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Text memorization and imitation | ||
Tags: Memory | Learning Strategy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Sandy Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5618 days ago 37 posts - 61 votes  | Message 49 of 95 25 September 2010 at 11:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In the link below the author suggests the following method for learning a poem or some other text :
1.Go through the text line by line and memorize each line. 2.Next go through the text again and memorize two lines at a time. 3.Each time you go through the text increase the number of lines to be memorized by one. 4.By the time you have memorized 6 lines at a time the text will be memorized. How to memorize a poem In the following link you can find a program to try this method. You will need to read the instructions and watch the tutorial video before you start. I have loaded one small poem but my attempts to load larger poems have been unsuccessful. It's probably something I'm doing wrong. It all looks very good and if the developer could add sound to the program then it would be perfect for memorizing texts in foreign languages. verbatim 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| greymatters Newbie United States headinside.blogspot. Joined 5163 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: English* | Message 50 of 95 26 September 2010 at 1:05am | IP Logged | |||||
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Sandy - thank you for the link to my Verbatim program!
Thanks to notifications and questions like yours, I've just added a few important tips to both the manual and Verbatim XML File Maker page. They now read: IMPORTANT NOTES: * The filename you use for the xml file must consist of ONLY letters and numbers. Any other characters, such as spaces and hyphens, will prevent the file from being accessed. * Once you upload the file, test its accessibility by pasting the full file path in your browser. If you see anything but the contents of your xml file, Verbatim will not be able to load the file. Also, the file must end in the extension: .xml I hope this helps! The way I've always used the technique, the only sound involved should be your own voice (unrecorded) repeating the words/phrases. Speaking as you're reading, and then speaking from memory is a major part of the technique involved in the memorization phase, as it's engaging your brain actively (instead of passively). If I've misunderstood your request for a sound feature, I'm willing to listen a fuller explanation of your idea. :) Edited by greymatters on 26 September 2010 at 1:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| microsnout TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Canada microsnout.wordpress Joined 5461 days ago 277 posts - 553 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 51 of 95 26 September 2010 at 1:21am | IP Logged | |||||
Awesome! I have been listening to news reports of this on Radio-Canada but never even thought to look to see if recordings with transcripts were being made available. Thanks for posting this! The talk at the beginning of the first video seems very stiff and formal (i.e. far from conversational) but hopefully the "jousting" you refer to will come later. As you say, one can, by careful selection of resources, target the desired register and accent you seek. I would have liked to find something like this two years ago, when it seemed everything I found came from France. Now it is less important to find material with transcripts because I can usually create a transcript by listening carefully several times to any missed words. Still it is nice to have this. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5659 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 52 of 95 26 September 2010 at 8:54am | IP Logged | |||||
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I am often inspired by the many people who have learned the Quran by heart. Not because
I have any particular religious interest, but because the muslim community has spent centuries perfecting memorisation techniques There is no "magic" here, but lots of practical advice that has proven to be effective over hundreds of years. Here is my own summary of the advice in the above article: - Make sure you are highly motivated, and if you are not work on developing your motivation. Without motivation you will tire easily and not achieve your goal. - The first step is to focus on correct prounciation. For this you really need a teacher. - Stick to a personal daily schedule, with a specific amount of text in mind, and make it realistic to fulfill - Completely memorise one section before moving on to the next. This builds discipline and increases your ability to concentrate - Each day, repeat that day's section of text for a few minutes many times throughout the day, including early in the morning, while waiting for things (e.g. bus, dentist), before going to sleep. These bite sized chunks of time throughout the day are much easier to find and stick to than one long study period, plus the spaced repetition helps fix the text in your memory. - Try to "sing" the text to a melody as you read it. This makes the text more pleasing to your ear, and improves memorization since you now associate the words with the melody. - Always use the same copy of the text, allowing its physical appearance to leave an imprint on your mind. - Understand what the text means, and form a mental image of the meaning while reciting the text, as this increases memorisation. - Form links between the sections as you move from one to another, both in connecting their meanings and in how the tongue flows from one to another. - Recite the memorised sections to other people who either already know the text by heart or can follow along with a printed version. Have them alert you when you make mistakes. - Even the sections which you have already memorised can quickly evaporate from your mind. Therefore, you have to keep reviewing things even when you think you already know them to keep the in your memory. - Look out for patterns in the text, since this increases attention and helps with memorisation. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6001 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 53 of 95 26 September 2010 at 11:25am | IP Logged | |||||
