How to Read Something You Don't Want to Read Super Fast

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If y'all can memorize new vocabulary faster, you can learn a language faster as well!  So, how practice y'all memorize vocabulary faster and more effectively? Here are x proven memory hacks you should utilise!

How long it takes to learn a linguistic communication? Well, that largely depends on your memory. What techniques do y'all utilise to help you lot to think words in a foreign language? Unproblematic. With retentiveness hacks!

Just offset, let me dispel a mutual myth that you're probably thinking. You lot don't, I repeat, you DON'T have a bad retentiveness. Just considering you haven't learned a language every bit quickly as you'd similar or you forgot where yous left your keys, that doesn't hateful you have a bad retentivity. You just didn't make it a priority to remember.

Maybe you were multitasking and didn't pay attention to where you put your keys or you lot accept had something else on your mind. It happens. It's totally normal and happens to all of usa.

Our memory is a musculus. To build a practiced memory we just need to apply uncomplicated techniques and methods for it to accomplish its total potential. Recall of it similar post-obit a curated fettle program with daily workout videos that help you build a strong and good for you body. Your memory is the same. It works best when it has been "trained", when it has a framework to work with.

The same can be said when information technology comes to remembering new words in a foreign language. Just because you run across a word once, twice or even a hundred times, it doesn't mean you'll automatically retrieve information technology and so yous tin use it in a conversation.

We frequently talk about people with great memories as though it were some sort of an innate souvenir, but that is not the case. Bang-up memories are learned. — Joshua Foer, Writer of Moonwalking with Einstein

Retentivity can be trained just like whatever muscle, and you know what else? Learning a foreign language is actually an excellent style to improve your retention and your overall cerebral abilities. The more you larn, the easier it becomes to memorize new information.

So, trust me when I say, you're Not missing the and then-chosen "language learning factor". The only thing you ARE missing, are these acme 10 proven techniques that will 10x your memory and so you can retrieve more and learn languages faster!

But get-go, it's of import to understand…

How does the Memory Work?

Oxford Languages defines memory as 'the faculty past which the heed stores and remembers information'. Seems clear enough. But how does it actually work? Well, there are three main processes involved: encoding, storage, and recall.

The process of retentivity begins with encoding: acquiring or learning new data. Only put, to call up something y'all demand to learn information technology first. We take in data through dissimilar channels, but equally nosotros take information technology in we also analyze it and adapt it and then information technology can be stored in our brain.

This new information is ordinarily encoded in ane of the four ways: acoustically (how something sounds); visually (the way something looks); semantically (what something means); or in a tactile or elaborative manner (how something feels and connects to other things).

For example, if you've just met someone at a party and yous want to retrieve their name you can echo their proper noun out loud, acquaintance it with the way the person looks, place the name in a specific context or setting (like the exact place where you've met), or rely on the connections you tin make with this name or person (possibly you know someone else with the same name).

Afterwards the data has been encoded, it goes to storage and so that nosotros can recall, or use it afterwards. This is what most people think about when they talk about retention.

The outcome between short-term and long-term memory

There are two types of storage. When yous first encounter something new, first, this information goes to your short-term memory. From here, information technology is either forgotten or, if needed and stored correctly, goes to your long-term memory.

Short-term retentiveness is very brief (hence the proper name!), lasting fifteen-30 seconds and can concord between 5 and nine (the average number is seven) items of information. Your short-term memory is at work when yous do something like read a list of words and and so immediately echo them. Information technology helps you to rapidly obtain the information yous demand at the moment, while you lot are performing a task, but information technology's highly likely y'all will forget this information later.

Our long-term memory has a much longer fourth dimension bridge (from a few minutes to a lifetime) with practically unlimited chapters. For information to be transferred from your short-term memory into your long term retentivity, y'all need to echo information technology or interact with it at least a few times.

The final step of the procedure is retrieval. This is where you access data stored in your retention. In that location are two different types of retrieval: recall and recognition. When you recognize something, yous have some class of a clue that helps you call up information. You lot can oft quite easily recognize new vocabulary when you are reading a text. But recalling it without any cues when you demand to produce it in a conversation tin can be much harder.

