example, pencil, and a similar word from a quasi-foreign language, for example, “abdrapapupa” (in fact, this word was invented by a computer). For a child, it makes absolutely no difference which one he remembers. He is ready to imprint in his memory even both words at once, since memorization occurs as a result of the formation of a conditional connection between these new words and old ones that the child has already learned: “pencil - paper”, “pencil - table”, etc., " abdrapapupa - paper", "abdrapapupa - table", etc. These two connections compete because they have the same age, and therefore strength; they don't erase each other. However, there is no rational explanation for these connections. The child does not strive to form a logical chain between old and new, he simply puts them side by side.
Now let's go back to our childhood and try to remember a list of foreign words. We usually do this in two ways. Either through a rational or mechanical connection. In the first method, we begin to consciously or unconsciously explain to ourselves that “abdrapapupa” is what is drawn on paper, trying in this way to form a rational connection between abdrapapupa and paper. But how do such attempts end in most cases? If we do not have a unique natural memory, then the most common forgetting occurs. At the same time, we work with a steam locomotive efficiency of 20%. The fact is that the connection abdrapapupa - paper, which we are trying to form, is easily replaced by the old, and therefore stronger connection in the native language pencil - paper. This is the service our adult, serious logical thinking provides us. If we try to mechanically memorize a translation, that is, force our memory to form a connection abdrapapupa - pencil (we learn from a list like in school), then due to the limited volume of our short-term memory, which can store from 2 to 26 units of information, it occurs rapid saturation, which leads to cessation of memorization, fatigue and aversion to a foreign language. In addition, old connections continue to have a repressive effect. Thus, logical methods of memorization are more likely to lead to the emergence of a negative attitude towards languages than to mastering them.
Now, after a detailed description of the two dead-end situations, our task becomes infinitely simpler. We can only find in the tangled labyrinth of all possible methods of memorization a method that would be distinguished by the absence of the usual logic, but since the main task of the authors is to convince discerning readers not of the novelty of the method, but of the need for strict adherence to certain rules, then on the long path to the basic principle of memorization they put Another obstacle is the chapter on memory.
CHAPTER 3. Memory
We would be happy to drop this chapter. However, everyone is so tired of unfounded statements about the excellent qualities of this or that phenomenon of our life that now for every pound of obvious fact we certainly demand a fat makeweight from an objective theory. That is why, for fear of seeming unsubstantiated to lovers of foreign languages, we present theoretical and empirical data identified by domestic and foreign psychologists in the field of memory.
At one time, psychology divided human memory into three blocks: sensory register, short-term and long-term memory.
The main function of the sensory register is to prolong the duration of a short-term signal for its successful processing by the brain. For example, a needle prick on a finger lasts much longer than the direct impact of a needle. The sensory register is capable of remembering very large amounts of information, much more than a person can analyze, that is, this type of memory does not have selectivity. Therefore, it is not of great interest to us.
The next block is much more important for us - short term memory. It is she who takes the blows that pupils and students are exposed to in foreign language classes. It is she who is raped by a person, trying to mechanically remember huge amounts of information.
In 1954, Lloyd and Margaret Peterson conducted a very simple experiment that, however, yielded surprising results. They asked subjects to remember only 3 letters, and after 18 seconds to reproduce them. This experiment seems completely insignificant.
Meanwhile, it turned out that the subjects were unable to remember these 3 letters. What's the matter? It's very simple: during these 18 seconds, the subjects were engaged in mental work: they had to quickly count down in threes. When counting backwards in threes, the subject begins with an arbitrarily named three-digit number, for example 487. Then he must loudly name the numbers obtained by subtracting 3 from the previous number, 487, 484, 481, 478, etc. But even this, in general, simple work prevented them from remembering three letters. This simple experiment illustrates the main property of short-term memory: it has a very small capacity (from 2 to 26 units, according to other experiments) and a very short life (from 20 to 30 seconds). But at the same time, it is little sensitive to the length of the unit. We can remember 7 letters or even 7 phrases with equal ease.
The described experiments lead us to the conclusion that:
1. The amount of information memorized at one time must be strictly limited. Even a slight increase in it leads to partial or complete forgetting.
2. After the process of assimilation of information, there must be a pause, during which it is necessary to relieve the brain as much as possible from mental work.
3. It is necessary to make a unit of information as long as possible; word-by-word memorization is an uneconomical use of our memory.
There are at least a dozen theories that explain the positive the effect of a pause on remembering information. The most successful, in our opinion, justification by Müller and Pilzecker (1900) is that during a pause, unconscious repetition of material occurs. If the repetition period is more than 20-30 seconds, that is, there is too much information, then after a while some of it is erased. It is the presence of such a process as unconscious repetition that significantly increases the lifetime of information in short-term memory (up to 24-30 hours). It is this process that prevents us from realizing the extremely small power of this type of memory, as a result of which we mercilessly overload it.
Remember! Unconscious repetition occurs only when the brain is no longer loaded with any information.
This process is disrupted even if you continue to repeat newly learned words for the supposedly noble purpose of further strengthening them in your memory. No further consolidation occurs, since you are not able, with all your desire, to consciously repeat for some time 10-15 words in 20 seconds - the lifetime of short-term memory. By repeating, you interrupt the natural cycle of memorization.
A completely logical question arises: what are the boundaries of the pause, during which it is undesirable to perceive any information with its subsequent processing. At the same time, we repeat, it is undesirable to perceive even learned words!
In 1913 Pieron answered this question. He asked subjects to memorize a series of 18 nonsense syllables (to eliminate the influence of past experience). He then examined how many times the subjects had to repeat the same series at various intervals in order to restore the forgotten syllables to their short-term memory. We present its data in the following table:
As you can see, if you start repeating a series of syllables 30 seconds after the first memorization, then you have 14! refer to its contents once before they are remembered again. But if repetitions are resumed after 10 minutes, during which we do not receive any information, then their number will be only 4 (it should be noted that these numbers refer to meaningless material; when learning words that have meaning, the absolute number of their repetitions is less , but the proportions are approximately preserved).
In the period of time from 10 minutes to 24 hours, processes stabilize and information in short-term memory ceases to depend on external factors. Consequently, during this period it is possible to both study new information and repeat old information. After 24 hours, the number of required repetitions begins to increase and reaches 8 after 48 hours. This means that mnemonic processes begin to lose their energy. Therefore, every 24 hours it is necessary to repeat previously learned words (which, however, is known even without experiments).
Let's make some brief conclusions:
1. After memorizing the next portion of words, you need to pause for at least 10 minutes, during which your thoughts will not be burdened by serious mental work.
2. After 10 minutes, the words can be repeated again, and after 24 hours, the words must be repeated. Otherwise, you will have to make twice as much effort to remember them again.
We, of course, understand that everything written here and below is known to most readers. But to our great regret, such knowledge does not at all interfere with teachers of foreign languages in schools and universities. They act according to the principle that our education system obliges us to follow: albeit poorly, but according to the program. As a result, we leave educational institutions programmed to the ends of our hair, and if foreign languages do not yet cause nervous attacks in us, we begin to learn them on our own using the same methods that we adopted from our older comrades.
Therefore, we have a big request: be sure to read this chapter to the end, so that in the future our technology does not seem absurd to you.
Pieron's experiments show how long we should rest, that is, with what frequency we should repeat words. But they tell us absolutely nothing about how many such repetitions there should be that would allow us to transfer words from short-term to long-term memory. Yost's experiments in 1987 show that with rote learning the number of such repetitions reaches 20-30 times. In our case, the number of repetitions distributed in a special way for the average person is 4 times.
Now let's look at another phenomenon of short-term memory, perfectly understood and known by everyone, but nevertheless ignored by the majority with Asian tenacity.
Everyone knows perfectly well that the more the elements of the memorized material are similar to each other, the more effort must be made to memorize them, the more homogeneous the elements, the more difficult they are to digest. So why do we all compile lists of words, albeit different in meaning, but homogeneous in form, and teach, teach! What comes to your mind first when you remember the translation of a word written in the list? Naturally, the location of this word is on a piece of paper. There is no need to be proud of this, it does not at all speak about the positive features of your memory. It just doesn’t have the opportunity to catch on to anything more significant, more characteristic of a given word. The list of words is too homogeneous. This leads to a global conclusion, like all the previous ones:
Each word must have a clearly distinctive set of labels. It is necessary to deprive all the words of the list of monotony and then they will begin to be remembered involuntarily, without our participation. How to achieve this? We do not claim that we were able to achieve the ideal in our method, but we, perhaps, managed to get closer to this requirement.
