right now I am learning the Korean language.
My first point would be to agree with everyone who said experience of something aids learning. After a while of the bus or taxi driver asking the same thing, and hearing your Korean friends use certain words in reply it just kind of becomes intuitive as to what you need to say.
All of the stuff that I use everyday is obviously easy to remember. However, there are three ways to say everything in Korean, so.... I usually use the informal/familiar phrases to everyone (because I am an ignorant Westerner). However, the only way I have found to learn the polite and formal versions of stuff is rote learning. Reading, reading, reading again.......
also...... words like 'emergency landing' (kin-kub-chok-lyog - for those who are interested...) don't often come up in everyday conversation... so rote learning is the only way.
This is an interesting thread topic as I just had to come to grips with my learning process last week as I had procrastinated greatly in something you have to know in great detail: Human Anatomy.
I had basically one night to memorize my notes and cram. As the night wore on, my brain started getting weird imagery...that'll make sense here pretty soon.
You see, one of my history teachers in high school did this weird experiment in memorization with us. Apparently there are different ways the brain memorizes shit. There's the way we memorize just the first and last bits of lists, clustering information, etc. SO she told the class to memorize a list of like 40 words that she was going to say aloud. THEN we had a couple of minutes to write down the words on paper. Class average memory recall was like 15 words or something. Then she taught this method to us where you imagine in your head that you're walking into your home and assigning each word with each item you encounter as you go around your house. So her word "Ghost" would be the SHOE RACK affiliated with Soles ("Souls"), and on like that. Truth be told, the class was able to recall like 80 percent of the words like that.
I fell back on this method that night trying to remember specialized tissues and functions of cells in the body. I made up really weird stories in my head like Uncle Connective Tissue with two different closets for his superhero outfits. In Uncle C.T.'s house lived all these orphans called Fibroblasts. WEIRD WEIRD stuff probably enhanced by the lack of sleep. POINT IS....what was point again? oh yeah, I got a 90 on my test and I felt like I didn't even deserve it. It was a lot of material, indeed, but I'm afraid that it's just lodged in short-term memory. Ah well, I guess my advice would be repetition and good old fashioned self-discipline. My theory is that most "smart" people weren't born that way, they just have a)have good work ethic , b)have no social distractions so studying is their most attractive option, or c)they're geniuses and get everything in one go.
Interesting. I'm currently back in Japanese class and trying to cram as many kanjis as possible into my head. At the moment they're there, but as I was able to recall very few of the ones I picked up 2 years ago, I don't think they'll stick unless I spend time rehearsing all of them regularly.
I have this book though, called Remembering the Kanji (Heisig), which uses the method you describe above: coming up with weird little stories for each and every one of upwards 2,000 kanjis before even learning words that use them. Still on the fence about trying it out during summer; even without learning pronounciations and vocabulary it's quite a time-consuming project, time that could be spent just using "brute force" memorization. (If anyone tried this book btw, let me know, I hear it's somewhat popular)
Well, at university, I was a tutor (took classes of about 20 students), a teaching assistant for the lecturers and now that I'm out - I actually took up training as my chosen career and manage internal training for the company I work for.
Often its a personal thing, but here's something I noticed.
1 - Connect with the material. I continue to have a really hard time learning something that bores me. So the 1st thing I do is put theory into real-world context. If I take an obsevation then learn the reasoning behind it - I often those "aw, I see now!" moments. If anyone's taken a business course, you'll notice that the "mature" students that have worked in a business before pick things up a lot more intuitively.
2 - Teach someone. Seriously. I havent realised that I've really known something until I've had to try and explain it to someone else. Group work at uni, I found really helpful. I'd start talking about something that I had a pretty tenuous grip on, then as I had to think about it in a way I could explain to someone else - I'd surprise myself as it "clicked" into place. If you want something to stick - learn it, then pick a victim and try explaining it to them, the more they participate and ask questions - the better.
Edit:
I should mention that there isnt a right way... I actually realised that I need pressure. I genuinely accepted and used the understanding that if I wasnt doing it last minute - it wasn't happening. I was the guy up at 4am the night before. Now I'm the guy that teaches people ;-)
Interesting. I'm currently back in Japanese class and trying to cram as many kanjis as possible into my head. At the moment they're there, but as I was able to recall very few of the ones I picked up 2 years ago, I don't think they'll stick unless I spend time rehearsing all of them regularly.
I have this book though, called Remembering the Kanji (Heisig), which uses the method you describe above: coming up with weird little stories for each and every one of upwards 2,000 kanjis before even learning words that use them. Still on the fence about trying it out during summer; even without learning pronounciations and vocabulary it's quite a time-consuming project, time that could be spent just using "brute force" memorization. (If anyone tried this book btw, let me know, I hear it's somewhat popular)
I remember seeing a video of this guy who would greet everybody at the door of this massive auditorium of people and he would get up on stage and then proceed to go down the row pointing and recalling their first name....all quick as a cat, too. He was some sort of motivational speaker but he focused on name recall and how he did it (and you see this everywhere whenever it's on name recollection...): face association. Take some weird quirk and then transform it into a mental image.