Hither's a fun video to assist bring the process of memory to life.

Why do we forget?

I of the main reasons for forgetting is actually declining to call back information. And then, the information may still be somewhere in that location in your brain, but, y'all only tin can't access it.

In 1885, a High german psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted an experiment in which he tested how well he remembered a listing of nonsense syllables over increasingly longer periods of time. Using the results of his experiment, he created what is now known as the 'Ebbinghaus Forgetting Bend'.

He constitute out that the forgetting curve is exponential in nature. Subsequently y'all have just learned something, memory retention is 100%. Nonetheless, information technology drops rapidly to xl% within just a few days. After that, the declination of memory retentivity slows down again.

He also constitute out that if yous repeat or do something a lot, the data is stored more strongly and the forgetting curve becomes much more shallow. Basically, you lot are faced with a use-it-or-lose-it situation, and the first few days are absolutely essential.

Here'southward a footling explainer video to show The Forgetting Curve process.

Then, what tin can you exercise to amend your retentivity?

With the following 10 super effective memory hacks, y'all'll learn how to memorize vocabulary, store information technology in your retention longer, and retrieve it easier.

Let'south swoop in!

10 Proven Memory Hacks: How to Memorize New Vocabulary Faster

i. Use spaced-repetition

As we've seen above, repetition is key to storing information in long-term memory. Spaced-repetition is a popular method with polyglots and the language learning community in general.

Spaced-repetition works by presenting you with information right before you lot forget information technology to make certain that it stays fresh in your mind. You lot don't mindlessly repeat information over and over once more; you repeat it beyond increasing intervals of fourth dimension.

For case, say, you lot've learned some Italian greetings before your trip to Italian republic. You lot repeat them a few minutes after, and so a few hours, then a day, then a few days, and then a week…You lot become the idea!

Spaced-repetition is designed to 'fight' the forgetting curve and trains your brain past 'lifting heavier and heavier weights' and then you tin recall information at longer intervals.

One of the outset spaced-repetition algorithms was the Leitner flashcard organisation. The organization was based on paper flashcards (does anyone however make those?) that in the process of learning were divided into different levels and placed into unlike boxes. Flashcards of different levels were repeated with a dissimilar frequency. For example, Level 1 cards every day, Level 2 cards every two days, Level 3 cards every four days, Level 4 cards every eight days, and so on.

The Leitner organisation can be quite cumbersome and laborious: not simply do you need to make vocabulary cards, simply to find some boxes to store them in, as well equally to recall to move cards from level to level as you acquire the words and phrases. Fortunately, present you don't take to do this. Various websites and language learning apps were created with the apply of spaced repetition to assist y'all memorize vocabulary more effectively.

Here are a few examples: Memrise, Anki, Quizlet, TinyCards, Memorion, Traverse. These apps may differ from each other slightly, but the master idea of spaced repetition is there. Most of them are free or accept a free version – effort them out for yourself and see which i y'all similar improve.

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Related: Memrise vs Duolingo: Which Linguistic communication App is Best For You?

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ii. Catechumen new words to pictures

We are visual creatures. About 80-ninety% of the data nosotros absorb is visual. A large pct of us (65-fourscore%) are visual learners. We recall information supported by images much more effectively. So, why non use images and visual learning to memorize vocabulary?

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Related: What type of language learner are you?

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Hither's 1 of the ways y'all can practice it. Await at the word you lot want to think. Does it remind y'all of something? Practice the characters look similar or resemble a like word in your native language or some other language you know?

Some languages take washed part of the job for y'all. If you are learning Chinese or Japanese, there are some characters that are based on real objects and actually wait like them. Here is the Japanese character that means tree: 木. It may not be the mode you would draw a tree, but it is pretty easy to convert this character into a memorable mental image.