Now let's move on to long-term memory. Despite the fact that the phenomenon of memory is studied in all domestic and foreign areas of psychology (psychotypes of activity, cognitive psychology, behaviorism, etc., etc.), a plausible explanation for the transition of information from short-term memory to long-term memory has not yet been proposed. The situation with knowledge of this mechanism is even worse among foreign language lovers, since most of them are familiar with only one of the factors of such a transition - periodic, tireless repetition. Although we are sure that you personally do not belong to this majority, we nevertheless risk holding your attention a little longer on some phenomena of long-term memory.
1. In 1973, Standing published the results of his generally simple experiments. The subjects were shown 11,000 slides, a month later they were presented with them mixed with others and asked to identify them. The subjects remembered the slides and gave correct answers 73% of the time! This suggests that the slide images entered long-term memory from the first presentation. Therefore, when memorizing words, you need to use not only repetition, but also bright, colorful, interesting, plot-based pictures, which are best cut out from the Krokodil magazine. (Again, we understand that such a conclusion is not a revelation to anyone. But if you met at least one person who consciously used this principle when learning a language, we would be very surprised.
2. Probably all of us, language lovers, are tirelessly looking for a method in which words would be remembered by themselves. One of the authors, at one time experiencing the enormous influence of such an illusory dream, hung in his office about 10 sheets of paper with large words written in the hope that they would constantly fall into the field of view and (after all, a drop chisels a stone) involuntarily remembered. Although the idea turned out to be hopelessly unpromising, the natural desire to make my life easier when learning a language remained. So, is it possible to give the memorization process a share of involuntariness and, therefore, make it easier and faster? Try to remember, if you have experience learning a language on your own, cases when some words were remembered without any effort on your part. Have you analyzed these situations? After all, if we could identify something common to them, we could very effectively manage the processes of memorization, or at least not make mistakes like the one described above.
Involuntary remembering means that there is some force that makes our brain work regardless of our desire. What generates this force? Is it possible to create it artificially? The answer to these questions was found by Soviet psychologists A.A. Smirnov and P.I. Zinchenko.
In 1945, Smirnov conducted a very simple study. He asked several subjects, two hours after the start of the working day, to recall their route from home to work. Let us give one such description as an example. “I remember first of all the moment of leaving the subway. What exactly? How I thought that I needed to get out of the car so that I could quickly take the right position and go quickly, since I was late. I was traveling, I remember, in the last car. Therefore, I couldn’t jump out anywhere I had to enter the crowd. Previously, the crowd walked along the entire width of the platform to ensure passage for those entering. I don’t remember anything further. I only have a vague memory of how I got to the gates of the university. “I didn’t notice anything. I don’t remember what I was thinking about. When I entered the gate, I noticed someone standing. I don’t remember anything else.”
What is characteristic of this story and others like it? First of all, the subject's memories relate much more to what he did than to what he thought. Even in those cases when thoughts are remembered, they are still associated with the actions of the subject. But subjects perform many actions. Which of them is associated with involuntary memorization? With those that contribute to or hinder the achievement of the goal facing the subject. In 1945, everyone had one most important goal - to come to work on time, so they involuntarily remembered only what influenced the speed of progress along the street. It would seem that this extremely simple conclusion should in itself form the basis for learning a foreign language! But this doesn't happen. What goal did the teacher set for us during the lessons? Remember the word. But that's the goal! How will the word be involuntarily remembered in this case, if memorization itself is the goal?! The more we focus our efforts on memorizing words, the less involuntary, the more volitional efforts, the more violence we commit against our memory.
Memorizing words should not be the goal in learning a foreign language.
Memorization should only be an action leading to the achievement of some goal.
Two questions immediately arise:
What should this goal be?
What actions should be taken?
We will answer the first question in the chapter on memory technology. The second question was answered by the experiments of the Soviet psychologist P.I. Zienko. In his experiments, distinguished like all others by their apparent simplicity, the subjects were divided into two groups. The first of them was given pictures depicting various objects and asked to classify them according to the first letters of their names (for example, I put together pictures with the letter A, then B, etc.). The second group received the same pictures, but classified them according to the meaning of the objects depicted (for example, they put together first pictures with furniture, then with animals, etc.).
After the experiment, both groups had to remember the pictures they had worked with. As you may have guessed, the second group showed better results. This happened because in the first case, the meaning of the picture, despite the fact that it was understood and passed through consciousness by the subjects (after all, they had to highlight the first letter), was not included directly in the goal - in the classification. In the second case, the subjects were also clearly aware of both the sound composition of the name and the meaning of the picture, but only the meaning was directly included in the goal. This leads us to the idea that the goal should directly include both the meaning of the word and its sound.
To achieve the goal, which we will formulate a little later, it is necessary to manipulate both the meaning and pronunciation. This will lead to the fact that a foreign word will be remembered with a large degree of involuntariness.
Unfortunately, in schools and universities this principle is violated like traffic rules - by everyone and everywhere. Learning a language turns into painful, focused cramming.
3. Anyone who has encountered psychology is familiar with the concept installations(not to be confused with party guidelines). This term refers to a person’s willingness to act in a very specific way. For example, graduates develop an attitude toward continuing their studies or an attitude towards work; you have a very strong attitude towards a foreign language, etc. Installations make our life easier. Thanks to them, we perform most of our actions automatically and do not waste time thinking. For example, in the morning we decided to wash ourselves: the corresponding installation, developed throughout our life, is activated, and all actions begin to be performed automatically (we are little aware of them). As soon as washing is completed, the installation turns off and you make a new decision - have breakfast. Another installation is turned on and the actions are performed automatically again (provided that the refrigerator has everything necessary to complete this act).
If you had a plan for morning exercises, then the latter would not put you in a gloomy mood in the evening, but would be performed automatically, like washing your face.
How are installations created? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is unknown when it will appear. Therefore, we cannot give detailed explanations, despite the thick tomes written by psychologists. But in order to somehow mitigate the current situation, we will describe an experiment that will allow us to understand a very useful phenomenon for learning a foreign language.
The subjects, as in the previous experiment, were divided into two groups. They were read the same text, but the first group was told that they would test their knowledge the next day, and the other group was told that they would do the same in a week. In fact, the test of text knowledge was carried out only after two weeks in both groups. The subjects of the second group showed better results. In this experiment we can clearly see the action and influence of the attitude created in the subjects by the experimental situation.
Therefore, when you sit down to study the next portion of words, try to convince yourself and sincerely believe that you are learning the language in order to remember it all your life. The command “I remember these words for a long time,” given to yourself before starting classes, may seem insignificant even after describing the experiment with the installation. We fully admit this and do not insist that it will ensure you one hundred percent success. But we would like to remind you that previously the function of tuning into any activity (including school lessons) was performed by prayer. Warriors prayed before battle not at all because the dominant ideology obliged them to do so. Prayer set them up for heroic deeds. “Our Father,” read before lunch or a lesson, calmed, pushed away all worries, and contributed to better assimilation of food and knowledge. Perhaps you shouldn’t read such a tuning prayer before studying a dozen or two words. But when it comes to thousands, a small thing turns into a significant factor. If creating an appropriate installation allows you to remember at least one more word for every ten words, then for every thousand you will make a profit of a hundred words. Don't miss out on the benefits.
4. We have yet to become acquainted with one more, fairly well-known fact, and then nothing else will prevent us from finding out how and in what method we can simultaneously take into account all the above requirements and observations.
This last fact is that our brain is not able to perceive static. Try to look carefully at some object without moving your eyes or head. This simple task will become impossible after 2-3 minutes - the object will begin to “dissolve”, leave your field of vision, and you will stop seeing it. The same thing happens with monotonous sound (for example, the noise of the forest, the noise of cars, etc.). But if we cannot perceive non-dynamic phenomena, then what can we say about our memory, which is connected with the outside world through perception and sensations! Everything that is not capable of movement or is not associatively associated with movement is instantly erased from our memory. To prove this fact, we, of course, have in stock the results of a very simple experiment. On a movie screen, the subjects were shown faces of another nationality, filmed from the front (as is known, without the appropriate habit, representatives of another nation at first all seem to have the same face). If the image was dynamic, that is, the person smiled, frowned, moved his eyes, sniffed, etc., then subsequently his photograph was easily recognized by the subjects among others. If the person’s face was motionless, then the number of correct answers dropped sharply. This suggests that a static, motionless image very quickly “disappears” from memory. From this we will draw the last, but no less important than all the previous, conclusion: all images used to memorize foreign words must be dynamic!
There must be movement in everything.
