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Mnemonics: Good or Bad? | ||
Tags: Memory | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| feanarosurion Senior Member Canada Joined 5216 days ago 217 posts - 316 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish, Norwegian | Message 1 of 27 11 July 2010 at 7:53am | IP Logged |
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I've been wondering for a while whether mnemonics are actually harmful to the language learning process. I don't use them myself, and I've never really felt like they help me to memorize anything. However, I'm wondering if any of you use mnemonics to remember vocabulary or grammar, and if so, what effect does it have on your learning?
In my opinion, it seems as if mnemonics get in the way of actually knowing a language, and keep the learner in a state of constant translating, which seems like a major block to fluency. However, I'd like to hear some other thoughts on this one. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zohan Triglot Groupie Romania Joined 5189 days ago 45 posts - 45 votes Speaks: Romanian*, English, Swedish | Message 2 of 27 11 July 2010 at 8:37am | IP Logged |
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I could not agree with you more, I found that the more I progressed in the language (Swedish) the easier it was for me to stop comparing it with German, Hungarian and others that resemble it.
Mnemonics just mean extra-memorizing for me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| remix Groupie Australia Joined 5603 days ago 41 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean | Message 3 of 27 11 July 2010 at 10:32am | IP Logged |
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"I don't use them myself, and I've never really felt like they help me to memorize anything." Wow, that actually makes zero sense - how could something help you if you never use it?
They definitely have a place and are more useful in certain languages. Ask anyone who has learned Kanji with Heisig's method, it is a powerful tool, but not the be all end all. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5946 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 4 of 27 11 July 2010 at 11:18am | IP Logged |
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My Dad (the best teacher I've ever met, albeit a chemistry teacher) always says:
Mnemonics are great... until you use them. It's an overstatement, and he does it on purpose. His point is that the more you use mnemonics, the more mnemonics you have in your head, and the longer it takes to recall the correct one. So as soon as you've learnt one mnemonic, the next one you try to learn will be less useful, and the next again even less. So it's important that you don't fill your head with unnecessary mnemonics and stick to the really useful ones. However, I don't personally think mnemonics are much use in language, because they're meant for memorising arbitrary, meaningless information. There is no way to "understand" the order of colours in the spectrum of light -- while there is a physical reason for it, at the level of human perception there is no apparent logic. So we have Richard Of York Gave Battle in Vain to help us. But language is all about meaning, so it should always be meaningful. You shouldn't need mnemonics. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6610 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 5 of 27 11 July 2010 at 11:30am | IP Logged |
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Mnemonics are very useful for difficult words. Nothing more, nothing less.
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| Kary Groupie Canada Joined 6084 days ago 85 posts - 113 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish, German | Message 6 of 27 11 July 2010 at 2:35pm | IP Logged |
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Maybe they are like training wheels on a bike? I can't remember using BAGS (beauty-age-goodness-size) to determine where to place an adjective in French, but perhaps it did help me when I was first introduced to the idea that adjectives don't always go in front of the noun. Now it's just automatic. Some words sound right in front and some behind. (Which is good, because there are always exceptions...)
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| GREGORG4000 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5458 days ago 307 posts - 479 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish Studies: Japanese, Korean, Amharic, French | Message 7 of 27 11 July 2010 at 2:37pm | IP Logged |
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Mnemonics don't help me with words, but so far Heisig has been very good with them. Probably the visual aspect.
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| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5584 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 8 of 27 11 July 2010 at 3:17pm | IP Logged |
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Mnemonics helped with vocab in the very beginning. Once you learn a few hundred words, their effect wears off and becomes more of a burden than a help. And like others said, they're great for Chinese characters.
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