Study Different Languages to Aid Memory

An effective technique to improve the memory is by trying to acquire knowledge of a foreign language. When you study a fresh set of terms, you results in a absurd set of syllables that are associated with an equivalent set in your own language.

People generally relate foreign language by reiterating the words time and time again. Improvements to this arduous method of learning can be made by utilizing two major techniques:

1. Usage of Mnemonics

Using mnemonics is a very easy way of using relationships to improve the memory. In this method, images are used to relate to a word/phrase in your language and its corresponding part in the foreign one.

For example, when you start learning an English to Spanish vocabulary:

In English, you will say “apple”, and in Spanish, it is “manzana” – you can relate the last letter of the Spanish “manzana” to the first letter of the English counterpart “apple”.

In English, you will say “olives”, and in Spanish, it is “oliva” – you can relate the two by removing the last letter and pronounce it as olive.

This method of mnemonics was made famous by Dr. Michael Gruneberg, who called it the “LinkWord” technique. Dr. Gruneberg has helped many students in studying vocabulary sets, helping them to speak fluently. He has published many language books to aid in this cause. Using the LinkWord Technique, it is said, you are able to study a new vocabulary set in a matter of 1-2 days, according to your needs.

2. The Town Language Mnemonic

This mnemonic method is a mix of the Roman Room System and the LinkWord Technique. The basis of this method is the fact that the vocabulary of a language is related to normal and everyday things, for example, things that you would generally find in a town. To use this method, you will need to choose a location that you are familiar with. Objects in the town can be utilized as indications to memorize the images that associate to the foreign vocabulary.

As an example, when you learn nouns, common words can be related to the most appropriate place. The word for a book can be associated with a picture of a book in a library. Fruits can be related with one in a fruit stand. Foreign names of various fruits and vegetables can learn from inside a market, which can be easily found in a town.

While studying adjectives, ordinary words can be associated to a garden or park. You can easily relate words such as green, dark, large, hot etc., with everyday objects in the park. You can even look at a public pool, pond or even various people and describe them.

If it is verbs you want to study, then it can be done in a gym or sports center. Many activities in a sports center can be related with foreign verbs for walking, dancing, jumping, swimming etc.

While studying a language where gender is an important part, a very helpful and effective technique is to remember it by splitting into two parts. One part, data can be made on the male gender nouns and the other can be related via the female gender nouns. If there is another gender, then please associate the proper groups. These relations can be made using roads, ponds, lakes, rivers etc. Just associate the image with a location in the right part of the town.

An additional method of memorizing foreign words is to take the 100 most frequent used words in a language and remember them.