This concludes the chapter on the features of our memory. We are fully aware that the memory model, consisting of the 3 described systems, is not the best and only possible (we could start from the levels model, from the sign theory of memory of L.S. Vygotsky, etc.), but compared to others, it is the most developed and technologically advanced.
Now we would like to express our gratitude to everyone for their patience and move on to presenting the technology for learning a foreign language, which will allow you to learn 20-30 (and if you really want to, much more) words per hour. True, this does not mean that you will learn 480-600 words in a day. Therefore, during the day it is advisable to learn (of course, if you have a lot of free time) no more than 100 words. In addition, we do not recommend suddenly switching to this method immediately. First, try to learn the language using the method that is familiar to you, partially using ours as an aid when memorizing particularly difficult words. Such a smooth transition will allow you to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of the method and more successfully adapt the technology for yourself.
CHAPTER 4. Technology structure
In this chapter we will describe the structure of accelerated word learning technology. But it will seem unconvincing to you if you have not read the previous chapter. Before we try to collect all the requirements and observations described above in one method, let's remember them.
1. Success in learning languages does not depend on knowledge of a special method, but on the ability to use the technology developed on its basis.
2. Don’t torture your memory, don’t learn the language mechanically.
3. Our memory is capable of accepting from 2 to 26 pieces of information in one sitting.
4. When learning a language, you should not rely on habit, generally accepted logic, or standard perception of the world.
5. Short-term memory lasts no more than 30 seconds.
6. Information is stored in short-term memory for much longer than 30 seconds due to circulation that we are not aware of.
7. After studying a portion of words, a 10-minute break is required.
8. You need to learn words only before the first playback (when you can repeat the entire list at least once). Don't waste time on unnecessary repetition.
9. You need to repeat the words once in the interval from 10 minutes to 24-30 hours.
10. The unit of memorized information should be as long as possible (a block of words or a phrase). Those who teach or force to learn single words must be punished for wasting time and memory on an especially large scale.
11. To deprive the list of words of monotony, it is necessary to give each word some kind of bright label.
12. The word is transferred to long-term memory not so much through repetition, but with the help of plot pictures.
13. We easily do what happens involuntarily, apart from our participation. Words will be remembered involuntarily if memorization is not the goal of our activity. Mental operations with the meaning and pronunciation of a word must be directly included in the goal.
14. Before memorizing, you need to get ready for the lesson. Our psyche has inertia. She cannot switch from cooking cutlets to learning a language in an instant.
15. The information to be remembered must contain or be associated with dynamic elements. Otherwise, it will be erased without a trace.
Now that we have everything before our eyes, we can think intently about the thesis" Memorization shouldn't be the goal.". In some methods, this requirement is met. For example, in the rhythmic method, the main goal is not to remember the word, but to repeat it in a certain rhythm to the melody (remember, especially those who are fond of foreign groups, how easy it is to remember the words of songs even if they are completely misunderstood). In the sublimation method, in which a person is influenced with a supra-threshold speed of perception, the goal is also not memorization, but the ability to concentrate on reproduction, etc. (all these and other methods can be found in specialized literature). - but they are distinguished by the complexity of equipment and technology, which cannot yet be used independently at home (We hope that in the near future our academic science and practice will finally pay serious attention to them. Memorization as a goal is also absent in the method based on imitation). any activity. For example, students are given the task of setting the table and given a vocabulary of necessary words. The corresponding imitation that arises under the influence of the goal allows them to memorize words very effectively. But this method requires high pedagogical skill of the teacher and his rich imagination. In addition, this method does not have a rigid structure.
We propose mental manipulation of words as a goal: to match a foreign word with a Russian one that sounds similar. For example: sleeve (sleeve, English) - plum, etc. But in this case we operate only with the sound of the word, and its meaning and translation should be directly included in the goal. To fulfill this requirement, let’s add another translation to the formed pair of words:
sleeve - plum - sleeve
tongue - dance - tongue
and let’s think about how we can now formulate the goal so that it does not coincide with memorizing words. Remember the experiment that proves that an image (picture) is located in long-term memory in most cases? So we need to work with images. But our images only have words of our native language. The meaning of a foreign word receives an image only through its analogue in Russian (or in your native) language. This leads us to the idea that when memorizing, you need to use only the words of your native language, that is, plum - sleeve, tsunami - language. As a goal, we will choose to solve the problem of finding a possible relationship between words in each pair. But before solving this problem, let us remember two more requirements: the absence of generally accepted logic and the presence of dynamics in the elements of information. This suggests that the relationship between the words of the pair should be unusual, illogical, firstly, and dynamic, that is, contain movement, secondly. In our case, this is very easy to do. We imagine how a saleswoman in a store, having weighed the plums, transfers them to an empty sleeve. Notice the word "introducing". The attitude needs not just to be spoken out (at later stages, speaking becomes unnecessary altogether), but rather represented, since this allows you to bypass short-term unreliable memory and work immediately in long-term memory.
Pronunciation, according to some experimental data from cognitive psychology, is primarily associated with short-term memory, so we use it only in the initial stages, if imaginative thinking is not sufficiently developed.
In addition, pay attention once again to the dynamics: the saleswoman weighs and pours. You need to imagine how the plums roll into the sleeve, how you take it from the hands of the saleswoman, etc. It would be a big mistake to try to limit ourselves to imagining plums lying motionless in the hand. With the formation of several thousand similar non-dynamic structures, our static one will disappear like smoke.
An unusual relationship between words is a very strong, emotionally charged sign. Each word in the list becomes individual, different from the others.
Although dynamic structure is stored in memory almost indefinitely, we need it like a hammer when driving a nail into a painting. We hammered a nail into the wall (remembered the association of two words) and put the hammer aside. Now let’s do what we did all this work for (in the future, association as your skills develop will take you no more than 3-5 seconds). We tried to remember the word sleev. Thanks to the similar sound, we quickly move from this word to the Russian “plum”. This connection is stored in short-term memory, and it is this connection that constitutes the weakest link in the chain. The number of precisely these connections as units of information should not exceed 26 units in a portion of words (the number of structures can be unlimited; this discrepancy is subsequently taken into account in the technology). The word "plum", thanks to the rigidity of the invented structure, will lead us to the translation - "sleeve". Thus, our main efforts are focused not on memorizing words, but on creating structure. You can see for yourself how effectively involuntary memorization begins to work in our case.
As classes conducted with foreign language learners have shown, all such operations cause difficulties in the first stages, aggravated by seeming far-fetchedness, frivolity, etc. During the process of association, many begin to experience discomfort from the fact that those around them are listening attentively to their “nonsense.” In fact, the ability to quickly come up with such “stupidity” speaks of your unconventional, creative mind. The good thing about this method is that even if you fail to learn a language with it (which is unlikely), your creative thinking will significantly improve. You will begin to see things in a new light. Many subjects become sarcastic and sarcastic because they suddenly discover the ambiguity of our speech. This method is especially useful for inventors and scientists (as well as suppliers) as an exercise in flexible thinking.
Association is a creative process. That's why we really insisted on pre-setting. Unfortunately, most people understand tuning as the formation of an order (it’s not for nothing that M.M. Zhvatsetsky said that our life is also a soldier’s life). In fact, it is better to start with phrases of the following form:
“I really want to learn the language. I will try. I will try very hard. I want to remember the words. My thinking is very flexible...” etc.
And it is better not to use command phrases such as “I must learn the language” and others. Our entire psyche is already exhausted by demands and orders. It immediately creates resistance that we are not aware of. This is especially important to remember if you are setting up students or schoolchildren who, even without your instructions, have long been discouraged from learning foreign languages. It would be very useful to start associating in the same environment, with the same actions. Try to create some unobtrusive traditions. Remember how in pre-revolutionary school children read prayer often during lessons. There is no need to deny their experience. It wasn't all bad then.
So, we came up with a structure for the foreign word. They made it unusual, dynamic, imaginative. But when studying, especially at first, figurative representation alone is usually not enough. We were taught more to control our speech than our images. (Remember the contemptuous “Dreamers!”). Therefore, after some time, which is clearly not enough for the structure to fulfill its function and only then disappear, the images begin to merge, be erased, and become dirty. This happens because the image of a particular word, as a rule, does not have any connection. The word can be used with different connotations, in different contexts. It is influenced by other words and changes its meaning depending on the environment. Therefore, at first words are best combined into groups of 7-10 pieces in each based on one content Pictures with concentrated meaning. We can also find pictures in school textbooks. But all of them do not have a concentrated meaning. For example, a pioneer stands in front of a school. This picture does not have a specific, clearly defined, memorable meaning. Therefore, she easily blends in with others like her. It is best to take pictures from humor magazines. If there are words under the picture (the speech of the participants or the title), then they must be left with the picture in order to maintain a single meaning and meaning.
