What is the best way to learn foreign words. How to quickly memorize foreign words

It would seem that a simple math problem from the fourth grade: if you learn 30-35 English words a day every day, How many English words can you learn in a month and a year?

Of course, you easily calculated: you can learn about a thousand English words in a month and, accordingly, 12,000 words in a year. Interesting, but what does experience and practice say?

As vocabulary is reduced , so are the number of feelings you can express, the number of events you can describe, the number of the things you can identify! Not only understanding is limited, but also experience. Man grows by language. Whenever he limits language he retrogresses!

With reduction vocabulary the number of feelings that you can express, the number of events that you can describe, the number of objects that you can name decreases. Not only understanding is limited, but also experience. Man grows through language. Whenever he restricts language, he goes into decline.

~ Sheri S. Tepper

As practice shows, it is possible to learn something, but it will not work to keep it in an active reserve and use it regularly in speech. Words without practice and associative links are quickly forgotten, which the creators are silent about.

True, you always have a chance remember a large number of English words- it all depends on the characteristics of memory and techniques for memorizing English words, which we will talk about today.

How to learn a lot of English words quickly

Learning English words is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Signing the names of unfamiliar words is one of the effective methods for remembering.

Want to learn a lot of English words in a short time? The German scientist Ebinghaus found that with mechanical memorization, that is, when a person does not understand the meaning of the material and does not use mnemonics, after an hour only 44% of the information remains in memory, and after a week - less than 25%. Fortunately, with conscious memorization, information is forgotten much more slowly.

First of all, it is necessary to determine how it is easier for you to absorb new information: by ear, by sight or by writing down?

This will not take much time, but will greatly facilitate training and selection. efficient technician for you later. One of the tests that will help you determine how easy it is for you to remember new information is presented on this site. By answering 30 questions, you can know exactly what type you are.

In short, we recall that visuals easily memorize new words by seeing or reading, audials - by ear, and kinesthetics need to be in motion, for example, write down information on paper.

In today's world, most people are dominated by visual type perception new information. Remember how long annoying commercials seen on TV, or posters and banners that are full of city streets, are stored in our memory.

You also need to know that there are no 100% visuals or audials. But some channel is still dominant, and it is this channel that should be used if your goal is learn a lot of english words fast.

Visual method of memorizing English words

Characteristics and scheme of perception of information by visuals.

If you have read the novel Martin Eden by Jack London, then most likely you remember that the protagonist taught great amount academic words, posting leaflets with new words at home.

visual method for memorizing English words is pasting all the objects that surround you with stickers with new words. How does it work visual method? You constantly come across an abundance of English words, read, memorize and, of course, use English words.

Purchase from the store or make your own cards with new words, translation, transcription, and even an example of use. It is convenient to take such cards with you if you have a long commute to work or constantly disappear in lines. They can be classically made on paper or downloaded to your phone.

On a note:

On the Internet you can find download apps for mobile phones which use a visual way to expand vocabulary. The most popular are Words, Easy Ten and Duolingo: Learn Languages for Free.

Bright pictures with captions, memory trainers, verification tests who use these mobile apps will help you learn a lot of English words in a short time. And most importantly, they are always at hand!

If your level is not beginner (Pre-Intermediate and above), you can watch films, programs and videos with and without subtitles, writing out not only new words, but also useful colloquial phrases.

English audio tutorials and podcasts

Characteristics and scheme of perception of information by auditory people.

If you belong to a rare category of people (about 10%) who love and remember with their ears, then this method is for you.

The main conditions for vocabulary expansion- constantly listen to English speech, whether at home in the kitchen or in a car in a traffic jam. New words and expressions can be written down and repeated periodically.

With this method, you will not be afraid to listen to speech, and your listening skills will improve.

TPR method for expanding vocabulary

Characteristics and scheme of perception of information by kinesthetics.

The third type of perception of information, which includes kinesthetics, prefers movement to static learning. If you are a kinesthetic learner, don't forget to write down new words on paper. It is better if you have a diary dictionary that you can refer to from time to time.

Often used in teaching children TPR (Total Physical Response) method. But believe me, if you are a kinesthetic learner, this method is also for you: with its help, you can easily learn English words and phrases.

The essence of the method is to memorize new words, phrases and lexical constructions using gestures, command execution, pantomime and games. For example, on the word ball(ball) you need to perform an action associated with this object, for example, playing with the ball.

Simple and effective ways to memorize English words

Mnemonics and memorization of English words

A good example of how mnemonics works.

One of the most effective ways to memorize English, and indeed foreign words, is mnemonics. The method of mnemonics (or mnemonics) is based on creating images in your mind. You take the information you need to remember and turn it into an image through association.

First you need to understand that the brain does not remember the images themselves that arise in the head, but links between multiple images. This is very important to remember, because right at the time of memorization, you need to focus on this.

Mnemonics actively develops memory and thinking. The main task is to create images that are connected in the imagination different ways. The images must be colored, large and detailed.

Learning English words with the help of mnemonics is incredibly easy! We select the most consonant word (or several words) from the native language to the foreign word.

How mnemonics works when memorizing English words, let's look at an example:

puddle ["pʌdl] puddle

Approximate pronunciation (phonetic association) - "bad"

Mnemonic model: "I kept falling and falling into a puddle" .

Examples of using mnemonics in teaching English:

If you are using mnemonics to expand vocabulary, it is important to remember that you need not only to link words together and express in the form of a sentence, but also to present specific situation in which it happens or is said.

For example, do not just say: "A nervous person is walking along a narrow alley," but imagine a nervous person, you can know your friend, who walks, looking around and shuddering at every sound, along a narrow dark alley. In this case, you will definitely not forget this foreign word.

On a note:

An association or a bunch of words that has arisen is necessary only for 2-3 repetitions from memory in order to remember a foreign word and its translation. Then it disappears behind uselessness, so you don’t have to worry that any nonsense will be stored in your memory.

Undoubtedly, for quick and high-quality memorization of foreign words, you need to practice, find your own approach, learn how to create your own associations, and even quickly. The process of creating associations will be slow at first, but be patient and keep practicing. As a rule, the speed and quality of association creation improves after the first thousands of memorized words.

It remains to be added that with the help of this technique it is possible to memorize words of any foreign language .

Mind halls for expanding vocabulary in English

Many people use flashcards to help memorize new words, but these flashcards are not always at hand, especially at the right time.

There is a great way to memorize new words and expressions - this is the power of your mind. It is called Method of loci (locus method).

You can also see names such as “mind halls”, “memory palaces”, “method of loci”, “spatial mnemonics”, “method of Cicero”.

When Sherlock Holmes, the world-famous detective, wanted to remember something important, he closed his eyes and plunged into the halls of the mind ( ‘mind palace’). Like Sherlock Holmes, you can also use this Method of loci to memorize new words and phrases. How it looks visually you can see in the video.

Video “The Hound of the Baskervilles” - “mind palaces” by Sherlock Holmes.

How does the locus method work?

We're building an imaginary place imaginary place) in our mind and put things and people there that will help us remember new words. You can store images both on the shelves and randomly. The main thing is that you yourself know where everything is and can quickly remember. The best activators are either completely ridiculous or very logical. It's even better to mix and match.

Remember the simple rules that in no case should be violated in the process of creating a connection:

Represent images large(even if the items to remember different sizes, make them one: be it a ship, a coconut or a bee. Small images should not be presented. Connections between such images will be recorded very poorly.
The images must be voluminous. For example, holographic images or images created on 3D graphics programs. Such images can be rotated and viewed from different angles.
Images must be submitted colored. If these are the leaves of trees, then they must be green, the tree itself - brown, etc.
The images presented must be detailed. If you imagine the image of a “phone”, you need to mentally consider it and clearly see what parts the phone you represent consists of. If it is a cell phone, then you can identify the following images in it: antenna, display, buttons, cover, strap, leather case, battery.

