![]() ![]() When you’re learning, say, Spanish, you might be tempted to devour the dictionary at first. The same rules apply to any language in the world. Would you recommend all of that to a friend learning to converse in English? Or even a quarter of that? I mean, why would a person need to memorize the word scaramouch in order to be able to effectively communicate in English? What good are word like cordwainer and dandiprat to that learner? ![]() There’s, by some estimates, close to a million words in its lexicon. At least when it comes to conversational abilities, most words serve no purpose in your vocabulary. Memory Hack 1: The “Thrifty Vocab” Rule: Not All Words are Made Equal So what’s the right way to memorize words? Let’s take a look at a few hacks. Add it all up and language learning quickly begins to look like an impractical endeavor meant only for geniuses or children. And there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them. Now do some simple maths and see how much time you invest in cramming-up just one word pair. And that’s not enough, you have to revisit that pair every now and then in order to retain it. You have to repeat a word pair at least a couple of hundred times, give or take, in order to memorize it. Rote memorization only pushes the newly acquired vocabulary back to passive memory, if at all. You can only recall with ease what’s in your active memory, hence the name active. Only things needed more frequently are stored in active memory. That’s why it keeps everything it’s fed in something called passive memory. But it also has a very limited capacity to process lots of words at once. You see, our brain has, for all practical purposes, an infinite capacity for words. This was okay at first but there was a big problem with this method. I would do this perhaps a few hundred times before moving on to the next list. When I first started out learning Spanish, I would just pick a list of related words and repeat them along with their English translations, one pair at a time. Is there a workaround? Can memorization be accelerated and also made more efficient? Turns out, it can! I can personally attest to this from my own experiences as a Spanish learner. This is what drives most rookie learners to drop out prematurely. Study after study has established that rote repetition is not only an inorganic way of memorizing things but also super inefficient, not to mention downright boring as well. If you’re like most learners, you’ve probably been cramming up those words and grammar rules like a broken record. No matter how much you hate the part, you just have to do it. These are what make up any language and obviously cannot be wished away. But then the rubber meets the road and we come face-to-face with less-than-exciting ground realities: grammar and vocabulary. We are mesmerized by the culture the chosen language represents, the sound of an alien unintelligible tongue, the idea of being able to communicate with ease where our friends probably feel lost. We all start with a new language with a great deal of enthusiasm. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dissing discipline here, I’m just questioning the misplaced investment of time and efforts most language learning regimens call for. What lends to this monotony, more often than not, is the rigor and regimen that comes with it. Learning a language can sometimes feel boring - like an exercise in monotony. Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. ![]()
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