It is best to paste the cut-out picture onto a punched card or into a notebook. Next to it write triads of words (foreign - similar in sound - translation). Images and structure are easy to remember, so they should not be recorded in writing. Images, provided that they have a clear, extraordinary meaning, immediately penetrate in most cases into long-term memory. Thanks to this, even several years later we can mentally examine it with all the details and remember those 7-10 words that we learned with its help. This block memorization system allows you to avoid?swimming? words in different contexts. In addition, the block of words contained in the picture represents one unit of information. Consequently, in one sitting (in one lesson) it is possible to assimilate from 2 to 26 pictures without damage to memory, as a result of which we condense information by 7-10 times, that is, we increase the natural capabilities of our memory by 7-10 times! In the future, when the basis of a foreign language has been studied, words can be studied directly from the dictionary. You open the first page, take a word, form a structure, make a mark with a pencil (write down a word that sounds similar; this is necessary to be on the safe side, since there is little hope for short-term memory) and the word remains in your head for the rest of your life. However, with this method, the density of information decreases and you will be able to remember no more than 25 words in one lesson. But this disadvantage can be compensated for by increasing the number of lessons, which should follow each other with a break of at least 10-15 minutes.
Learning a language with the help of pictures is also advantageous in that you don’t have to waste time on repetition, since you can do it on the way to work or home, in line, on the bus, etc. It is enough just to remember the picture and “select” all the words with structures from it. Agree that this is absolutely impossible if the words are formatted as a list. You will furrow your forehead intensely and remember which word you were supposed to remember, but you will never do it until you look at the list. There is only one way out - teach with the help of pictures!
When studying the first 3-4 thousand words, you will be forced to repeat them several times in order to consolidate them in long-term memory and free yourself from the structure that served its function. At the fifth thousand, as a rule, a special feeling arises - confidence in your memory, and using this method the word begins to be remembered from the first presentation. But do not despair if this does not happen in the sixth or tenth thousand, this is not related to intellectual abilities. At first repetition It's better to organize it like this:
The first time - 10-20 minutes (but it is quite acceptable after two to three hours or even 12 hours) after the mental creation of structures; in this case, you need to look either at the Russian translation or at a foreign word and reproduce the entire structure, even if it seems to you that you can already do without it; in the future, you can omit the first repetition and move directly to the second after 24 hours.
The second time - the next day after 24-30 hours; if it was not possible to reproduce all the structures created by you or the teacher, then they are repeated again the next day; When repeating, it is better to look only at the picture, looking for the necessary words on it.
If it was not possible to remember and repeat all the structures the third time, they should be postponed until the final repetition of all the structures of a given portion of words, which is carried out after 1-5 months (optimally 2-3 months). There is no need to be afraid of such a deadline. You will be able to remember the words after one or two years, even if you have never encountered them during this period. This is one of the significant advantages of the method: when studying a language, we can not be afraid that it will be completely forgotten due to long-term disuse.
The last repetition is the main and decisive one. All your great work will be in vain if you don't take this last step. In most cases, after 1-6 months, students remember the structures very vaguely if they have not been exposed to the corresponding stems during this period. This occurs due to the interference of structures, due to the natural processes of forgetting, aggravated by non-compliance with the described technology even in small things (dynamism, illogicality, imagery, periods of rest and memorization, settings, etc.). Therefore, it is better to divide the last repetition into two parts: the first day - we remember the structure from our notes; on the second day - we repeat them, looking only at the pictures (and if according to the dictionary, we look only at the translation or foreign word).
If during the last repetition you immediately remembered the translation of the word, then there is no need to restore the entire structure. It fulfilled its function and died. In general, you should have a new sensation when, from the depths of your consciousness, even against your will, in response to a word in your native language, its translation will “pop up”. This is accompanied by a feeling of slight confusion, confusion, and uncertainty. But after you make sure that only the right word “pops up” and not a random one, it will pass.
If quite a lot of time has passed between learning a language (7-8 thousand words are enough for this) and its active use (from one year to 3-4 years), then the words can be forgotten again. But this forgetting is fundamentally different from forgetting during mechanical (school) memorization, when words are erased without a trace. In our case, words do not disappear from memory forever, but seem to pass into the subconscious (“canned”), from which we can very quickly extract them by looking at the notes. For such repetition, it takes about a day (including breaks) for every thousand words without much effort. Agree that there is hardly any other method that allows you to restore knowledge at such a speed.
On average, at the initial stage, all operations to memorize one word, including all repetitions, creating a structure, searching for equivalents, writing in a dictionary or notebook, etc. it takes 2-3 minutes. In the future (especially when learning a second language) the time will be reduced to 30-60 seconds. If you have a teacher who knows a foreign language and this method well, then the speed easily increases to 100 words per hour (all numbers have been tested experimentally). The optimal composition of a group with a teacher is 10-12 people.
If you have a mistrust of these numbers, then before throwing the technique aside, conduct an experiment: learn 10-20 words in this way and draw final conclusions no earlier than in a month.
CHAPTER 5. Examples
Here we will give examples and features of the technology discovered in practice.
Let's try to learn three words in English:
chess - (scratch) - chess
beard - (berdanka) - beard
nose - (sock) - nose
1. chess. Imagine chess pieces the size of fleas running quickly across your body. It's natural that you start itching. You need to imagine this situation in as much detail as possible (at first it is better to close your eyes; if you are teaching schoolchildren, it is recommended to give them the command: “Close your eyes and imagine that...”). Note. The resulting structure is dynamic and does not coincide with our previous experience. At first glance, one could come up with the following structure: you take a chess piece and scratch with it the place, for example, of a bite. But this situation does not contradict our experience at all. Therefore, if there are several dozen more similar structures, it will be erased.
2. beard. Imagine a Berdan system gun with a thick black beard instead of a butt fluttering in the wind (and not just sticking out!!!).
3. nose. Very often there are words that sound similar to the translation. Don't expect that such a coincidence will allow you to remember effectively. In most cases, the fact that it sounds similar disappears from your mind and you are left without a clue. It is necessary to choose an intermediate word. In our case, “sock”. Imagine that someone you know suddenly starts to grow a dirty, unpleasant-smelling sock instead of a nose. 99 times out of 100 you will probably remember this structure.
We must strive to ensure that each object used in the structure receives as many epithets and colorful characteristics as possible. This will once again make the structure different from others. This also avoids the “horse name” effect. The point is that we understand the meaning of a thing through generalization, reduction to a more general one.
For example, what is a jacket? We can say that these are sleeves, pockets, lapels, etc. But such an understanding will be similar to the blind feeling an elephant, i.e., it will be fragmentary and far from the truth. Therefore, in our thinking, a jacket is reduced to several classes: men's clothing, light clothing, business clothing, etc., that is, the concept of a jacket is generalized. This leads to the fact that a word that does not have clear characteristics can be unconsciously replaced by a broader class; our brain, against our will, will carry out a generalization operation. Many students, having not worked through the image enough, remember very well that, for example, some type of clothing grows instead of a nose, but they absolutely cannot remember which one. This leads us to the conclusion that in the structure you should use not the first word that comes across (meaning a word that sounds similar), but the one that you understand well, which you often use, the shades of which you know. Unfortunately, only concrete nouns (and not all of them) and some verbs (for example, scratch, bite, draw, etc.) have this property. Abstract nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. In most cases they do not have a figurative representation. At the first stages, this causes difficulties, which often lead to disappointment in the technique. You can avoid this by creatively using the techniques described below.
1. How to include an abstract noun in the structure, for example, the word "gamble"? The problem is that it does not evoke specific images for most students. As an intermediate word (similar in sound) we use the word “Hamlet” (the first 3 and last 2 letters match). In the word “adventure”, highlight the first 4 letters “avan” and add “s”. It turns out to be an "advance". This word already has a very definite image: a queue near the cash register, the rustle of money (recently printed), the accountant’s voice: “Sign here,” and so on. Therefore, our memory can fully cope with such a simple task as compiling and remembering a structure of two words “Hamlet” and “advance”. You probably already have it. Imagine Hamlet, who received an advance payment of 70 Soviet rubles for reading his monologue “To be or not to be...” on stage.
When we are presented with the word gamble, our memory will automatically associate it with “Hamlet”, and it, in turn, with “advance”, which will lead us to “adventure”. There is no need to be afraid of this apparent bulkiness. You don't know your brain. He is able to quickly learn more complex operations.