Then we apply the main mental operation in mnemonics is "connection of images". Let's look at how this is applied in the practice of learning English words.

Let's say we need to memorize the words associated with the word run, as well as its forms, so we will make up the following story in our minds: the imaginary setting of the city - the imaginary place is a city .

This is just a small example of how to memorize english words, connected with run, and its forms. Of course, you can add other phrases with this word, of which there are actually many, and as my imaginary city grows, I can use more and more words, and thereby expand my vocabulary.

More details about memorization technique "memory palace" you can learn more from the video:

Any imaginary place can be, even a room in your house, and you try to come up with a situation that will be close to you, and the words will be remembered much easier.

In this manner easy to learn words on different topics, such as “food”, “kitchen”, “clothing”, etc. Arrange the items however you like, and then it will be easier for you to remember the name of the item by its location in your "memory" palace.

And of course, develop deduction, attention to detail and creativity. Develop associative thinking.

Another tip applies to all "memory palaces", regardless of the purpose of their "construction". If you want to remember something for a long time (and not in the "passed - forgot" mode), you will have to periodically "walk" around the "palace".

Audiolingual Method in English

Automation of skills occurs in the process of training by repeated repetition of speech patterns.

Audiolingual method- this is one of the methods of teaching a language, in which it is necessary to repeatedly listen and pronounce words, phrases and sentences, which leads to their automation.

This method has its pros and cons, but will suit mainly auditory speakers, since there is no visual support. The main focus here is on oral speech.

When using the audiolingual method, no explanations are given, since all the proposed material is simply practiced and memorized in the form set expressions so that students can use them without hesitation in the future.

Training in this case is based on the development of some static models that students cannot change at all or almost at all. In this respect, this teaching method is the direct opposite of the communicative method.

let's consider positive and negative sides audiolingual method.

Positive sides	Negative sides
When developing this method, attention was focused not only on the content of the material offered to the student, but also on the very process of memorizing this material by the student. The very system of presenting new information and repeated repetitions lead to the inevitable memorization of the past. In the process of repetition, not only the memorization of the material takes place, but also the pronunciation is worked out, as well as the removal of the language barrier. Memorizing set expressions leads to the fact that, if necessary, they come to mind automatically, as when communicating in their native language.	The main disadvantage of the audiolingual method (not unreasonably) is that it does not pay due attention to the independent study of grammar. Students, especially initial stage learning, are deprived of the opportunity to understand why the phrase is built this way and not otherwise, or why the word is used in one form and not in another. As they learn, students have to independently, on the basis of the material covered, build for themselves certain grammatical constructions. This undoubtedly contributes to a more solid assimilation of such constructions, but only if the student is able to construct them. And this is not always possible, since there are exceptions to the rules that can confuse a person who is not familiar with the basics of the grammar of the language being studied.

Positive sides

Negative sides

When developing this method, attention was focused not only on the content of the material offered to the student, but also on the very process of memorizing this material by the student.

The very system of presenting new information and repeated repetitions lead to the inevitable memorization of the past. In the process of repetition, not only the memorization of the material takes place, but also the pronunciation is worked out, as well as the removal of the language barrier.

Memorizing set expressions leads to the fact that, if necessary, they come to mind automatically, as when communicating in their native language.

The main disadvantage of the audiolingual method (not unreasonably) is that it does not pay due attention to the independent study of grammar.

Students, especially initial stage learning, are deprived of the opportunity to understand why the phrase is built this way and not otherwise, or why the word is used in one form and not in another. As they learn, students have to independently, on the basis of the material covered, build for themselves certain grammatical constructions.

This undoubtedly contributes to a more solid assimilation of such constructions, but only if the student is able to construct them. And this is not always possible, since there are exceptions to the rules that can confuse a person who is not familiar with the basics of the grammar of the language being studied.

Tips on how to improve your English vocabulary?

By knowing many words, you will be able to express yourself in many different ways.

To replenish vocabulary, first of all, you need to systematically and regularly, preferably every day. There are many ways and they all work.

Choose the one that suits you best, and you can easily improve your English vocabulary. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Expand your English vocabulary with lists

Words surround us. Just looking up words in a dictionary may not be as interesting or exciting. Pay attention to English words around you - during, series and programs on English language, reading the news - everywhere, anytime.

Important!

Regardless of whether you do it or not, we recommend that you write down what part of speech this or that word is (verb, noun, adjective), as well as derivatives of this word. For example, "fish" - fishing, fishy, fisherman, etc. It will also be helpful if you add sentences with examples of these words.

You can also use the notepad on your mobile phone. As soon as you hear an unfamiliar word, write it down. Make sure you have enough free space around it to make appropriate notes.

When you have free time, write down its meaning or translation, and possibly the context in which it can be used.

Learn English words by practice

As you make word lists, it is very easy to forget the words that were at the very beginning. All words are required use in your speech. The more we use them, the better we remember them.

Reread your lists, for example, at the end of each week. How well do you remember old words?

If any words are hard to remember, but they are very common, it is likely that you will meet them in the future. Therefore, add them again to new lists and over time you will remember them.

Games will help memorize English words

Scrabble is an effective way to learn English words and have fun with family and friends.

Who said learning new words is not fun?! Games like Scrabble or Vocabador offer great ways to learn new words .

Games are great way learning not only because it's fun, but also because it gives you context for new words. Believe me, you will very quickly remember the word that your friend was laughing at.

We also want to draw your attention to the free game Free Rice. This game gives you a word, and you need to choose for it correct definition. If you answer incorrectly, the next word will become easier. If it's correct, it's harder.

By playing this game, you not only improve your vocabulary but also help the world in the fight against hunger. How? Try to play it!

Increase English vocabulary with context

As mentioned earlier, it's better (and easier) memorize new words in context. One way is to write a sentence with this word. You will not only memorize this word, but you can easily use it in a conversation.

Another way - memorize words in groups. If you want to remember a word humongous (very large), it will be easier for you to remember it from a chain of words: getting bigger and bigger-large, huge, humongous. It also makes it possible to memorize more words at a time.

For example, large, humongous, gargantuan. What do you think the word means gargantuan?

Dictionaries and social networks for memorizing words

Of course, you can look up an unfamiliar word in the dictionary! Especially since modern online dictionaries offer many additional options.

In many online dictionaries there are interesting articles, games, as well as the “word of the day” section.

And if you feel confident that you can read literature in the original language, check out the article.

Sites for learning English words

Below you will find best sites to increase and practice vocabulary which can be of maximum benefit to you.

Business English Site

BusinessEnglishSite - site for learning business vocabulary

This is one of the best and most popular sites to study. Here you can fill up the vocabulary with useful phrases, expressions and even business jargon.

All words are divided into topics, for example, "Accounting", "Project Management", "IT" etc.

For each topic there are exercises to consolidate, which train not only vocabulary, but also grammar.

Blair English

With Blair English you can learn English words from scratch

All exercises and lessons on this site have been specially designed to increase and enrich your English vocabulary .

Here you will find over 190 free interactive exercises on various themes, such as the IT-technology, Business, Communication and many others.

Also on the site there is a database of exercises to improve listening and pronunciation skills.

Lingualeo

Lingualeo - word practice resource

A very famous interactive resource that is interesting not only for children. It helps make language learning fun and visual, and also contains unlimited number of words for different levels.