Let's take a look at another case. The Spanish word for 'demote' is 'banco', which is very like to the word 'bank'. The solution is simple: draw a mental motion picture of a bench near a bank, and you'll have no trouble remembering this word. The Spanish word for 'cat' is 'gato' and it is quite similar to its English language equivalent – you lot can likewise imagine the letter of the alphabet 'g' being the curled tail of this furry pet.

To sum it upwards, the main idea behind this technique is to depict a mental picture based on the word's shape, meaning, and/or sound. Creating this additional clan with the word will help you store it in your memory longer and recall it easier.

3. Create your own 'Retentivity Palace'

Memory palace – sounds fancy, doesn't it? Well, it is too a powerful style to memorize vocabulary.

The technique was developed by ancient Greeks, just it doesn't brand it any less effective. Many people use it today to remember all sorts of information such as cards in a game of poker, names at a party, formulas needed for an test, grocery lists, and, of course, vocabulary.

A retentivity palace is a place you lot visualise in your mind where you lot can store mnemonic images and other data. It doesn't have to be an actual palace – in fact, it works much more effectively if you imagine a identify that you know well, like your home or function.

Creating a memory palace works by creating a strong clan of the give-and-take with an image and, in this instance, a physical location.

Here' s how you build a retention palace:

1. Imagine a place you know well in your mind, like your habitation or office.
2. Map your way through information technology: entering the front door, walking along the corridor, inbound rooms, etc. Imagine the furniture yous see on your way and other objects.
3. Accept a list of what you need to memorize – say, some new vocabulary – and identify the items or words along your way.
4. To make information technology even more memorable, make the objects and words you lot retrieve collaborate with the location and create other associations if possible. For instance, 'el gato' (the cat) can meet you at the gate scratching at the gate-mail.

Endeavour information technology out! I'm certain the memory palace you build will be like no other – and that it will help you memorize vocabulary actually well.

Watch this video by Joshua Foer to learn how to create your own memory palace.

Also worth checking out is his popular TED talk

4. 'Stack' your words with the Stacking Method.

A stack is a neatly arranged pile of objects put one on meridian of the other. You probably have at least one stack in your home: a stack of plates, books, DVDs, papers. Merely what does it have to do with memorizing vocabulary?

Y'all tin can likewise 'stack' information items to call back them better. Stacking works great with memorizing lists, like a grocery listing, merely it is also great for memorizing vocabulary, especially vocabulary on the same topic or united by some context.

This method also relies on vivid visualization, but in this case, you don't just create a vivid image for each vocabulary unit – you literally stack them one on top of the other.

Let united states of america say y'all need to larn the names of some kitchen utensils in Italian. Start with a 'tazza', or 'cup'. Imagine information technology vividly in your mind, the way information technology looks, the kind of shape information technology has. So put a 'piatto' (plate) on peak of the 'taza'. What's next? Perchance, a 'forchetta' (fork)? 'Put' it on the 'piatto' vertically and so try to balance something on information technology.

Information technology may sound just a tiny bit absurd, merely it works! Creating a vivid image of a stack of 'piatti' (dishes) in your listen will help you remember the words ameliorate through a potent association. The more than cool the image, the amend, equally it'll be more memorable to you.

The merely drawback to this technique is that it puts the vocabulary units in a particular order, and retrieving them in whatever other order will be a fleck harder.

5. Create fun mnemonics

Mnemonic devices or mnemonics are various techniques that help you store information in long-term memory and remember information technology more effectively. Mnemonics are based on creating meaningful associations with the information by using things such as images, memorable phrases, short poems, or even kinesthetic forms.

Mnemonics work by building connections with the word. It becomes not just a word from a foreign linguistic communication, just a concept connected to an image, a joke, a vocal, or something else. The stronger this prototype and this connectedness are, the better mnemonic devices work.

