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Method of loci questions | ||
Tags: Memory | Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| bobok Tetraglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4982 days ago 14 posts - 17 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, Russian | Message 1 of 89 19 July 2011 at 4:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello everybody,
Recently I stumbled upon the method of loci, which quite interested me, but after some experimenting I have some questions which I would like to see answered by someone experienced with this method. 1. Do you have to have a different memory palace for every set of items you want to remember? Or are a couple of palaces sufficient for multiple sets of different items? 2. Do you think the method of loci is usefull for learning new vocabulary? 3. What kind of loci, or memory palaces do you use and how many? Finally I would like to hear your personal experiences with this method, how you use it and when you use it. Humble greetings, from Bobok 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sandy Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5629 days ago 37 posts - 61 votes  | Message 2 of 89 20 July 2011 at 1:02am | IP Logged | ||
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The following link might give you some ideas. Dr Yip Swee Chooi has memorized a dictionary using the method of loci :
How to memorize a dictionary In case you can't be bother to watch the video this is his method : 1.There is a peg word for each page number in the dictionary (e.g. the peg word for 678 is flower) and this peg word is used to create the location or memory palace which in this case is a Flower Shop. The pegs words can be created with the Major System. 2.Dr Yip Swee Chooi then walks around his memory palace (the flower shop) placing the words from page 678 around the shop. The first word on the page is put in the first place in the shop. 3.He makes an association between the word, the word definition and the place in the shop. For example, the third word on the page might be “indecorum” and it is linked to the third thing in the shop and that is the shopkeeper. For him the word indecorum gives two images – holes and decoration – so he combines these with the meaning (indecent ) to imagine the shopkeeper wearing (or decorated with) a dress with holes which makes her look indecent. At first glace this doesn’t seem to be a good way to store vocabulary. If the main index is page numbers then searching for a particular word meaning would involve starting at the first page and carrying on until we got to the right page. But we don’t know how the brain indexes its data. Anyway, the system seems to have worked for Dr Yip Swee Chooi. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Josh Cohen Newbie United States mnemotechnics.org/ Joined 4877 days ago 35 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese, Esperanto | Message 3 of 89 20 July 2011 at 2:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for mentioning my website.
I think that the method of loci isn't ideal for memorizing vocabulary. It's basically a method to remember things in sequence. He used that method so that he could have every word in the dictionary indexed: "the 9th word on page 874 is _____." Check out the audiobook Quantum Memory Power by Dominic O'Brien. He covers a vocabulary technique that allows memorization of grammar at the same time as vocabulary. Basically, the method is to choose a town of city for your memory palace. Depending on the grammar of the language, divide the town up into two or three sections. Mnemonic images for masculine nouns go in one part of town, feminine in another, and neuter in another. Verbs can go in parks or stadiums, and adjectives in other parks or locations. Examples with Spanish: The mnemonic image for garlic (ajo) could be placed in a supermarket in the masculine section of town. Mnemonic image: a tuna fish wearing a lei made of stinky garlic, since "ahi" is tuna in Hawaiian. The mnemonic image for mustard (mostaza) could be placed in a supermarket in the feminine section of town. Mnemonic image: painting a mustache with the mustard. When you search through your mind for "garlic", you end up in the supermarket in the masculine section of town, see the ahi tuna, and recall "ajo". Spanish is fairly straightforward with masculine-feminine, but you can use it for verbs too. I experimented with the technique by placing mnemonic images for Modern Greek in three separate parks depending on their conjugation pattern. "Perimeno", "allazo", and "xero" all go in one park. "Odhigo", "prosepatho" and others go in a different park. If I recall Odie the dog driving a car around, I remember odhigo (to drive), and the image is in the 3rd park, which means 3rd conjugation group... Dominic O'Brien's basic method is to incorporate association, location, and imagination (exaggeration). Anything to be remembered should be associated with something (garlic -> ajo -> ahi -> tuna), exaggerated with imagination (tuna wearing a lei of garlic), and placed in a location (the supermarket in the memory palace). Edited by Josh Cohen on 20 July 2011 at 8:33pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 4 of 89 20 July 2011 at 4:44pm | IP Logged | ||
Mnemonic techniques don't help you "learn" vocabulary, only "memorise" it. I call this "the dictionary in your head". A dictionary in your head is lighter and quicker than a paper-based dictionary. It is smaller than a normal dictionary, and is more customisable, but you'll probably still need a proper dictionary anyway as you won't have all the words you might need. But having a dictionary in your head may still be useful, because you can teach yourself the words later without having to look at a book. I don't think it's the most useful method in the world, but if you use it appropriately, there's nothing wrong with it. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6676 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 5 of 89 20 July 2011 at 7:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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The problem with these techniques is that you need good visualization skills.
It depends on your training. How many words do you want to learn every day? If you want to learn 100 words a day, you need 400 locis. First day you associate this 400 words with every loci and then review them throughout the day for four days. You will have a reflex level memorization. Thats our goal. The fifth day start again with 400 words more and 400 locis more. Every two weeks review words. You can use the same locis again and again as long as you leave about a week without using them. If you are really good, maybe you can learn more than 1,000 words a day. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josh Cohen Newbie United States mnemotechnics.org/ Joined 4877 days ago 35 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese, Esperanto | Message 6 of 89 20 July 2011 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I guess this technique is still *a* "method of loci", but not *the* method of loci (which has fixed locations).
There is no sequence or specific loci that you have to create. You can place the images anywhere in their section of town on the spot. You can use a different town for each language. One has to learn vocabulary one way or another. This way is fast and it sorts the words by gender, conjugations pattern, etc. Once you memorize them, you will often recognize the words when you hear people speaking them. You won't necessarily know what it means instantly, but you can usually follow the chain of mnemonic images to pull up the meaning within a few seconds. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6676 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 7 of 89 20 July 2011 at 9:24pm | IP Logged | ||
The goal with the loci method I am talking about is to FIX words to a REFLEX level. Then, after four days, you can get rid of the locis, associations and so on. You do not really need them. Locis and assotiations are useful to trick your mind to start using this vocabulary in an active way. Anyway, for average people all these techniques are useless. If people do not have the memory skill needed, this is a waste of time. Average people need to read and listen a lot. Maybe they can use the keyword (or linkword) technique for difficult words and forget about memory palaces, locis and stuff like that. All these techniques like memory palaces, GMS systems and all those approaches are useful if you already have good memory training, you are a Memory Master or you have strong natural visualization skills. If not, do not waste time. Just read and listen your target language. Th 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Josh Cohen Newbie United States mnemotechnics.org/ Joined 4877 days ago 35 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese, Esperanto | Message 8 of 89 20 July 2011 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | ||
I think anyone can learn visualization with practice. I have a terrible memory and didn't consider myself "visual", but I trained myself to memorize hundreds of random digits after seeing each digit once, and I don't forget names anymore. Visual associations keep getting easier and faster... This method is basically the linkword method, except that it adds locations to sort the words by grammar rules. It's like seeing someone whose face you recognize, but whose name you can't remember. The first thing the mind does is to try to find the location where you met the person. As soon as you recall that location ("we met at the supermarket last summer"), other information about the person comes rushing back. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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