To feed the lion cub and get a new portion of words, registration is required.

british council

British Council - The most British way to learn words

The British Council website has not left us without the practice of truly British phrases, idioms and expressions. You can also learn a few new words a day there.

Words filtered out by topic and level, which makes navigation extremely convenient, and the process of cramming English words - an exciting experience.

For teachers, there are lesson plans for various levels with handouts.

Test Your Vocabulary

On this site, you can not with 100% probability, but at least approximately understand what kind of vocabulary you have and what you need to improve.

The test interface in English is simple. The site is designed for users who study English or even are native speakers.

By ticking the words you know the translation of and answering a few questions about yourself, you will very likely know how many english words is in your active supply.

Instead of a conclusion

As you can see, techniques and resources for enriching your vocabulary in various fields- enough. The most important thing is to constantly work on it, and here everything depends on you. The daily work will then pay off in full when you communicate with English speakers without any problems.

In contact with

Modern teaching methods offer to learn a language as quickly as possible, where the main indicator of the quality of knowledge is the richness of vocabulary. Each person has his own type of thinking and memory. Some just need to look at a new word to memorize it, others have to stubbornly sit and memorize it, as once in childhood - the multiplication table.

Method of interaction of sensations

A useful method that is extremely useful to use in parallel with other memorization techniques. Its essence boils down to the fact that each foreign concept should not only be memorized, but felt, imagining that it is from the native language. This rule will allow you to communicate as freely as possible in a foreign language and “not go into your pocket for a word”, thinking about the answer for a long time. Thanks to this method, the necessary associations themselves will pop up in the head at the right time.
Example: when memorizing the English cup, you need to imagine a cup and repeat this word to yourself in a foreign language.
By the way, if the meaning itself flies out of your head, cup can be remembered as an image: a cup into which water is dripping from a tap with the sound "drip". Thus, the method of associations will help to remember the word, and the method of interaction will fix it in the subconscious.

Storytelling

This memorization method suggests composing a short story in order to better consolidate. The main rule here is not to strain too much imagining - the story may be simple and ridiculous, but vivid and memorable.

For example, almost ("almost") can be represented as follows: once upon a time there was a girl Alla, who once wanted to throw herself off the bridge, but a passer-by prevented her, grabbing her leg. So she almost succeeded in accomplishing her plan. Before you is an absurd story that will definitely not let you forget a word or its meaning. If you repeat the story several times at different times to yourself, it will be easy to remember. This method is suitable for words to which it is not possible to find a simple association.

Phonetic association method

It is known that in all languages of the world there are words or their parts that coincide in sound. From the point of view of the method of phonetic associations, memorization of words with different meanings can be made convenient. To remember a word that is similar in meaning to another, it is enough to link these two meanings together. This technique will help you remember the most complex values in the shortest possible time, the main thing is to repeat associations from time to time. And, of course, write down what you have learned in a special dictionary.

For example, you need to remember the English plumber (plumber, plumber). You need to imagine a plumber, and imagine it very brightly - in his blue overalls, with a yellow helmet. The word plumber, upon some consideration, may seem like a Russian "plombir". Next, you should very vividly imagine a plumber who greedily eats a melted ice cream flowing through his hands. Ready! A vivid association is chosen and will certainly not fly out of memory.

Stickers

Sticking stickers around the surrounding space will help you better immerse yourself in language environment and get used to the language.

This is an interesting and unusual way for creative people whose family will not mind if all the items in the house are pasted over with stickers with strange inscriptions. This method is based on the pattern that most people on earth are visuals who remember visual information better.

Working with hearing

As it has recently become clear from the practice of English-Russian schools, for some reason, the biggest problem for Russian-speaking students is the perception foreign speech aurally.

One of the methods to eliminate this feature is the independent dictation of the studied text or individual words on the recorder and their subsequent listening. At the same time, it is worth giving Special attention correct pronunciation. If it is not clear how a word is pronounced, refer to connoisseurs and competent sources, because the distortion of one sound can change the meaning of the entire phrase.

Smart cards

The method suggests using brainstorming. First you need to take a generalized concept - for example, fruits - and list all the fruits in this language, writing them out. The more time you can spend on one such enumeration, the better these words will be deposited in your head.

All “sorted” concepts should be written out and saved in order to review in a free minute, repeating. This is good way translate several concepts at once into the active dictionary.

Mobile applications

Easy way to repeat and learn words - applications for mobile phone, smartphone or tablet. An important advantage is that applications can be used at any convenient time: on the road or during a break at work.

Google Translator- a good dictionary that knows 90 languages. To work with it, you need to enter a word in a foreign language. The translator will give several translation options that you can listen to if you wish. All translated materials can be saved and synchronized with other gadgets.

Yandex translate- a handy dictionary from Yandex developers. The application allows you to translate individual words, phrases, sentences and texts online and offline. Offline mode means offline work with six languages, and using the Internet, more than 90 languages will be available. Everything is free.

Memrise– will help to learn a foreign word both online and offline. Mobile app allows you to learn not only new words, but also various terms, capital Cities. There are free and paid versions.

Find an accomplice

Find a friend who has studied or is studying the same language and start practicing learning with him. A friend who can correct the pronunciation, the construction of phrases is almost a personal tutor.

If there are none among your friends, you can find special communities on the Internet that practice a similar method of learning a language. Even if informal meetings of those wishing to speak a foreign language do not take place in your city, the Internet will help to expand the boundaries and, for example, via Skype. Learning a language in this lively way is not only extremely rewarding, but also fun!

Habit building is the key to ensuring that precious knowledge doesn't get lost and stays in the place it was put in years ago. There are several important points which should be observed in order to learn the language in the most effective way.

mother of learning

Replenishing your vocabulary, like a piggy bank - with coins, you should not forget that if you do not practice repeating the language, words are forgotten over time. It's one thing to remember, another thing to hold in your head for a long time. For this, there are simple, but binding rules, which are required to be observed by everyone who wants to memorize new words firmly: repeat them an hour later, before going to bed and the next morning, and flip through your personal dictionary at least once a month.

Regularity and focus

Practice shows that the most effective method of learning foreign languages is regularity. You should not set yourself the “learn 100 in a day” setting - it’s better to gradually, every day, get acquainted with 10 new foreign concepts and memorize them reliably. You should not spray on several languages at the same time, especially if you need knowledge in perfection. Constantly switching to another language is not prohibited, but remember that this will reduce the effectiveness of classes.

“To own another language means to own a second soul”

Charlemagne

The importance of knowing a foreign language in the modern world cannot be overestimated. In order to travel, you must know the language of the country you are going to, or at least English. There are many foreign language resources on the Internet, the key to which is knowledge of the language. Increasingly, when applying for a job, knowledge of one or even several foreign languages is required. And its study contributes to the formation of new neural connections in the brain.

The main difficulty in mastering a language is words. This article is designed to make this process much more interesting and easier.

If you are not yet familiar with the basic principles of mnemonics, .

Method phonetic associations

This method is based on the consonance of the words of a foreign language and native. In order to memorize a word, you must pick up a similar sound in your native language.

For example: pillow [ˈpɪloʊ] translated from English is a pillow. The pronunciation of this word is very similar to Russian word"saw". We imagine how the saw cuts the pillow from above, feathers begin to crumble, etc. (do not forget about the brightness of the image). Or the English word hang - hang. It reminds me of the word "khan". We imagine how the khan hangs on the horizontal bar.