Thus, the technique consists in the transition from an abstract word to a concrete one on a phonetic basis.2. Another way to move to a concrete word from an abstract one is to try to replace one or two letters in it. For example, swindle is a scam. We know very well what a scam is, but it is difficult to imagine its specific image. Let's replace the first letter "a" with "c". You will get a "sphere". Swindle resembles “pig” (4 letters match, that’s enough). Imagine placing small glass spheres in a pig's feeder, which she "cracks" with great appetite. The word "swindle" could also be replaced with the word "windsurfing". Try to create structures from this word and “sphere” yourself.
3. If the described techniques did not help, then we can mentally compose a plot picture that does not coincide with our experience. For example: disgrace - disgrace.
Disgrace resembles the combination of two words at once: “disc” and “grace”. So that these two words do not disintegrate in our memory, imagine a gramophone on which a black disk is spinning quickly. A breathless Leontyev runs along the disk in the direction of the opposite rotation and gaspingly shouts: “Signorita Grazia!”
Most likely, you do not have a specific image of “ugliness” (although the entire world around you may act as one). Imagine this picture: a large red carrot with long tops says to a small carrot with tops cut in the latest fashion standing in front of it and looking down: “Disgrace!” Play this scene in your mind several times. Put yourself in the shoes of one or the other, and you will strongly associate the word “disgrace” with the word “carrot.”
Now imagine that Leontyev not only runs along the disk, but also jumps over barriers formed by large carrots.
We would again like to ask you not to fall into despair from the “impenetrable stupidity” that you may perceive here. Despite all the frivolity, this method works. In addition, learning a language on your own or in a class turns into an entertaining process. There is usually constant laughter in a class or student group, which in itself promotes memorization.4. In English (and other) languages, verbs with postverb particles are common. A limited small number of these particles form a huge number of meanings of the same verb. This leads to monotony and confusion in the head.
To avoid this, each particle is assigned a specific word that sounds similar.
For example:out - spiderLet's imagine that we need to remember the verb bring uр - to educate. Вring resembles a brigantine. All verbs are translated into corresponding nouns if possible. “Educate” will turn into “educator,” which probably has a specific image for everyone. This is a man with a stern face who threatens everyone with his finger.
up - trap
to - ax
Now let's build the structure. Imagine a brigantine sailing from the pier, with a huge trap hanging instead of a snow-white sail. Between the teeth of the trap, with the last of his strength, clenching his jaws like an Atlas, stands the teacher. He continues to wag his finger at you.5. Similarly, adjectives and adverbs are translated into nouns. If this cannot be done, then you can try to use stereotypical phrases. For example: convincing - convincing.
Сonvincing resembles two words: “horse” and “wine”. To prevent the words from falling apart, let's connect them in a structure. Imagine a horse with wine bottles sticking out for ears, and he moves them when flies fall on them.
“Convincing” is rigidly included in the phrase “convincing example.” Now imagine how a horse stands at the blackboard, solves an example and scratches its hoof behind its bottle ear.6. In the previous example, another example was used at the same time - a play on words. An example can be understood in two ways - as a behavior and as a mathematical problem. Use the game as often as possible. To do this, you can use an explanatory dictionary, which indicates all possible meanings of words in various contexts.
However, there is another version of the play on words. For example: tire - to get bored. The word tire resembles "dash". The verb “bored” can be understood not only in the generally accepted sense, but also as “to collect something in a heap”, “to pile something up”, etc. Therefore, it can be easily translated into the noun "heap", which has an image. Imagine how you collect scattered dashes from the field (short sticks that fell out of the lines of a book when you took it carelessly from the shelf) and fold or sweep them into a pile.
We have described to you only a small part of the techniques. When you start learning a language on your own, you can easily expand their list and choose the most effective ones in your opinion.
In conclusion, we would like to dwell on the time factor. With large volumes of information being remembered, every second saved becomes significant. Significant amounts of time can be gained by eliminating unnecessary repetitions. Remember that repetition of words started immediately after memorizing them (after 30-60 seconds) leads to deterioration in memorization and unnecessary waste of time. You can also save time at the stage of creating the structure. Some students cannot concentrate, adjust themselves and spend ten minutes thinking about finding the right word and connection. This greatly inhibits the creative process and erases previously learned words, since the unconscious cycle of short-term memory is interrupted. The lesson is a sprint distance, it cannot be run with breaks and heavy thoughts. First, try to come up with structures in a competition situation: which of the two or more people who have decided to study the language with you can come up with the most such structures in the same time. Downtime must be avoided at all costs.
If you still have an insurmountable difficulty, then it is better to skip the word and return to it a little later (in one to two days).
As a rule, in this case the necessary words are found immediately. Before starting classes, it is useful to tune in with a few phrases: “I don’t have much time. I want to think very quickly. Finding the right words and associations will not cause me any difficulties.” Another setting option is that the person you are holding is waiting for you in the next room. But you can talk to him only after you have learned the planned lesson. Try this and see that this contrived situation actually makes you work harder. It is also useful to time your mental activities. Make sure that one word out of 20 on the list takes on average no more than 3 minutes, including all types of repetition. Strive to continually compress this time. If you are a teacher, then getting students, that is, another person, to work quickly is much more difficult than yourself. In this case, it is useful to force future polyglots to do some quick work before the lesson, for example, squat quickly (but this can get tiring) or quickly copy the teacher’s actions, which are not physically difficult. A simulator consisting of 10 light bulbs, which the teacher lights in random order at a fast pace, is very useful for this. The task of the students is to have time to touch the lighted bulb. Fast movements that do not cause fatigue bring our entire body, at the physiological and mental level, to a state where all operations begin to be performed at increased speed. You can intensify activity during the setup process with the help of another exercise that directly works on memorizing words. Students are placed in a competition situation: they are asked to name the translation of the word proposed by the teacher as quickly as possible (whoever is faster). However, this exercise does not lead to physical activity.
Another effective way to save time is to simultaneously study all the synonyms of a given word in a foreign language.
For example: recruit - recruit, enlist
Let's turn "recruit" into the word "willow".
Recruit resembles "recreation", enlist - "broom, leaf".
Imagine that the entrance to the recreation area is littered with willow branches. You take a broom made of sheets of paper, wave it, and the willow branches fly away.
The number of synonyms, naturally, can significantly exceed the number two. The more synonyms of a foreign language you include in one structure, the higher the density of information, the greater the amount of memory provided, the greater the likelihood that none of them will be forgotten, the higher the speed of memorization.
This concludes the presentation of the methodology. We would like to emphasize once again that we do not seek to take credit for the authorship of this method. You've probably heard and read about him. The only thing we see as our merit is a detailed presentation of the technology and an attempt to convince you that it is quite possible to learn a language in a few months, even in the complete absence of relevant abilities. We wish us successful studies!
ANNEX 1
0 things you should remember when learning a foreign language using the structured method:
1. Remember that only dynamic structure is remembered well.
2. The main objects in the structure must be in a connection that does not coincide with your past experience.
3. The main objects of the structure, as well as the connection between them, should have a colorful, rich image in contrast to other, secondary objects of this structure.
4. Remember that our memory capabilities are limited: at one time (one lesson) you can learn no more than 20-25 words, and when condensing information, no more than 100 words. The number of lessons per day is limited by the necessary periods of rest for our memory.
5. Condense information: use pictures and blocks of synonyms.
6. Translate abstract nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives into concrete images.
7. Don't forget that 50% of success lies in the ability to set yourself up.
8. Remember that you should not load your head with any thoughts immediately after studying words.
9. Use a rational repetition system. Save time.
10. Don't rush into a gallop: start with five words a day.
11. Don't lose your notes, they will come in handy.
12. Use the structural method together with classical methods of memorization, this will allow you to identify its advantages and disadvantages for yourself.
13. Remember, the function of the method is to expand the capabilities of your memory, and not to create in you a lasting desire to learn a foreign language. Desire is your problem.
These and others mnemonic associations in our database. Add your own associations, use others!
Many who begin to learn a language, from the very beginning, wonder how to memorize foreign words easily, quickly and with pleasure, so that they can immediately speak a foreign language.
Technology for memorizing foreign words
First of all, one most important note - this technology for memorizing foreign words is configured in such a way that you need to quickly learn words in the “foreign - Russian” direction, that is, we look at a foreign word and remember its meaning in Russian, but not vice versa!
Once you decide to quickly speak a foreign language, the question arises: how to memorize hundreds of foreign words a day? This is not always possible, because words themselves cannot jump into your head. You always need someone to put them there or enter them into memory, like in a computer.
Stage 1 Working with foreign words
At the stage of working with foreign words, we select, divide and remember foreign words.
1) Choose a portion of words to memorize, amounting to one hundred pieces!
