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Heinrich Schliemann’s memorizing method | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| JasonChoi Diglot Senior Member Korea, South Joined 6351 days ago 274 posts - 298 votes  Speaks: English*, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Latin | Message 1 of 63 27 February 2008 at 5:45am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm curious to know, has anyone on this forum tried using Heinrich Schliemann's approach to languages? (i.e. by memorizing entire books?)
His methods are described on this page. It amazes me to see that he learned languages quite rapidly just by attempting to memorize. I think it's particularly worth noting that he claimed he wasn't too good at memorizing at the beginning:
Inspired by this idea, I decided to try it for myself last night. To my surprise, I enjoyed this method and I think it could be quite effective in the end. I opened up my Latin book, and decided to memorize the first chapter (of which I had full comprehension). I shadowed some of content a few times at first (by reading the content while listening to it simultaneously). Then I simply attempted to recite a sentence at a time exactly as I heard it. Since stories have sentences which are related and contain visual imagery, it would probably be easier to memorize entire stories than to do the 10,000 sentences method. In this case, the learner is learning to memorize entire books, rather than self-inputted content which can be created in isolation (and thus, without visual imagery which aids in retaining information). Memorizing entire books may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed trying it. Does anyone have any similar experiences with memorizing stories in the target language? -Jason Edited by JasonChoi on 28 February 2008 at 8:17am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sydney Groupie Yugoslavia Joined 6444 days ago 58 posts - 71 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Serbian | Message 2 of 63 27 February 2008 at 6:44am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hm, interesting. I'm going to give this a try, at least with a short story to begin with! Thanks for sharing this.
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| delectric Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7173 days ago 608 posts - 733 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: German | Message 3 of 63 27 February 2008 at 8:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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It would be interesting if doing it could actually make the memory stronger so that memorizing other things becomes easier. But if it didn't have this effect on the memory I think, then, there are far more interesting methods.
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| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6114 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 4 of 63 27 February 2008 at 10:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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This is a fascinating topic, I'm so glad you posted this. I use memorization and have found it to be really helpful in getting the rhythm of the language and in strengthening pronunciation by reciting and singing. I like short poems, songs, sayings/proverbs and jokes the best. That way, you get a real sense of accomplishment when commit one to memory. If you try to memorize something that is too long, you can get discouraged and give up.
Here are some the things I especially enjoy memorizing: French - Fables of Jean de La Fontaine German - Poems of Goethe and Heine Italian - Pierino Jokes 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| MarcoDiAngelo Tetraglot Senior Member Yugoslavia Joined 6439 days ago 208 posts - 345 votes Speaks: Serbian*, English, Spanish, Russian Studies: Thai, Polish | Message 5 of 63 27 February 2008 at 11:38am | IP Logged | |||||
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This is really fascinating!
But I wonder how much time would memorizing of a book take (say, Hamlet by W. Shakespeare)? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| MarcoDiAngelo Tetraglot Senior Member Yugoslavia Joined 6439 days ago 208 posts - 345 votes Speaks: Serbian*, English, Spanish, Russian Studies: Thai, Polish | Message 6 of 63 27 February 2008 at 11:41am | IP Logged | |||||
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My favourite books:
The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery Hamlet The Gardener by Tagore Onegin by Pushkin ...and a lot of perhaps too long books. Maybe one can learn only passages one especially loves? Edited by MarcoDiAngelo on 27 February 2008 at 11:44am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| JasonChoi Diglot Senior Member Korea, South Joined 6351 days ago 274 posts - 298 votes Speaks: English*, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Latin | Message 7 of 63 27 February 2008 at 7:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
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By the way, I forgot to add..
During my attempts of memorizing 2 paragraphs, I had been using mental images to keep track of the story. By shadowing (with reading) enough times, I had developed a natural sense of what I wanted to say. Ultimately, this approach literally allows me to think in the target language, since it skips over any intermediary translation. I was going directly from the meaning (i.e. the mental pictures) to the target language. In other words, I wasn't doing this:
It was actually like the following:
I particularly like this approach because it gives me instant feedback. If my pronunciation, grammar, or syntax does not sound the same, I know exactly what I need to work on. Likewise, if I stumble through a certain phrase or am hesitant even though the phrase is correct, it usually means my mouth needs to practice saying it correctly until they become automatic, just as a musician needs to practice selections of a piece until they becomes nearly automatic. At the moment, I'm convinced that this could be a great approach for developing fluency. Edited by JasonChoi on 28 February 2008 at 8:21am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| MarcoDiAngelo Tetraglot Senior Member Yugoslavia Joined 6439 days ago 208 posts - 345 votes Speaks: Serbian*, English, Spanish, Russian Studies: Thai, Polish | Message 8 of 63 28 February 2008 at 3:22am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think it would be great combined with L-R method.
By L-R method, you can reach listening comprehension in very short time. And memorizing favourite passages, poetry, and dialogues may be the perfect way to learn to speak! I will certainly try it. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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