And what to do with the word elephant (elephant)? It's hard to find the right word for it. But you can divide it into parts and pick up some words. For example " ele ctronic" (the one where the wolf catches eggs) and " phantom ik". We imagine how an elephant with a trunk holds "Electronics", half wrapped in a candy wrapper.
Consider a more complex example: suggest - offer. We imagine how Stalin holds a large open jar of jam over his head, a piece of cheese sticks out of it, and Iosif Vissarionovich actively offers buy it. We read the images in order (from top to bottom): sy R, je m, St alin. It turned out something very reminiscent of suggest. Here we recall the translation - to offer.

Important! When repeating words, be sure to pronounce the correct pronunciation of the word. Although you remember it not exactly, but only approximately, you will still remember it with periodic repetition. You can repeat as follows: first you read a word in a foreign language, remember the phonetic association and name the translation, and after some time you will no longer need to imagine how Stalin sells jam every time, you will be able to name the translation straightaway. If you want to communicate verbally, and not just be able to read and write, then this is the effect you need to achieve. It's not that hard. With regular reading, automatism can come even without much effort on your part. But some words will not appear in the text so often, so they will have to be repeated separately (allocate time in your schedule for this).

word formation

Study the word formation of the chosen language. How can you make a familiar word the opposite in meaning (happy - happy, unhappy - unhappy), how to make an adjective or adverb out of a noun (success, successful, successfully - success, successful and successful, respectively). Pay attention to words with two roots (snowball - snow + ball - snowball or snowball). Be sure to check with shaping attachments and suffixes - this will make the process of learning a language much easier.

As you noticed, in order to memorize words, it is not at all necessary to highlight support images. But if you want, you can do it: create a memory palace with several corridors (one per part of speech) and place images in it. Then you will have a complete dictionary of the language being studied in your head.

Bonus: remembering new words in your native language
The process is similar to memorizing foreign words: we create a phonetic association, find an image for the semantic meaning of the word and connect it.

For example: an epigone is a follower of some artistic, scientific, etc. direction, devoid of creative originality and mechanically repeating someone else's ideas. Phonetic associations: ep oleta, Yoke p H ikolaev. Imagine how Igor Nikolaev is sitting at the table and copying something from one piece of paper to another. On his shoulders are huge epaulettes. Ready.
Now you do not have to spend hours cramming a couple of dozen words. The rate at which your vocabulary increases will increase and the desire to learn the language will increase because quick success very motivating in learning. Don't procrastinate: learn 10-20 foreign words right now.

CHAPTER 0

I strongly recommend reading the entire article - it contains a lot of useful tips, examples, techniques for learning both English and any foreign words. But if you do not have the time or willpower (then your desire to study foreign language), then briefly about the highlight of all that is described below.

The cornerstone in the study of foreign words is mnemonic association method. It consists in the following sequence of actions: for the English word, first come up with a sound association in Russian, then come up with a scene, plot, story, phrase with this association and correct translation remember this story. Within 2 days, repeat 4 times - remember in a chain:

eng. word => sound association => story=> translate .

If a person knows for sure that he came up with a sound association for a given word or spied a sound association in our database, then it will not be difficult for him to reproduce this scheme. After 4 repetitions, the need for the chain will disappear, because. pair " eng. word => translation"will directly move to the long memory area of \u200b\u200byour brain (the translation itself, during the very first repetitions, lived only half an hour in the fast memory of the brain). Up to this point, only a story could get into long memory, especially if it is bright and emotional. Sound association during repetition was invented in a new way, the story with her participation was remembered, and the correct translation was already in history.

1. There is an English word slave (slave, subordinate) and you need to learn it.
2. You come up with a Russian word that is consonant with English, for example, glory.
3. Thinking short story or a phrase in which both the association word and the translation appear: "Glory to the slaves - the builders of the Egyptian pyramids!"
4. You remember the story (not necessarily by heart, but the meaning with keywords) that our brain is easier than remembering a direct translation.

And in your brain formed a chain of associations " slave=> glory => glory to slaves, builders Egyptian pyramids! => slave ". More precisely: you try to remember only the story (if it is bright and emotional, then it's easy), and the sound association itself will pop up in your head when you need to translate the word, through the sound association you will remember the story, and through it - translation.

The method also works in the opposite direction. That is, if you need to remember how “slave” will be in English, then, knowing that you have a story with the word “slave”, you will quickly remember it, take from it the sound association “glory”, which will lead to English the word slave.

CHAPTER 1. Installation on technology

While potential polyglots do not know anything about the technique except its purpose, they show not a hefty interest in it and demonstrate their readiness to start an assault on a foreign language tomorrow. But as soon as the presentation of the essence of the most important principle begins in our story, the mystery instantly evaporates, and they disappointedly declare that they have known such a way of memorizing words for a long time without us (such a statement is made by 90 out of 100 who learned the language using this method). Therefore, at the first meeting, we always emphasize and frame that the success of language learning does not depend on the novelty of the principle, but on the ability to use it correctly.

To learn a language, you need to know not only the principle, but also the detailed TECHNOLOGY of its application.

The statement of the principle itself will take several lines. The rest of the work is devoted to describing the technology. In our opinion, if the domestic pedagogical science paid more attention not a scrupulous search in the works of the classics for evidence of the truth of their methods, but was engaged in a thorough development of technologies, then all other methods of learning foreign languages (learning in a dream, sublimation methods of memorization, rhythmic memorization, etc.) would be, if not better, then, according to at least are as effective as our method. By this we want to emphasize that the method for which you decided to spend a pathologically inconvertible currency, time, does not lie aside from psychological science. It differs only in proven technology.

CHAPTER 2

The question of why children remember well both their native and foreign languages has not yet been unanimously resolved. The only thing psychologists have in common is the recognition illogical thinking of children. Only at the age of three can we say that the sun hides behind a cloud because it is very tired. At school, for such a statement, we will probably be given two points. We begin to think in cliches, hackneyed phrases and stereotypes. The evil spirit of illogical thinking is being deliberately cast out of us. And now, after all this, we try to learn a foreign language and are amazed why our cluttered head works worse than in childhood.

Imagine a two-year-old child who needs to remember for the first time a word in their native language, for example, a pencil, and a similar word from a quasi-foreign language, for example, "abdrapapupa" (in fact, this word was invented by a computer). For a child, it doesn't matter which one to remember. He is ready to capture in his memory even both words at once, since memorization occurs as a result of the formation of a conditional connection between these new words and the old ones that the child has already learned: "pencil - paper", "pencil - table", etc., " abdrapapupa - paper", "abdrapapupa - table", etc. These two connections compete because they have the same age and, therefore, strength; they don't erase each other. However, there is no rational explanation for these relationships. The child does not seek to form a logical chain between the old and the new, he simply puts them side by side.

Now let's go back from childhood and try to remember a list of foreign words. We usually do this in two ways. Either through a rational or mechanical connection. With the first method, we begin to consciously or unconsciously explain to ourselves that "abdrapapupa" is what is drawn on paper, trying in this way to form a rational connection between abdrapapupa and paper. But how do such attempts end in most cases? If we do not have a unique natural memory, then the most common forgetting occurs. At the same time, we work with the efficiency of a steam locomotive - 20%. The fact is that the connection abdrapapupa - paper, which we are trying to form, is easily replaced by the old, and therefore stronger connection in the native language, pencil - paper. This is the service our adult, serious logical thinking. If we are trying to memorize the translation mechanically, that is, to force our memory to form an abdrapapupa-pencil connection (we learn from a list like in school), then due to the limited volume of our short term memory, which can store from 2 to 26 units of information, it is quickly saturated, which leads to the cessation of memorization, fatigue and aversion to a foreign language. In addition, old connections still have a repressing effect. Thus, logical memorization specialties are more likely to lead to the appearance negative attitude to languages than to mastering them.