There are different kinds of mnemonics that you can use to memorize vocabulary:

• Acronyms or Expression Mnemonics – Take the first letters from the words that you need to retrieve and build a word or an acronym with them. For example, you tin remember the points of the compass – North, Due east, West, and Due south – with the acronym 'NEWS'. Yous can too accept other words that begin with the aforementioned get-go letters and make a whole phrase with them. For instance, you tin can utilize the phrase 'PLEASE Excuse MY Love AUNT Sally' to recollect the names of mathematical operations: Parentheses, Exponents, Yardultiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract.
• Music Mnemonics – Remembering lyrics to a song is much easier than but remembering a text. The rhyming and the melody makes it easier to remember and also more fun. I can bet y'all still call back some nursery rhymes from your babyhood. Practise y'all recollect the 'ABC song'? This is an example of a music mnemonic.
• Rhyming Mnemonics – Things that rhyme are easier and more than fun to remember as well. Here is an example of a rhyming mnemonic you can apply to retrieve the number of days in each calendar month of the year:xxx days hath September, April, June, and November.
  All the remainder have 31
  Except February my dear son.
  It has 28 and that is fine
  But in Leap Year information technology has 29.

• The Rhyming Peg Organisation – The Peg system uses visual imagery to create a 'hook' or 'peg' from which to 'hang', or associate, your memories. Information technology works like linking words that sound alike to create new associations. When they rhyme they tend to exist more effective, but it'south not essential.. (eleven) Run into if you can remember this curt list of words (say the numbers out loud):

1. 1. Bun
   2. Shoe
   3. Tree
   4. Door
   5. Hive
   6. Sticks
   7. Heaven
   8. Gate
   9. Vine
   10. Hen

These are only a few examples. In that location are many more than varieties of mnemonics and yous tin even mix and match them to create your own personal associations.

Mnemonics can be used to learn the alphabet, vocabulary, grammar, and other aspects of the language.

For instance, many French students mix upward these 2 common French prepositions – 'au dessus' (above), and 'au dessous' (below). Since they are like in spelling, how can you remember them? By using a mnemonic, of grade!

A phrase you can use to assistance you remember the difference is: 'If in the air y'all see a passenger vehicle, it must exist 'au dessus'. If on the footing you encounter a mouse, it must be 'au dessous'.'

Sound baroque? That'southward exactly why y'all'll never mix up these two prepositions again!

This video perfectly explains how mnemonics piece of work.

6. Share and Teach Others with The Protégé Effect

There's an old Latin maxim that the all-time way to learn something, is to teach it to someone else. "By didactics, we learn," – Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – 65 Advertizing). This is also known as The Protégé Event.

Does this really piece of work and, if so, how? If we refer back to how our retentivity works, recalling data is one of the key processes involved in memorizing something. The more you utilize and collaborate with the information, the more finer y'all'll recall it. So, by instruction others and sharing your knowledge in a meaningful way, you're actually helping to solidify your cognition into your long-term memory.

Share with someone you know what you've learned. Let them ask you lot questions nearly it. This will help y'all identify not only practice what you've learned simply also to make sure you've understood it yourself. No i home? Explain information technology to your "gato" (cat)!

This works even if you're a beginner. When you share your knowledge with other beginners, you're not simply consolidating for yourself what you've learned, but are building friendships and besides more opportunities to recall this new data. Non only that, simply learning together is fun too!

7. Always write it downwards

Very few people write things downwards present. Let'south be honest, nearly of our lives are documented in an electronic format, either on our phones or laptops. There's nothing wrong with this, merely when it comes to actually remembering things, it's much more constructive to write things down. That'southward right, using a pen and paper volition actually assistance you remember more.  Why is this?

The Association for Psychological Science states that, "there is something nigh typing that leads to mindless processing. And at that place is something about ink and paper that prompts students to go beyond just hearing and recording new information…".

One of the reasons why writing things down is and then constructive is because it requires more in-depth processing. Nosotros oft summarize things into our own words too, which only adds to our interaction with the information. Only it doesn't stop there. The way we choose to organize information on the page, such as which parts to highlight to brand them more than visible also requires boosted processing.

Making good notes quite often means you don't even demand to refer to them later because you've already processed the material when y'all wrote them!

Try it out! The next time you sit to study, close Google docs, and physically write down what you're learning. I guarantee y'all'll retain more.