I actually wowed a few people working in this big assisted living/retirement home; it was lunch time and the employees had to go through a check list of people to make sure nobody was missing lunch on account of a broken hip. I asked somebody to go through the list once for me, pointing out every one of the about 80 gray haired and wrinkly individuals that were sitting down for lunch. I then tried to recall and I amazed myself and most importantly, my boss. (I came up with some weird weird crap though.....I couldn't help that Myrtle looked a lot well....a turtle.....)
I do have to say, after my anatomy cram, I could feel the knowledge sitting in my short-term memory. This is no good for anatomy OR kanji BUT, I think it's a technique better complemented by repetition. Meaning, if you can cram a huge chunk of info in your head using little stories, awesome, but it's only good for regurgitation....once that's crammed in your head, then I fully endorse the advice below. Good luck with the Kanji.
Well, at university, I was a tutor (took classes of about 20 students), a teaching assistant for the lecturers and now that I'm out - I actually took up training as my chosen career and manage internal training for the company I work for.
Often its a personal thing, but here's something I noticed.
1 - Connect with the material. I continue to have a really hard time learning something that bores me. So the 1st thing I do is put theory into real-world context. If I take an obsevation then learn the reasoning behind it - I often those "aw, I see now!" moments. If anyone's taken a business course, you'll notice that the "mature" students that have worked in a business before pick things up a lot more intuitively.
2 - Teach someone. Seriously. I havent realised that I've really known something until I've had to try and explain it to someone else. Group work at uni, I found really helpful. I'd start talking about something that I had a pretty tenuous grip on, then as I had to think about it in a way I could explain to someone else - I'd surprise myself as it "clicked" into place. If you want something to stick - learn it, then pick a victim and try explaining it to them, the more they participate and ask questions - the better.
FM,I couldn't agree more as both pieces of your advice have worked for me tremendously in the past. My high school English teacher (a dauntingly knowledgeable man) once said that you don't know something until you can write it down on paper or teach it to someone else. I have too often found that I am content with thinking that I know something (politics, science, religion, taxes....) about something and then I realize, God forbid if I were pressed or tested on this stuff....I bullshit my way a lot through life, I discover that on a day to day basis.
I digress.
I also found that your technique of teaching someone helps even when I have no one to teach. Seriously, I just imagine someone there (an alien or a hot chick from class...) asking me questions. Pretty soon, people will notice and REALLY start asking you questions to help them out. I've had those 'click' moments from teaching people. Good stuff.
So what I'll do is give my notes to a family member/friend and have them quiz me from them. One or two sessions of that and I'll have it down pat. This gets my brain working because I have to remember it, and little hints given by the quizer helps reinforce associations.
What's important to note here is that this doesn't just practice memorization, it practices the much more difficult recall portion. It's the same as the difference between an actor reading a script and an actor rehearsing it from memory. As a classical musician, I'm much better if I practice a few times playing by memory than if I played from the sheet music 100 times.
For me, it'd have to be by listening or reading. Reading isn't so much of a problem, except that if I have a decent textbook, I lose any motivation for the actual classwork itself, as I can just get it from the textbook.
If listening is going to be the useful way of getting information, I begin to run into a small problem. Mainly my extremely short attention span. So, I learn well by listening, but am extremely easily distracted, which ends up with me missing half the lecture anyways...
So what I'll do is give my notes to a family member/friend and have them quiz me from them. One or two sessions of that and I'll have it down pat. This gets my brain working because I have to remember it, and little hints given by the quizer helps reinforce associations.
What's important to note here is that this doesn't just practice memorization, it practices the much more difficult recall portion. It's the same as the difference between an actor reading a script and an actor rehearsing it from memory. As a classical musician, I'm much better if I practice a few times playing by memory than if I played from the sheet music 100 times.
Out of curiosity, have you ever tried actually copying the music by hand?
So what I'll do is give my notes to a family member/friend and have them quiz me from them. One or two sessions of that and I'll have it down pat. This gets my brain working because I have to remember it, and little hints given by the quizer helps reinforce associations.
What's important to note here is that this doesn't just practice memorization, it practices the much more difficult recall portion. It's the same as the difference between an actor reading a script and an actor rehearsing it from memory. As a classical musician, I'm much better if I practice a few times playing by memory than if I played from the sheet music 100 times.
Out of curiosity, have you ever tried actually copying the music by hand?