Now after detailed description two impasses, our task is infinitely simplified. It only remains for us to find in the intricate labyrinth of all possible ways of remembering a method that would be distinguished by the absence of the usual logic, but since the main task of the authors is to convince perceptive readers not of the novelty of the method, but of the need strict observance certain rules, then on the long way to the basic principle of memorization they put one more obstacle - the chapter on memory.

CHAPTER 3. Memory

We would gladly omit this chapter. However, everyone is so tired of allegations about the excellent qualities of this or that phenomenon of our life that now for every pound of obvious fact we invariably demand a fat appendage from an objective theory. That is why, afraid to seem unproven to lovers of foreign languages, we present theoretical and empirical data identified by domestic and foreign psychologists in the memory area.

At one time, psychology divided human memory into three blocks: sensory register, short-term and long-term memory.

The main function of the sensory register is to extend the duration of a short-term signal for its successful processing by the brain. For example, a prick of the finger with a needle lasts much longer than the direct impact of the needle. The sensory register is able to memorize very large amounts of information, much more than a person can analyze, that is, this type of memory does not have selectivity. Therefore, it is not of great interest to us.

For us, the next block is much more important - short term memory. It is she who takes upon herself the blows that pupils and students are exposed to in foreign language classes. It is she who is raped by a person, trying to mechanically remember huge amounts of information.

In 1954, Lloyd and Margaret Peterson conducted a very simple experiment, which, however, gave amazing results. They asked the subjects to remember just 3 letters, and after 18 seconds to reproduce them. This experiment seems completely insignificant.

Meanwhile, it turned out that the subjects could not remember these 3 letters. What's the matter? Everything is very simple: during these 18 seconds, the subjects were engaged in mental work: they had to count down at a fast pace in threes. When counting backwards in triplets, the subject begins with an arbitrarily named, three digit number, for example 487. Then he should say aloud the numbers obtained by subtracting 3 from previous date, 487, 484, 481, 478, etc. But even such, in general, simple work prevented them from remembering three letters. This simple experiment illustrates the main property of short-term memory: it has a very small capacity (from 2 to 26 units, according to other experiments) and a very short life (from 20 to 30 seconds). But at the same time, it is little sensitive to the length of unity. We can memorize 7 letters or even 7 phrases with equal ease.

The described experiments lead us to the conclusion that:

1. The amount of information memorized at one time should be strictly limited. Even a small increase in it leads to partial or complete forgetting.
2. After the process of assimilation of information, there must be a pause, during which it is necessary to unload the brain from mental work as much as possible.
3. It is necessary to make a unit of information as long as possible; word-by-word memorization is an uneconomical use of our memory.

There are at least a dozen theories that explain the positive the effect of a pause on the memorization of information. The most successful, in our opinion, substantiation of Muller and Pilzeker (1900) is that during a pause, an unconscious repetition of the material occurs. If the repetition period is more than 20-30 seconds, that is, there is too much information, then after a while part of it is erased. It is the presence of such a process as unconscious repetition that significantly increases the lifetime of information in short-term memory (up to 24-30 hours). It is this process that makes it difficult to realize the extremely small capacity of this type of memory, as a result of which we ruthlessly load it beyond measure.

Remember! Unconscious repetition occurs only if the brain is not loaded with any more information..

This process is disrupted even if you keep repeating the newly learned words for the supposedly noble purpose of reinforcing them even more in your memory. No further consolidation occurs, since you are not able, with all your desire, to consciously repeat 10-15 words in 20 seconds for some time - the lifetime of short-term memory. With your repetition, you interrupt the natural cycle of memorization.

A quite natural question arises, what are the boundaries of the pause, during which the perception of any information with its subsequent processing is undesirable. At the same time, we repeat, it is undesirable to perceive even learned words!

In 1913, Pierron answered this question. He asked the subjects to memorize a series of 18 meaningless syllables (to eliminate the influence of past experience). He then examined how many times the subjects had to repeat the same series at various intervals in order to restore the forgotten syllables in their short-term memory. We present his data in the following table:

As you can see, if you start repeating a series of syllables 30 seconds after the first memorization, then you have 14! refer to its contents once before they are remembered again. But if repetitions are resumed after 10 minutes, during which we will not receive any information, then their number will be only 4 (it should be noted that these numbers refer to meaningless material; when memorizing words that matter, absolute number there are fewer repetitions of them, but the proportions are approximately preserved).

In the time interval from 10 minutes to 24 hours, the processes stabilize and the information in short-term memory ceases to depend on external factors. Therefore, during this period, both the study of new information and the repetition of old information are possible. After 24 hours, the number of required repetitions begins to increase and reaches 8 after 48 hours. It means that mnemonic processes start to lose their energy. Therefore, every 24 hours it is necessary to repeat previously learned words (which, however, is known even without experiments).

Let's make a brief conclusion:

1. After memorizing the next portion of words, you need to pause for at least 10 minutes, during which your thoughts will not be burdened by serious mental work.
2. After 10 minutes, the words can be repeated again, and after 24 hours, the words must be repeated without fail. Otherwise, you will have to make twice as much effort to remember them again.

Of course, we understand that everything written hereinafter is known to most readers. But to our great regret, similar knowledge do not in the least interfere with teachers of foreign languages of schools and universities. They act according to the principle to which our system of education obliges: let it be bad, but according to the program. As a result, we exit educational institutions programmed to the ends of the hair and, if foreign languages do not yet cause nervous attacks in us, we begin to learn them on our own using the same methods that we adopted from older comrades.

Therefore, we have a big request: be sure to read this chapter to the end, so that in the future our technology does not seem absurd to you.

Pieron's experiments show how long we should rest, that is, with what frequency to repeat words. But they tell us absolutely nothing about how many such repetitions there must be that would allow us to translate words from short-term to long-term memory. Jost's experiments in 1987 show that with rote learning, the number of such repetitions reaches 20-30 times. In our case, the number of repetitions, distributed in a special way, for the average person is 4 times.

Now let's look at another phenomenon of short-term memory, well understood and known to all, but nevertheless ignored by the majority with Asian persistence.

Everyone knows very well that the more the elements of the memorized material are similar to each other, the more effort must be made to memorize them, the more homogeneous the elements, the more difficult they are to digest. So why do we all make lists of words, albeit different in meaning, but uniform in form, and teach, teach! What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you remember the translation of a word on the list? Naturally, the location of this word on a piece of paper. No need to be proud of it, it does not say anything about the positive features of your memory. It simply does not have the opportunity to cling to anything more significant, more characteristic of given word. The list of words is too uniform. From this follows a global, like all the previous, conclusion:

Each word must have a distinct set of labels. It is necessary to deprive all the words of the list of monotony and then they will begin to be remembered involuntarily, without our participation. How to achieve this? We do not claim that we were able to achieve the ideal in our method, but we, perhaps, managed to get closer to this requirement.

Now let's move on to long-term memory. Despite the fact that the phenomenon of memory is studied in all domestic and foreign areas of psychology (psychotypes of activity, cognitive psychology, behaviorism, etc. etc.), until a plausible explanation for the transition of information from short-term memory to long-term memory has been proposed. Things are even worse with the knowledge of this mechanism among lovers of foreign languages, since most of of them are familiar with only one of the factors of such a transition - with periodic relentless repetition. Although we are sure that you personally do not belong to this majority, we nevertheless venture to draw your attention a little longer to some of the phenomena of long-term memory.