8. Memorise with niggling effort using The Goldlist Method

The Goldlist Method is another technique that is based on writing things down and popular with polyglots. The Goldlist Method works by writing down lists of expressions you want to learn in a notebook. Then, at to the lowest degree two weeks afterwards, you lot copy them again, sorting out the expressions that y'all remember from those you don't. Equally if past magic, yous'll encounter that you've remembered 30% of the expressions from each list without ever having studied them! No bad, right?!

How to use the The Goldlist Method:

1. Divide a page into iv sections, A, B, C, and D. In department A, write down a listing of 20 vocabulary units you lot desire to memorize. Read every phrase and its translation out loud. Put this list aside and "forget" virtually it, for now.
2. Over the next thirteen days, create new lists with 4 new sections.
3. On solar day 15, go dorsum to the 1st list (Step 1) and test yourself by covering up the translation of the items into your native linguistic communication. You lot volition see that you call back nigh xxx% – about half-dozen words/phrases from it. Copy the remaining 14 words into department B.

Y'all probably run across where this is going. You lot repeat the process with all the other lists, then become back to the first one and exercise it all again. According to David James, the creator of the method, every bit long as you are relaxed and enjoying the process, you will naturally pick up a few items into your long-term memory each time. For the items y'all don't recollect, yous simply learn on the next round.

Watch this fantastci video by Lýdia Machová who explains how to employ The Goldlist Method.

9. Focus makes progress!

So many things distract u.s. throughout the day and that can go on us from really focusing learning languages. Practise your best to cutting out as many distractions equally possible whenever you want to dedicate some fourth dimension to learning your target linguistic communication. If you're at home, explain to members of your household that y'all demand this fourth dimension to report. If yous are somewhere in public, endeavor dissonance-canceling headphones or listening to relaxing ambience music to assist you drown out the noises. Put your phone away or, if y'all are using a mobile app to acquire, turn off all notifications chop-chop by switching to night mode.

When you lot are focused and engaged, when you pay attention to what you are learning, you will retain much more than from the learning session compared to when you are constantly distracted.

x. Combine words with images with Dual Coding

Dual coding is where y'all combine both visual and verbal information. Developed by Allan Paivio of the Academy of Western Ontario in 1971, Paivio based his method on the idea that the formation of mental images aids learning. For example, you lot store the concept of a 'true cat' in your mind as both the discussion and an image of a cat, and y'all can recall them together, or separately.

Hither are some examples of using dual coding in linguistic communication learning:

• Drawing out a historical timeline of events
• Using comics or storyboards to recollect stories and texts
• Visual note-taking with part of the information presented as images
• Flashcards that include images
• Visual cues used during quizzes

As you've seen in the previously mentioned memory tips in,  creating visual associations are a really powerful tool which is why dual coding is so effective.

Have you ever used a visual dictionary with high-quality images illustrating each word? That's dual coding!

Need help improving your retentiveness?

If yous're lost in the weeds when information technology comes to effectively learning new words, check out the Your Solid Vocab Memory. This online was developed by my friend Kerstin Cable, an experienced linguistic communication learner and teacher who really knows her stuff.  I always follow Kerstin's tips, and this course is excellent. If you experience the need to finish chasing your tail and retrieve any discussion easily, take a look at Your Solid Vocab Memory.

This course has been ane of my favourite resources of the twelvemonth because it teaches you how to larn and call up vocab in three uncomplicated steps:

• Grow your give-and-take list with strategic goal setting and a solid system for taking notes in seconds
• MEMORIZE whatsoever discussion, even the ones you forget all the time, in less than a infinitesimal
• REVIEW with fun and easy methods, not overwhelming lists and card decks

Check out Your Solid Vocab Memory here – I know y'all'll love it!

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Like it? Pivot information technology for afterwards!

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Over to you!

Which 1 of these memory tips and hacks will you lot try first? What is your current method for learning languages. Allow me know using the comments section below or bring together me on social media to start a conversation. Call up, if you haven't already done then, detect out what blazon of language learner you are hither.

Cheers for reading and I promise yous enjoyed this post.

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