I would like to note right away that 100 is the absolute maximum, at least for me. Maybe, if this technique starts working for you, you will be able to quickly learn words right away and overcome both 200 and 300, but for starters, it’s better not to take more than 50-60. Limit your speed!
2) Divide the portion into five parts
This is akin to separate meals, so that not everything at once, but all day, but little by little. Please note - the parts must be equal! Therefore, to quickly learn words, initially take the amount that is divisible by 5 without a remainder!
3) Remember the words
Of course, you need to memorize as much as possible, because the art of quickly learning words requires great accuracy! In total, memorizing the words from the first part will take you no more than 30 seconds!
Mechanism of short-term memory
How does the short-term memory mechanism work at stage 1? 30 seconds is a very significant figure! It is directly related to our short-term memory, which both allows and does not allow us to quickly learn words. Why? Because short-term memory is like RAM on a computer, only in humans it gets overloaded very quickly.
Well, judge for yourself how to quickly learn words if this memory holds information for only 30 seconds, and it remembers from 2 to 26 pieces of information for this half a minute! This cannot be compared even with the first computers of the 80s.
But! Man is not a machine, so his memory has some other interesting capabilities! For example, it doesn’t matter to her how long the word you remember is! That is, if we have seven letters, seven words and seven phrases, memorization will be the same! Moreover, preference is given to longer information. So it’s better to quickly learn not individual words, but entire expressions!
Deterioration of short-term memory
And one more important circumstance - short-term memory may deteriorate; short-term memory will not work if, having started to quickly learn words, you begin to repeat the word that you just memorized many times! The memory will simply become full and freeze.
In other words, if you repeat one word for more than 30 seconds, it will simply be erased from your short-term memory and will never move into your long-term memory! And in reality, even if you learn words very quickly, a person is unlikely to be able to repeat one word 10-20 times in half a minute at such a speed.
Hence the conclusion - make the primary element longer - quickly learn not the word itself, but the phrase in the context. This is more pleasant for the memory and more useful in order for you to quickly learn to speak a foreign language. The number of foreign words and expressions that you memorize in “one sitting” should be limited.
If you increase it even a little, you will immediately begin to forget everything.
How does the memory process occur in the brain?
How does the process of memorization occur in the brain and what can improve it or, conversely, damage it. We do not repeat, but remember! Moreover, look - we remember from 2 to 26 units in “one sitting”! Therefore, do not overload initially - after all, you do not have additional blocks of RAM. Take breaks! If you remember the words from one part, don’t rush to the next!
Slow down and switch to some neutral process that is not related to the desire to quickly learn words. The pause should be at least ten minutes! You need to “recharge” your short-term memory and open the long-awaited door to your long-term memory.
During these ten minutes, you unconsciously begin to quickly learn and repeat the words that you just memorized. A slowly “cooling down” brain gives you a unique opportunity to increase the time new words are found in short-term memory by up to a day and a half!
Stage two: rhythm, contexts, repetition
In the second stage, we have to learn how to work with rhythm, include words in contexts and repeat correctly.
1) Repeat the words!
10 minutes after memorizing the first part of the words, put a piece of paper on the translation, run your eyes over the words and check how you remember them. Don't worry if you missed something. Catch up on everything in the next steps!
2) Let's knock on the rhythm!
Let's take something that ticks evenly and loudly, for example, a metronome - mechanical, electrical, computer or something like that. If you don’t have one, feel free to arm yourself with a pencil and start knocking a rhythm of 1 beat per second. In the same way, we set the rhythm on the metronome to 60 beats per minute.
And so, with each such blow we look at the word that we remember and try to recognize it. Knock-word, knock-word, knock-word... and off we go. At the same time, we mentally count how many words have already passed. If at this second we cannot remember a word, we leave it and move on to the next one. Our task here is to maintain the rhythm!
Why are we even doing this? And then, just to turn on the internal resources of the brain and long-term memory, which activates the ability to quickly learn words. We seem to slightly introduce ourselves into a “linguistic trance”, as we concentrate on the rhythm, and all our fears and internal criticism stand out, fooled and they cannot interfere with us at this moment. At the same time, the mechanisms of word recognition and its deeper memorization are activated.
All actions, starting from Step 4, are recorded by the hour - how much time you need to go through all these steps. In the future, it will be possible to quickly learn words and plan the number of words to memorize in a total portion.
3) We work with the following parts of words
We move on to the second and subsequent parts of words from our portion and repeat the first stage. Remember to pause for 10 minutes after memorizing each part for the first time! And so we quickly learn the words and study the entire portion!
4) Check the entire portion!
We do this very simply - we read all the words that we memorized and repeated. This step is important because we summarize our “brainstorming” and “clean up our tails,” that is, we remember those words that we have already forgotten.
As a result, it should take you no more than one hour to quickly learn words. How many words you have time to remember and repeat during this time is up to you, but be prudent. Quantity does not mean quality at all.
What should you do now, after you have studied the entire verbal portion? You must begin the process of loading the learned material into long-term memory. This is done using interval repetitions in order to “push” information from short-term memory even deeper.
How not to forget foreign words
The answer to the question of how not to forget foreign words can be interval repetitions. Interval repetitions are repetitions of a learned portion of words at certain time intervals, after which this tasty portion is remembered seriously and for a long time.
When you started learning words quickly, you already repeated them once - each part 10 minutes after memorizing. Now you repeat the entire portion according to the following scheme:
First repetition – after 24 hours
Second repetition 24 hours after the first
Third repetition – 24 hours after the second
The fourth, final repetition - 2-3 months after the third!
Don’t be confused by such a long break in repetitions - in reality, you will be able to remember the words even after a year! So don't worry about your memory! The main thing is to be sure to complete all four intervals!
Okay, you've completed the first portion, but what about the rest? After all, the next day you will take the next portion, on the third day - another, and then - again and again! How not to drown in this avalanche of words that suddenly rushes into your consciousness and completely confuses your cards?
Everything is very simple! You will need not only to quickly learn the words themselves, but also to streamline the process of learning foreign words and repeating them.
To do this, designate each portion with a serial number from 1 to infinity and put these numbers on the calendar according to the repetition intervals.
Enter the serial number of the portion directly into the date window and that’s it! Just don’t forget which number hides which portion of words. By the way, the portion number can be initially written down in the very source of these words.
Is it possible to learn a foreign language on your own?
Having learned how to quickly memorize foreign words, the question immediately arises: is it possible to learn a foreign language on your own? What can I say? The technique works! The brain accelerates, but does it gradually, as if spinning up the speed, but then it may not stop.
I quickly learned words and in about one week I reached the level of 50 words per hour, but then I already felt the strain of my brain, a kind of “burning out”. You know, I read that simultaneous interpreters change their work every half hour because their brain simply cannot withstand longer due to constant stress and concentration.
Something similar can be felt here! At first, everything is quite difficult and unpleasant. Everything inside refuses to quickly learn words and longs for the usual cramming of words, which then happily disappear from memory.
However, after several days of such accelerations, the body gets used to it and the first results begin to come. Even later, there is a temptation to quickly learn words and pump this flywheel to the maximum, but here I would recommend that you take your time.
The number of words in a portion needs to be increased little by little, and only if you see that your method has worked. What this quantity should be is up to you to decide, but think for yourself! For me, the optimal portion is 50-60 words, well, this is like the permitted speed in populated areas.
Now let's talk about how often you need to use this technique. Who wants to quickly learn words “with a breeze” at 200 per hour, evaluate your capabilities to begin with. After testing it out, I am deeply convinced that it should not be your primary way of learning foreign words.
It would be very uncomfortable for me if every time I memorized and repeated, I accelerated all my neurons, and then calmed them down for a long time. This is somehow fraught, I think... The technique is definitely effective at the basic stage of vocabulary acquisition. This is where you need to quickly learn words in order to quickly start speaking a foreign language and learn to perceive a foreign language by ear!
You can also quickly learn words and apply the “two hundred words per hour” technique at the stage of mastering thematic vocabulary, that is, on some specific topics and areas, where there are a lot of words and most of them are specific terms.
Memory training
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How to memorize foreign words
One of the main conditions for good command of a foreign language is large vocabulary. A good level of language knowledge is considered to be mastery of more than 15 thousand words, and mastery of 50 thousand words is considered an excellent level.
There are a huge number of different methods for learning foreign languages, including those specifically designed for memorizing foreign words. In this chapter we will touch upon precisely this problem. What can be summarized as the main recommendations for improving (increasing speed and strength) memorization of foreign words?