1. In 1973, Standing published the results of his, in general, simple experiments. The subjects were shown 11,000 slides, a month later they were presented with them mixed with others and asked to identify them. The subjects remembered the slides and gave correct answers in 73% of cases! This suggests that the images of the slides from the first presentation penetrated into long-term memory. Therefore, when memorizing words, it is necessary to use not only repetition, but also bright, colorful, interesting, plot pictures, which are best cut out of the Crocodile magazine. (Again, we understand that such a conclusion is not a discovery for anyone. But if you met at least one person who consciously used this principle in learning a language, we would be very surprised.

2. Probably, all of us, language lovers, are tirelessly looking for a method in which words would be remembered by themselves. One of the authors, at one time experiencing the enormous influence of such an illusory dream, hung in his office about 10 sheets of paper with large words written in the hope that they would constantly fall into the field of vision and (after all, a drop hammers a stone) involuntarily be remembered. Although the idea turned out to be hopelessly unpromising, the natural desire to make life easier for yourself when learning a language remained. So, is it possible to give the process of memorization a share of involuntariness and, consequently, to facilitate and accelerate it? Try to remember, if you have experience of self-learning the language, cases when some words were memorized without any effort on your part. Have you analyzed these situations? After all, if it were possible to isolate something common inherent in them, we could very effectively manage the processes of memorization, or at least not make mistakes like the one described above.

Involuntary memory means that there is some force that makes our brain work regardless of our desire. What generates this power? Can it be created artificially? The answer to these questions was found by Soviet psychologists Smirnov A.A., and Zinchenko P.I.

In 1945, Smirnov conducted a very simple study. He asked several subjects two hours after the start of the working day to remember their way from home to work. Let us give one such description as an example. “I remember, first of all, the moment of exiting the subway. What exactly? How I thought that I had to get out of the car in such a way that I would quickly take the right position and go faster, because I was late. I was driving, I remember, in the last car. Therefore, I didn’t manage to jump out anywhere I had to go into the crowd. Previously, when leaving, the public walked along the entire width of the platform. Now, to ensure the passage of those entering, people were placed, turning the crowd from the edge of the platform. Way forward drops out. I remember absolutely nothing. There is only a vague memory of how he reached the gates of the university. Didn't notice anything. I don't remember what I was thinking. When I entered the gate, I noticed that someone was standing. Who exactly: a man or a woman, I do not remember. I don't remember anything else."

What is characteristic of this story and others like it? First of all, the memories of the subject in significantly more refer to what he did rather than what he thought. Even in cases where thoughts are recalled, they are nevertheless associated with the actions of the subject. But the subjects perform many actions. Which of them is associated with involuntary memorization? With those that contribute to or hinder the achievement of the goal facing the subject. In 1945, everyone had one most important goal - to come to work on time, so they involuntarily remembered only what influenced the speed of moving along the street. It would seem that this extremely simple conclusion should in itself form the basis of learning a foreign language! But that doesn't happen. What was the teacher's goal in the classroom? Remember the word. But that's the goal! How can a word be remembered involuntarily in this case, if memorization itself is the goal?! The more we focus our efforts on memorizing words, the less involuntariness, the more volitional effort, the more violence against our memory we commit.

Memorizing words should not be the goal in learning a foreign language.
Memorization should be only an action leading to the achievement of some goal.

Two questions immediately arise:

What should be this goal?
What should be the action?

We will answer the first question in the chapter on memory technology. The experiments of the Soviet psychologist P.I. Zienko gave the answer to the second question. In his experiments, distinguished like all others by seeming simplicity, the subjects were divided into two groups. The first of them was given pictures depicting various objects and was asked to classify them according to the first letters of their names (for example, I put pictures together with the letter A, then B, etc.). The second group received the same pictures, but classified them according to the meaning of the depicted objects (for example, they put together pictures with furniture first, then with animals, etc.).

After the experiment, both groups had to remember the pictures they had worked with. As you may have guessed, the second group showed higher results. This happened because in the first case, the meaning of the picture, despite the fact that it was understood and passed through the subjects' consciousness (after all, they had to highlight the first letter), was not included directly in the goal - in the classification. In the second case, the subjects were also clearly aware of both the sound composition of the name and the meaning of the picture, but only the meaning was directly included in the goal. This leads us to the idea that both the meaning of the word and its sound must be directly included in the goal.

To achieve the goal, which we will formulate a little later, it is necessary to manipulate both the meaning and pronunciation. This will lead to the fact that a foreign word will be remembered with a great deal of involuntary.

Unfortunately, at school and university, this principle is violated like traffic rules - by everyone and everywhere. Learning a language turns into painful, purposeful cramming.

3. Anyone familiar with psychology is familiar with the concept installations(not to be confused with party settings). This term refers to the readiness of a person to act in a very specific way. For example, graduates have a mindset to continue their studies or a mindset to work; you have a very strong mindset for a foreign language, etc. Installations make our lives easier. Thanks to them, we perform most of the actions automatically and do not waste time thinking. For example, in the morning we decided to wash ourselves: the corresponding setting, developed throughout our life, is turned on, and all actions begin to be performed automatically (we are little aware of them). As soon as washing is finished, the installation turns off and you make a new decision - to have breakfast. Another setting is turned on and the actions are performed automatically again (provided that the refrigerator has everything necessary to complete this act).

If you had a setting for morning exercises, then the latter would not have caused you a gloomy mood since the evening, but would have been performed automatically, like washing.

How are settings created? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not known when it will appear. Therefore, we cannot give detailed explanations, despite the thick volumes written by psychologists. But in order to somehow mitigate the situation, we will describe an experiment that will allow us to realize a phenomenon that is very useful for learning a foreign language.

The subjects, as in the previous experiment, were divided into two groups. The same text was read to them, but the first group was told that they would test their knowledge the next day, and the other group was told that they would do the same in a week. In fact, the test of knowledge of the text was carried out only after two weeks in both groups. The subjects of the second group showed better results. In this experiment, we can clearly see the effect and influence of the set created in the subjects by the experimental situation.

Therefore, sitting down to study the next portion of words, try to convince yourself and sincerely believe that you are learning the language in order to remember all your life The command "I remember these words for a long time", given to myself before the start of classes, may seem insignificant even after describing the experiment with the installation. We fully admit this and do not insist that it will provide you with one hundred percent success. But we would like to remind you that before the function of setting up for any activity (including school lessons) performed the prayer. Warriors prayed before the battle not at all because they were obliged to do so by the dominant ideology. Prayer set them up for a feat. "Our Father", read before lunch or a lesson, calmed, pushed away all worries, contributed to a better assimilation of food and knowledge. Perhaps one should not read such a tuning prayer before studying a dozen or two words. But when we are talking about thousands, then a trifle turns into a significant factor. If setting up the right mindset allows you to remember at least one more word for every ten words, then for every thousand you will make a profit of a hundred words. Don't miss out on the benefits.

4. We have to meet one more, quite known fact, and then nothing will prevent us from knowing how and in what method we can simultaneously take into account all the above requirements and observations.

This last fact is that our brain is not capable of perceiving static. Try to look closely at some object without moving your eyes or head. This simple task will become impossible after 2-3 minutes - the object will begin to "dissolve", leave your field of vision, you will no longer see it. The same thing happens with a monotonous sound (for example, the noise of the forest, the noise of cars, etc.). But if we cannot perceive non-dynamic phenomena, then what can we say about our memory, which is associated with outside world through perception and sensation! Everything that is not able to move or is not associated with movement is instantly erased from our memory. To prove this fact, we, of course, have in store the results of a very simple experiment. The subjects were shown faces of a different nationality, filmed from the front on the movie screen (as is known, without the appropriate habit, representatives of another nation at first appear to have the same face). If the image was dynamic, that is, a person smiled, frowned, moved his eyes, sniffed, etc., then later his photograph was easily recognized by the subjects among others. If the person's face was motionless, then the number of correct answers dropped sharply. This suggests that a static, motionless image is very quickly "eroded" from memory. From this we will draw the last, but no less important than all the previous conclusions: all images used to memorize foreign words must be dynamic!