No, but that sounds like a good experiment. I don't think it would work as well, because it doesn't train your muscle memory, but I'm sure it couldn't hurt. I figure that kind of thing would work really well for people who can hear sheet music in their head, but I have a hard time of it if I'm not actually playing it.
Posts
right now I am learning the Korean language.
My first point would be to agree with everyone who said experience of something aids learning. After a while of the bus or taxi driver asking the same thing, and hearing your Korean friends use certain words in reply it just kind of becomes intuitive as to what you need to say.
All of the stuff that I use everyday is obviously easy to remember. However, there are three ways to say everything in Korean, so.... I usually use the informal/familiar phrases to everyone (because I am an ignorant Westerner). However, the only way I have found to learn the polite and formal versions of stuff is rote learning. Reading, reading, reading again.......
also...... words like 'emergency landing' (kin-kub-chok-lyog - for those who are interested...) don't often come up in everyday conversation... so rote learning is the only way.
Interesting. I'm currently back in Japanese class and trying to cram as many kanjis as possible into my head. At the moment they're there, but as I was able to recall very few of the ones I picked up 2 years ago, I don't think they'll stick unless I spend time rehearsing all of them regularly.
I have this book though, called Remembering the Kanji (Heisig), which uses the method you describe above: coming up with weird little stories for each and every one of upwards 2,000 kanjis before even learning words that use them. Still on the fence about trying it out during summer; even without learning pronounciations and vocabulary it's quite a time-consuming project, time that could be spent just using "brute force" memorization. (If anyone tried this book btw, let me know, I hear it's somewhat popular)
Well, at university, I was a tutor (took classes of about 20 students), a teaching assistant for the lecturers and now that I'm out - I actually took up training as my chosen career and manage internal training for the company I work for.
Often its a personal thing, but here's something I noticed.
1 - Connect with the material. I continue to have a really hard time learning something that bores me. So the 1st thing I do is put theory into real-world context. If I take an obsevation then learn the reasoning behind it - I often those "aw, I see now!" moments. If anyone's taken a business course, you'll notice that the "mature" students that have worked in a business before pick things up a lot more intuitively.
2 - Teach someone. Seriously. I havent realised that I've really known something until I've had to try and explain it to someone else. Group work at uni, I found really helpful. I'd start talking about something that I had a pretty tenuous grip on, then as I had to think about it in a way I could explain to someone else - I'd surprise myself as it "clicked" into place. If you want something to stick - learn it, then pick a victim and try explaining it to them, the more they participate and ask questions - the better.
Edit:
I should mention that there isnt a right way... I actually realised that I need pressure. I genuinely accepted and used the understanding that if I wasnt doing it last minute - it wasn't happening. I was the guy up at 4am the night before. Now I'm the guy that teaches people ;-)
I remember seeing a video of this guy who would greet everybody at the door of this massive auditorium of people and he would get up on stage and then proceed to go down the row pointing and recalling their first name....all quick as a cat, too. He was some sort of motivational speaker but he focused on name recall and how he did it (and you see this everywhere whenever it's on name recollection...): face association. Take some weird quirk and then transform it into a mental image.
I actually wowed a few people working in this big assisted living/retirement home; it was lunch time and the employees had to go through a check list of people to make sure nobody was missing lunch on account of a broken hip. I asked somebody to go through the list once for me, pointing out every one of the about 80 gray haired and wrinkly individuals that were sitting down for lunch. I then tried to recall and I amazed myself and most importantly, my boss. (I came up with some weird weird crap though.....I couldn't help that Myrtle looked a lot well....a turtle.....)
I do have to say, after my anatomy cram, I could feel the knowledge sitting in my short-term memory. This is no good for anatomy OR kanji BUT, I think it's a technique better complemented by repetition. Meaning, if you can cram a huge chunk of info in your head using little stories, awesome, but it's only good for regurgitation....once that's crammed in your head, then I fully endorse the advice below. Good luck with the Kanji.
FM,I couldn't agree more as both pieces of your advice have worked for me tremendously in the past. My high school English teacher (a dauntingly knowledgeable man) once said that you don't know something until you can write it down on paper or teach it to someone else. I have too often found that I am content with thinking that I know something (politics, science, religion, taxes....) about something and then I realize, God forbid if I were pressed or tested on this stuff....I bullshit my way a lot through life, I discover that on a day to day basis.
I digress.
I also found that your technique of teaching someone helps even when I have no one to teach. Seriously, I just imagine someone there (an alien or a hot chick from class...) asking me questions. Pretty soon, people will notice and REALLY start asking you questions to help them out. I've had those 'click' moments from teaching people. Good stuff.
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If listening is going to be the useful way of getting information, I begin to run into a small problem. Mainly my extremely short attention span. So, I learn well by listening, but am extremely easily distracted, which ends up with me missing half the lecture anyways...
Yeah...
Out of curiosity, have you ever tried actually copying the music by hand?