MBBO method
The first recommendation or first method (MVBO method) is especially important for those who want to learn to communicate fluently in a new language. It is an indisputable fact that when there is a lively conversation going on (especially if more than two people are participating in the conversation at the same time), it is important to be close to thinking in this language, otherwise you and your interlocutors will feel discomfort, the conversation may drag on, etc. .
To be close to thinking in language means that, having a sufficient vocabulary, one must be able to automatically compose phrases, which means that the time for remembering the words themselves is reduced to zero. If words don't come to your mind automatically, you will lose the spontaneity needed to communicate fluently in a foreign language. Of course, spontaneity can (and will) come with prolonged experience of communication, but how to speed up this process?
First of all, remember that the main thing for this is NOT to remember a foreign word as a translation of a native word. It is necessary to immediately associate a foreign word directly with its corresponding concept. That is, you don’t need to remember by repeating many times, for example, butter - (bata) - butter, butter - oil, butter - butter..., placing emphasis with your voice either on the English word or on its translation (as the process most often happens learning foreign words). Instead, you need to visually imagine the image (picture) of the butter itself, and, holding it before your eyes, repeat only one foreign word: butter, butter, butter, butter...
In this case, your memory will directly associate the very concept of “butter” with the English “butter” that denotes it. Thus, “butter” becomes a concept, and not just a translation, which, by the way, with ordinary mechanical memorization can easily be replaced by another - after all, for it in this case there is no so-called sensory, material basis, but only a set of letters. In other words, you only need translation to know what to present.
It’s even better if you not only visualize the image of the memorized word, but also involve other senses (hearing, touch, smell, etc.) in memorizing. That is, you can use method of co-feelings. It would be nice to remember something special from your personal, individual experience associated with this word.
In the case of “butter,” I would suggest imagining, for example, how you, for example, run your index finger over a slightly melted piece of butter, feel its softness, temperature, see the path that was left on the piece of butter from your finger. Then you can imagine licking your finger, tasting the oil; you can imagine how you cut off a small piece of butter, again feeling its hardness or softness, and eat this piece, while being aware of all your sensations. You can imagine an oil stain on clothing or a towel.
You can try to hear how it sizzles in the frying pan or what sound it makes when it hits the floor. After all, probably at least once in your life it fell in front of you or before your eyes, it’s slippery. You can imagine porridge with a piece of butter that has not yet melted, or remember the wise remark that if a sandwich falls, it will definitely fall butter side down, and smile. It would be nice to remember something from your life related to butter, for example, how it once melted in your bag... In short, imagine what is closest to you. At the same time, you need to try to remember and feel as much as possible of what you associate with this or that concept.
I deliberately spent so long listing what can be imagined in connection with only one concept. It is important for me that you understand the diversity of how you can “feel” the word “butter” - (bata) (as, indeed, any other foreign word). In fact, visualization, the use of the method of co-sensations and autobiographical memories does not take much time, as it may seem, no more than 1.5-2 minutes, and the effect is noticeable. The main thing with this whole “procedure” is not to forget for a second to repeat, preferably out loud: butter, butter, butter... The same operations are applicable for memorizing verbs, and for adjectives and for other parts of speech, the main thing is to be able to highlight the essential aspects in memorable words.
Why is this method so effective? The fact is that it is similar to the pattern of concept formation in a child’s native language. The mother says to the child: “Take a chair.” At the same time, she points at him with her hand, explaining what exactly needs to be taken. After all, for now, for a child, the word “chair” is an empty space, a set of sounds. But now he takes it, carries it, feels the dimensions, weight, material from which it is made, the smell of wood or fabric, sees its shape, etc. Then the situation with the chair arises again, mom asks: “Move the chair.”
This may be a completely different chair, and it is needed in order to stand on it and get something, and not sit down, but the mother again called this object a chair, and the baby is learning more and more about the concept of “chair”, gets acquainted with its functional application. He compares the essential signs and gradually a moment comes when the child’s concept of “chair” has already been formed. Now he no longer needs to point his hand at it, he knows himself what a chair is. (By analogy with this, in the situation of learning foreign words, when the concept has been formed, you will no longer have the need to spend time remembering or looking in the dictionary.)
You, too, can imagine yourself as a child exploring the world, and, getting acquainted with the next foreign word, perform with it all the operations that I spoke about above, gradually ensuring that this word turns into a concept for you. By memorizing words in this way, you can ensure that they automatically appear in your memory at the right moment, that is, you will be close to thinking in the language. I conventionally call this method By the interaction of all sensations, abbreviated MVVO.
*** Exercise 15.
Connect the sounds of English words with their corresponding concepts using the MVBO method. How to do it? Let me remind you that you need to associate a foreign word, for example, WINDOW - (window) not with its translation - the word "WINDOW", but with "window" as a concept, in other words, with the image of a window, moreover, with the image obtained through the interaction of all sensations .
So, without ceasing to repeat (and better out loud) window, window, window..., you must simultaneously imagine a window, try to remember and hear the sound of a broken window or any other sound associated with it, for example, its rattling in a strong wind. Imagine how you touch the window, realize your sensations from the touch. Remember some situation from your personal life related to the window, preferably pleasant or funny, etc. Do not forget to repeat the memorized foreign word at intervals of 3-5 seconds.
Here are the English words, their transcription and translation.
Try to apply the MVBO to each of them.
SUGAR(SUGA) - SUGAR
STOMACH(STAMOK) - STOMACH
GRASS(GRAS) - GRASS
INK(INK) - INK
PILLOW(PILOW) - PILLOW
BENCH(BENCH) - BENCH, WORKBENCH
MIRROW(MIRA) - MIRROR
MUSHROOM(MASHROOM) - MUSHROOM
CLOUD(CLOUD) - CLOUD
CURTAIN(KETN) - A CURTAIN
In the literature devoted to the study of foreign languages, one can often find two more methods of memorizing words that have something in common with MVVO. And although they are significantly inferior in efficiency to MVVO, we will still briefly dwell on them.
1. Surely you have already heard that it is useful to attach pieces of paper (a kind of tag) with words denoting them in the language being studied to all possible objects. (Closet, table, shelf, glass, window, kettle, towel, hanger, lamp, calendar, wire, curtains, etc.) It is believed that by frequently meeting your eyes with these objects and, accordingly, with words, you quickly and learn them firmly.
The advantage of this method is that, using it, you also remember a foreign word not as a translation of a native one, but immediately as an image-concept. But the limitations of this method are visible to the naked eye. How many items can you attach these tags to? By 100-200, no more. You will only have at your disposal those objects that surround you at home and at work.
But what about the rest? A significant drawback of this method is that when it is used, only vision works, and the interaction of all senses does not have a positive effect. In addition, such a mechanism for learning new words is not fixed in childhood experience. As you already know, concepts in a child’s native language are formed in a completely different way.
Although, if you first apply the MVVO method to the memorized words, and then attach tags to some objects, then they may serve as a good reminder, a repetition of what has already been learned. Thus, this is not a method of memorizing foreign words, but a good method of repeating them.
2. Another widespread method of memorizing foreign words is the method of memorizing them using pictures that show the basic meanings of words. There are countless picture dictionaries, sets of cards of varying sizes and varying degrees of artistry. These dictionaries and cards usually come with various instructions on how to use them.
This method is really popular all over the world. And it's popular for good reason. Its effectiveness compared to ordinary memorization of words is obvious. But it is not difficult to notice that it is only the first part of the MVBO method described above, a part that can conventionally be called “visualization”. That is, looking at a picture depicting the meaning of a word is a kind of analogue of the mental representation of a word in MVVO.
It is important to note that for those who cannot imagine images of words mentally, cards with their images will even be necessary. The card will help you form an internal mental image of the word. They can serve as a starting point for all further work to activate other sensations associated with the word. Cards (unlike dictionaries) are also convenient because they allow for a large number of exercise options.
And yet, your own image of the memorized word is preferable to someone else’s (in this case, the artist’s), since the formation of a concept occurs more effectively on the basis of personal experience, and your image of the object may differ significantly from that of the artist. However, there are words whose visual image does not immediately appear in your mind. These may be abstract concepts, as well as words denoting objects that you have never seen - not only in reality, but also in the picture. In these cases, the artist's picture will help you form a visual image.
Another well-known recommendation for memorizing foreign words is that It is advisable to memorize words as part of phrases. Thus, in order to better remember a word, it must be included in a phrase. For example, for the word "butter" it is enough to compose the phrase "Don"t eat much butter!" (Daunt um mach bate) (Don't eat a lot of butter!) or "I like bread with butter very much." Mach.) (I really like bread and butter.) Now make sure that the phrase is grammatically correct. After that, you need to say it out loud several times, imagine the situation described by the phrase. Singing the phrase to some well-known motive helps a lot in memorizing.