Everything must have movement.

This concludes the chapter on the peculiarities of our memory. We are fully aware that the memory model consisting of the 3 described systems is not the best and only possible one (we could start from the level model, from the sign theory of memory by L.S. Vygotsky, etc.), but in comparison with others, it is the most developed and technologically advanced.

Now we would like to express our gratitude to everyone for their patience and move on to a presentation of the technology of learning a foreign language, which will allow you to learn for 20-30 (and with great desire and much more) words per hour. True, this does not mean that you will learn 480-600 words per day. Therefore, during the day it is advisable to learn (of course, if you have a lot of free time) no more than 100 words. In addition, we do not recommend immediately abruptly switching to this method. First, try to learn the language in your usual way, partially using ours as an aid in memorizing especially difficult words. Such a smooth transition will allow you to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of the method, more successfully adapt the technology for yourself.

CHAPTER 4. Structure of technology

In this chapter, we will describe the structure of the accelerated word learning technology. But it will seem unconvincing to you if you have not read the previous chapter. Before we try to collect all the requirements and observations described above in one method, let's recall them.

1. Success in learning languages does not depend on the knowledge of a particular method, but on the ability to use the technology developed on its basis.
2. Do not torture your memory, do not learn the language mechanically.
3. Our memory is capable of receiving from 2 to 26 units of information in one sitting.
4. When learning a language, one should not rely on habit, on generally accepted logic, on a standard perception of the world.
5. Short-term memory exists for no more than 30 seconds.
6. Information is stored in short-term memory for much longer than 30 seconds due to our unconscious circulation.
7. After studying a portion of words, a 10-minute break is necessary.
8. You need to learn words only before the first playback (when you can repeat the entire list at least once). Don't waste time on unnecessary repetition.
9. You need to repeat the words once in the interval from 10 minutes to 24-30 hours.
10. The unit of memorized information should be as long as possible (a block of words or a phrase). Those who teach or force to learn single words should be punished for wasting time and memory on an especially large scale.
11. To deprive the list of words of monotony, it is necessary to give each word some kind of bright label.
12. The word is transferred to long-term memory not so much through repetition, but with the help of plot pictures.
13. We easily do what is done involuntarily, in addition to our participation. Words will be remembered involuntarily if memorization is not the goal of our activity. Mental operations with the meaning and pronunciation of the word must be directly included in the goal.
14. Before remembering, you need to tune in to the lesson. Our psyche has inertia. She cannot change her mind from cooking meatballs to learning the language in an instant.
15. Memorized information should contain dynamic elements or be associated with them. Otherwise, it is erased without a trace.

Now that we have everything in front of our eyes, we can think carefully about the thesis " Memorization shouldn't be the goal". In some methods, this requirement is met. For example, in the rhythmic method, the main goal is not to remember the word, but to repeat it in a certain rhythm to the melody (remember, especially those who are fond of foreign bands, how easy it is to remember the words of songs when they are completely misunderstood). In the sublimation method, in which a person is affected with an above-threshold speed of perception, the goal is also not to memorize, but to be able to focus on reproduction, etc. (all these and other methods can be found in special literature). But these methods are unfavorably distinguished by the complexity of the equipment and technology, which cannot yet be used independently at home (We hope that in the near future our academic science and practice will finally pay serious attention to them). Memorization as a goal is also absent in the method based on the imitation of any activity. For example, students are given the task of setting the table and are given a dictionary necessary words. Appropriate imitation, which occurs under the influence of the goal, makes it possible to memorize words very effectively. But this method requires a high pedagogical skill of the teacher, his rich imagination. In addition, the method does not have a rigid structure.

We propose mental manipulation of words as a goal: to match a foreign word with a Russian word similar in sound. For example: sleeve (sleeve, English) - plum, etc. But in this case we operate only with the sound of the word, and its meaning, translation, should be directly included in the goal. To fulfill this requirement, let's add another translation to the formed pair of words:

sleeve - plum - sleeve
tongue - dance - tongue

and think about how we can now formulate the goal so that it does not coincide with memorizing words. Remember the experiment that proves that the image (picture) is located in long-term memory in most cases? So you need to work with images. But we have images only in the words of our native language. The meaning of a foreign word gets an image only through its analogue in Russian (or in your native language). This leads us to the idea that when memorizing, you need to use only the words of your native language, that is, plum - sleeve, tsunami - language. As a goal, we will choose the solution of the problem of finding a possible relationship between the words in each pair. But before solving this problem, let's remember two more requirements: the absence of generally accepted logic and the presence of dynamics in the elements of information. This suggests that the relationship between the words of the pair must be unusual, illogical, firstly, and dynamic, that is, contain movement, secondly. In our case, this is very easy to do. We imagine how in a store a saleswoman, having weighed plums, shifts them into an empty sleeve. Pay attention to the word "represent". The attitude should not just be spoken out (at later stages, pronunciation generally becomes redundant), but it should be represented, since this allows you to bypass short-term unreliable memory and work immediately in long-term memory.

Speaking, according to some experimental data of cognitive psychology, is primarily associated with short-term memory, so we use it only at the initial stages, if figurative thinking is not sufficiently developed.

In addition, once again pay attention to the dynamics: the saleswoman weighs and pours. It is necessary to imagine how the plums roll into the sleeve, how you take it from the hands of the saleswoman, etc. Big mistake there would be an attempt to confine ourselves to the idea of plums lying motionless in the hand. With the formation of several thousand such non-dynamic structures, our static one will disappear like smoke.

An unusual relationship between words is a very bright emotional label. Each word in the list becomes individual, distinct from the others.

Although the dynamic structure is stored in memory in an almost unlimited time, we need it like a hammer when hammering a nail for a picture. We hammered a nail into the wall (memorized the association of two words) and put the hammer aside. Now let's do what we did all this work for (in the future, associating as skills develop, it will take you no more than 3-5 seconds). We tried to remember the word sleev. Thanks to the similar sound, we quickly move from this word to the Russian "plum". This connection is stored in short-term memory and is the weakest link in the chain. The number of these connections as units of information should not exceed 26 units in a portion of words (the number of structures can be unlimited; this discrepancy is further taken into account in the technology). The word "plum" due to the rigidity of the invented structure will lead us to the translation - "sleeve". Thus, our main efforts are not focused on memorizing words, but on creating a structure. You can see for yourself how effectively involuntary memorization begins to work in our case.

As shown by classes conducted with students of a foreign language, all such operations cause difficulties at the first stages, aggravated by seeming far-fetchedness, frivolity, etc. Many in the process of associating begin to experience discomfort from the fact that others are attentively listening to their "nonsense". In fact, the ability to quickly compose such "nonsense" speaks of your non-standard, creative mind. This method is good if only because even if you fail to learn a language with it (which is unlikely), your creative thinking will improve significantly. You will begin to see things in a new light for you. Many subjects become caustic and snide, because they suddenly discover the ambiguity of our speech. This method is especially useful for inventors and scientists (as well as purchas- ers) as an exercise in mental flexibility.

Association- This creative process. That is why we strongly insisted on pre-tuning. Unfortunately, the majority understands the setting as the formation of an order (not without reason M.M. Zhvatetsky said that our life is also a soldier's). In fact, it is better to start with phrases of this form:

"I really want to learn the language. I will try. I will try very hard. I want to remember the words. My thinking is very flexible..." etc.