I'm not sure this is the best way. People have been memorising songs and poems for years, and that's not exactly the way it's been done. The way I used to memorise songs with a teacher (assuming a four-line verse or chorus): 1 Teacher says first line, I repeat. 2 Teacher says second line, I repeat. 1,2 Teacher says first line and second line together, I repeat. 3 Teacher says third line, I repeat. 4 Teacher says fourth line, I repeat. 3,4 Teacher says first line and second line together, I repeat. 1,2,3,4 Teacher says all four lines, I repeat. Now if we had an 8-line verse, the sequence would continue: 5 - 6 - 5,6 - 7 - 8 - 7,8 - 5,6,7,8 - 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 I prefer this to the proposed technique as it respects the structure of the poem while ensuring that every line gets practiced the same number of times. Breaking the structure means breaking the flow and breaking meaning, so I'm dubious of any advantage in the other method. Of course, you have to adjust the pattern to suit other types of poem. If you have a verse like this> 1 ba dum de dum de dum de day 2 da doo de dah de doo be ray 3 fa foo fe fah fe foo fe foe 4 fa fum fe fum fe fuh fa hoe 5 ge gum ge gum ge goo ge gee 6 ge gum ge gum ge gum ga fee You would go 1 - 2 - 1,2 - 3 - 4 - 3,4 - 5 - 6 - 5,6 - 1,2,3,4,5,6 Or 1 ba dum de dum de dum de day 2 da doo de dah de doo be ray 3 fa foo fe fah fe foe 4 ge gum ge gum ge goo ge gee 5 ge gum ge gum ge gum ga fee 6 fa fum fe fum fa hoe Would be 1 - 2 - 3 - 1,2,3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 4,5,6 - 1,2,3,4,5,6 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6001 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 54 of 95 26 September 2010 at 11:29am | IP Logged | |||||
The difference here is that you use the software to memorise stuff in a language you already know. The written form is therefore enough to evoke the sound in your head. What we are discussing here is memorisation of pieces in an unfamiliar language as an aid to learning that language. For a learner, the written form isn't normally enough to evoke the sound of the language, hence Sandy looking for a program that offers sound. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sandy Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5618 days ago 37 posts - 61 votes | Message 55 of 95 26 September 2010 at 12:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks Greymatters for that information.
Cainntear is right. Language learners would need the sounds so that they are not memorizing the speech in their own bad accents. Even for memorizing the poems in their languages it would be helpful to hear the poem read properly. When you hear the poem read by someone with a trained voice you are getting more out of the poem. For example, listen to Richard Burton reading The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in the link below and then listen to some of the other attempts you can find on the net. Burton's version is definitive. It will not be bettered. It inspired me to learn large chunks of the poem by heart and I think it has inspired many others to do the same. For someone learning English it would be a great way to hear English consonants pronounced properly. One of the best features of Burton's wonderful voice was the clear and distinctive sound of his consonants. Richard Burton's Ancient Mariner Greymatter, you also read your poems very well. For an English speaking learner of English poems your system is very good indeed, but it would also be very useful for language learners if each line of the poem or text to be learned also had an accompanying sound file. Language learners need to hear the sounds before they attempt to pronounce them. Just imagine the difference hearing the following poem would make to a French learner. The poem could not be read properly unless it is heard first. Chanson d'automne You could have something similar to the file you import into Anki where each line has an optional sound file e.g. “my sentence 1 [sound:c:\dir\sound file 1.mp3]". Cainntear's system might be an additional way of trying to learn poems. I will have a go at using the two methods. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7093 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 56 of 95 26 September 2010 at 2:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well, the method mentioned by Sandy is pretty much the one I outlined in page 2 of this thread (indeed the 'How to Memorize a Poem' link is where I found it in the first place). My initial concern was something you've noted which is that not every line gets the same number of repetitions. However, this first memorisation method is only used prior to adding it to a SRS; from then on, the text should be repeated as a whole in response to the prompt. As well as this, the shadowing process ensures many further repetitions. So by the time the lesson is "done" the fact that initially line 1 is repeated 10 times whereas line 10 is done once, becomes much less of a factor. In addition, I'm not sure it has any adverse effect on the structure since the flow is always from beginning to the stopping-point and not picked up part-way through. Whether or not it's the best method, I'm not sure - but a fortnight in, it certainly seems to work. Edited by Andy E on 26 September 2010 at 2:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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