The good thing about the method of memorizing in context is that you not only learn a new word, but also once again repeat the words you already know that make up the sentence, as well as the grammatical rules used in it. It is also important that with frequent use of this method, the fear of speaking in a foreign language decreases and the corresponding skill is developed, the skill of using familiar words in phrases - a necessary condition for free communication in the target language. (Surely you have met people who know many words of a language, but are afraid to speak this language, and often are simply not able to.)
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When learning a foreign language, it is very important to constantly replenish your vocabulary - to memorize new and new words in English. However, not everyone is able to do this successfully. We offer you seven tips to help you remember new words in English more effectively.
Create associative networks
Our brains take what we read and transform it into images, ideas and feelings, and then form connections between the new information and what we already know. This is how memorization occurs - the new is united with the old.
Imagine a tree. Isn’t it easier to see a large spreading tree with many branches and leaves than a small tree with a few branches? The same is true for the brain. When you connect a new word or concept with something you already know, it is easier for your brain to find it and remember it at the right time.
How to do it? Very simple. Draw a network of concepts. Take what you want to remember (a word, an idea, a sentence) and write it in the center of the paper. Then draw lines from it in all directions, like a web.
At the end of each line, write down any English words or even draw pictures that come to mind when you think of the word written in the center. It doesn't matter what the associations are, just write down everything you come up with.
It only takes a couple of minutes and now all the words or concepts will be interconnected in your brain. If you see or hear one of them, it will be easier for you to remember the others.
To make this work even better, pronounce how this or that word in English is connected to others. The more often you do this, the more connections are formed. And the more connections, the easier it is for your brain to “see” the word you want to remember.
Remember phrases (word combinations)
Memorizing a word is important, but English, like any other language, is not just a set of concepts, it is a tool that people use to communicate and express their thoughts. Find examples of how this or that word is used in the text.
Write down not only the word itself, but also the neighboring ones. For example, if you need to remember the English word “arrogant,” you could write “the tall, arrogant man.”
This will help you remember that "arrogant" is an adjective used to describe people. Then try writing three complete sentences to practice using it.
Use pictures
Draw little pictures to remember the meaning of a word. Don't know how to draw? It's not scary, it's even better. Our brain receives so much monotonous information that a strange picture is a kind of surprise, and we always remember surprises.
Our brain reads visual information better. Draw a funny picture to illustrate the meaning of a word and you will remember it much faster.
Make up stories
English learners often complain that there are too many new words and it is difficult to remember them. There is one trick you can use to learn words quickly. Compose any story, even a ridiculous one, that uses all the words in English. Imagine it in detail.
We remember stories easily, especially strange ones, if we can recreate them in our imagination. Feel free to combine words in funny and awkward ways. Let's say you need to remember the following 20 English words:
shoes, piano, tree, pencil, bird, bus, books, driver, dog, pizza, flower, door, TV set, spoons, chair, jump, dance, throw, computer, stone
(shoes, piano, tree, pencil, bird, bus, books, driver, dog, pizza, flower, door, TV, spoons, chair, jump, dance, throw, computer, stone)
You can make up this incredible story from them:
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There is a piano wearing shoes and sitting in a tree. The tree is strange because someone has stuck a giant pencil through it. On the pencil a bird is sitting and watching a bus full of people reading books. Even the driver is reading a book which is bad because he isn’t paying attention to driving. So, he hits a dog that is eating a pizza in the middle of the road and kills it. The driver digs a hole and buries the dog in it and then puts a flower on it. He notices that there is a door in the dog’s grave and opens it. Inside he can see a TV set with 2 spoons for antennas on top of it. No-one is watching the TV set because they are all watching the chair. Why? - Because the chair is jumping and dancing and throwing stones at the computer. |
A piano sits on a tree with shoes on. The tree looks strange because someone pierced it with a huge pencil. A bird sits on a pencil and looks at a bus full of people reading books. Even the driver is reading a book, which is bad because he is not paying attention to the road. So he hits and kills a dog that was eating pizza in the middle of the road. The driver digs a hole and buries the dog, and then places a flower on top. He notices that there is a door in the dog's grave and opens it. Inside he sees a TV with two spoons on top that act as antennas. Nobody watches TV because everyone is looking at the chair. Why? Because the chair jumps, dances and throws stones at the computer. |
Give it a try. You will surprise yourself!
Remember opposites
Memorize words with opposite meanings (antonyms) and words with similar meanings (synonyms) in pairs. For example, memorize the pairs angry/happy and angry/cross at the same time. We remember similar and opposite things faster because the brain creates connections between them.
Parse the word according to its composition
Use roots, prefixes and suffixes to guess what a word means.
For example: even if you are unfamiliar with the word "microbiology", you can guess what it means. First, take a look at the prefix "micro". Micro means something very small. You may know that the "-logy" part means science, the study of something.
So, we can already say that we are talking about learning something small. You may also remember that "bio" means life, living things. Thus, we can come to the conclusion that “microbiology” is the science of microscopic living organisms.
It's no secret that most of the time when learning foreign languages is spent on memorizing words. At school we were taught only one method - rote learning. Yes, this is a cool method, although not! – not fun, ineffective and very boring. Cramming makes memorization seem like torture, but this is far from true. How to memorize foreign words effectively and interestingly?
In fact, with the right technology, it's a very fast and fun process. And the main thing is that we can remember huge amounts of information in a short period of time.
How to do it? How to increase the speed of learning any foreign language at least 2 times? The answer is simple - using the technology described in this article.
How to memorize foreign words We memorize one, two, three
The magic tool we will use is called a mnemonic. Yes, good old mnemonics. This tool is by far the most effective assistant in memorizing any type of information.
To remember a foreign word, we need to do only three steps:
→ Encode the meaning of the word
→
Encode the sound of a word
→
Combine two images into one
Everything is very simple. Moreover, this method is suitable for memorizing words of any foreign language.
Let's look at examples:
English language.
Word foot – foot
1. Image for meaning. We represent any foot. You can look at your foot first, then imagine it in your head.
2. Image for sound. We select the closest possible association. For example, T-shirt, football.
3. Connect two images. We wrap a T-shirt around our foot, concentrate our attention on connecting these images and at the same time pronounce the word “foot” three times to remember the pronunciation of this word.
Or you can imagine a football player kicking a ball with his bare foot.
This is how easy it is to remember nouns. How to remember verbs and adjectives?
Similar:
Word press (pres) - iron (iron)
1. Image for meaning. Imagine an ironing board and an iron.
2. Image for sound. Pres. Imagine a person with 6-pack abs.
3. Connect two images. Imagine that instead of an ironing board there is a bare-chested man. You walk up to him, take the iron and start stroking his abs. Concentrate on the connection point and say the word “press” three times.
The pictures may seem very strange, but the more unusual the images in your head, the better for memorization.
Word green - green
1. Image for meaning. For example, a green apple.
2. Image for sound. You can take the Brothers Grimm.
3. Connect two images. You can imagine one of the Brothers Grimm biting into an apple and turning green.
What to do if you can’t find one image to go with the word? Then you need to use several images.
Example:
Word Elderly
– elderly
1. Image for meaning. A gray-haired old man with a stick.
2. Image for sound. Elf and Dali (Salvador)
3. Connect two images. Introducing the old elf with a Dali mustache. The elf's mustache and hair are gray. We introduced you, said this word three times and that’s it, you remembered it.
Some tips when working with images:
∨ When working with images, we do not close our eyes; they are directed upward. This is the correct position to engage the visual channel
∨
It is necessary to create objects of the same size, or at least approximately the same. If you combine the image of an elephant with the image of a fly, then the fly should be the same size as the elephant
∨ The best ways to connect are sex, humor, violence. The simplest one is to stick one image into another
∨
You need to concentrate on the connection between two objects at a time. No more
∨ Focus not on the objects themselves, but on their connection
Mnemonics allows you to remember a large amount of information in a very short period of time, but in order to remember this information for a long time, you need to repeat it.
During the first 96 hours, repeat the words you have learned as often as possible. Then repeat the learned words after a month, then after 2, after 6 and after a year.
If you decide to memorize 100–1000 words a day, then I recommend working in batches:
∨
Remember ten words
∨
We repeated them three times (from Russian to foreign, from foreign to Russian)
∨
Move on to the next ten words
∨
They repeated them three times, moved on to the next ten words, etc.
∨
We accumulated three packs of 10 words each and repeated all 30 words
∨
When they had accumulated three packs of 100 words each, they repeated all 300 words, etc.