And it is better not to use such phrases-orders as "I must learn the language" and others. Our whole psyche is already exhausted by demands and orders. It immediately creates an unconscious opposition to us. This is especially necessary to remember if you are setting up students or schoolchildren who, even without your instructions, have long been repulsed by the desire to learn foreign languages. It would be very useful to start associating in the same environment, with the same actions. Try to start some unobtrusive traditions. Remember how in the pre-revolutionary school, children often read prayer lessons. There is no need to deny their experience. It wasn't all that bad back then.

So, we came up with a structure for a foreign word. They made it unusual, dynamic, imaginative. But when studying, especially at first, one figurative representation, as a rule, is not enough. We have been taught to control our speech more than our images. (Remember the contemptuous "Dreamers!"). Therefore, after some time, which is clearly not enough for the structure to fulfill its function and only after that it disappears, the images begin to merge, erase, and become contaminated. This happens because the image of a particular word, as a rule, does not have any binding. The word can be used with different connotations, in different contexts. It is influenced by other words and changes its meaning depending on the environment. Therefore, at first words are best combined in groups of 7-10 pieces in each on the basis of one content Pictures with concentrated meaning. AT school textbooks we can find pictures too. But all of them do not have a concentrated meaning. For example, a pioneer stands in front of a school. This picture does not have a definite, clearly expressed, memorable meaning. Therefore, she easily merges with others like her. It is best to take pictures from humorous magazines. If there are words under the picture (the speech of the participants or the name), then they must be left with the picture in order to maintain a single meaning and meaning.

The cut out picture is best pasted on a punched card or in a notebook. Next to it, write a triad of words (foreign - similar in sound - translation). Images and structure are easy to remember, so they should not be recorded in writing. Images, provided that they have a clear extraordinary meaning, immediately penetrate into long-term memory in most cases. Thanks to this, even after a few years, we can mentally examine it with all the details and remember those 7-10 words that we learned with its help. Such a block storage system allows you to avoid? swimming? words in different contexts. In addition, the block of words contained in the picture represents one unit of information. Consequently, in one sitting (in one lesson) it is possible to assimilate from 2 to 26 pictures without damage to memory, as a result of which we condense information by 7-10 times, that is, we increase the natural capabilities of our memory by 7-10 times! In the future, when the basis of a foreign language is studied, words can be studied directly from the dictionary. You open the first page, take a word, form a structure, make a mark with a pencil (you write down a word that sounds similar; this is necessary for safety net, since there is little hope for short-term memory) and the word remains in your head until the end of life. However, with this method, the density of information drops and you can remember no more than 25 words in one lesson. But this disadvantage can be compensated by increasing the number of lessons, which should follow each other with a break of at least 10-15 minutes.

Another advantage of learning a language with pictures is that you don't have to spend time repeating it, as it can be done on the way to work or home, in line, on the bus, etc. It is enough just to remember the picture and "select" all the words with structures from it. Agree that this is absolutely impossible if the words are in a list. You will wrinkle your forehead intensely and remember which word you should have remembered, but you will never do it until you look at the list. There is only one way out - learn with pictures!

Studying the first 3-4 thousand words, you will be forced to repeat them several times in order to fix them in pre-term memory and get rid of the structure that performed its function. At the fifth thousand, as a rule, there is a special feeling - confidence in one's memory, and the word with the help of this method begins to be remembered from the first presentation. But do not despair, if this does not happen in the sixth or tenth thousand, it is not connected with intellectual abilities. At first repetition better organized like this:

The first time - after 10-20 minutes (but it is quite possible after two or three hours and even after 12 hours) after the mental creation of structures; at the same time, you need to look either at the Russian translation or at the foreign word and reproduce the entire structure even if it seems to you that you can already do without it; in the future, the first repetition can be omitted and go immediately to the second after 24 hours.

The second time - the next day after 24-30 hours; if it was not possible to reproduce all the structures created by you or the teacher, then they are repeated again the next day; when repeating, it is better to look only at the picture, looking for the necessary words on it.

If it was not possible to remember and repeat all the structures for the third time, they should be postponed until the final repetition of all the structures of a given portion of words, which is carried out after 1-5 months (optimally 2-3 months). There is no need to be afraid of such a period. You will be able to remember the words in one or two years, even if you have never met them during this period. This is one of the essential advantages of the method: when studying a language, we can not be afraid that it will be completely forgotten from long disuse.

The last repetition is the main and decisive one. All your great work will be in vain if you don't take this last step. In most cases, after 1-6 months, students remember the structures very vaguely if they did not encounter the corresponding foundations during this period. This is due to the interference of structures, due to natural processes forgetting, exacerbated by non-compliance with the described technology, even in small things (dynamic, illogical, imagery, periods of rest and memorization, settings, etc.). Therefore, it is better to break the last repetition into two parts: the first day - we remember according to our structure records; on the second day - we repeat them, looking only at the pictures (and if according to the dictionary we look only at the translation or a foreign word).

If at the last repetition you immediately remembered the translation of the word, then you do not need to restore the entire structure. She did her job and died. In general, you should have a new feeling for you, when from the depths of your consciousness, even against your will, in response to a word of your native language, its translation will “emerge”. It's accompanied feeling light confusion, confusion, uncertainty. But after you make sure that only the right word "pops up" and not a random one, it will pass.

If a lot of time has passed between learning a language (7-8 thousand words are enough for this) and its active use (from one year to 3-4 years), then the words can again be forgotten. But this forgetting is fundamentally different from forgetting during mechanical (school) memorization, when words are erased without a trace. In our case, the words do not disappear from memory for good, but, as it were, they pass into the subconscious (“conserved”), from which we can very quickly extract them by looking at the records. For such a repetition, for every thousand words without much effort, about a day is spent (including breaks). Agree that there is hardly any other method that allows you to restore knowledge at such a speed.

On average, at the initial stage, for all operations of memorizing one word, including all repetitions, creating a structure, searching for equivalents, writing in a dictionary or in a notebook, etc. takes 2-3 minutes. In the future (especially when learning a second language), the time will be reduced to 30-60 seconds. If you have a teacher who knows a foreign language and this method well, then the speed easily increases to 100 words per hour (all figures are experimentally verified). The optimal composition of the group with a teacher is 10-12 people.

If you have a distrust of these figures, then, before throwing the methodology aside, conduct an experiment: learn 10-20 words in this way and draw final conclusions no earlier than in a month.

CHAPTER 5 Examples

Here we give examples and features of technology found in practice.

Let's try to learn three words in English:

chess - (to scratch) - chess
beard - (berdanka) - beard
nose - (sock) - nose

1. chess. Imagine flea-sized chess pieces running fast all over your body. Naturally, you start to itch. It is necessary to present this situation as detailed as possible (at first it is better to close your eyes; if you are working with schoolchildren, it is recommended to give them the command: "Close your eyes and imagine that ..."). Note. The educated structure wears dynamic nature and does not coincide with our previous experience. At first glance, one might think of a structure like this: you take chess piece and scratch it with a place, for example, a bite. But this situation does not contradict our experience at all. Therefore, if there are several dozens of similar structures, it will be erased.

2. beard. Imagine a gun of the Berdan system, in which, instead of a stock, a black-black thick beard flutters in the wind (and not just sticks out !!!).

3. nose. Very often there are words that are similar in their sound to the translation. Do not hope that such a coincidence will allow you to remember effectively. In most cases, the fact of a similar sound disappears from your head and you are left without a clue. It is necessary to choose an intermediate word. In our case, "sock". Imagine that one of your acquaintances suddenly began to grow a dirty, unpleasantly smelling sock instead of a nose. In 99 cases out of 100, you will surely remember this structure.

We must strive to ensure that each object used in the structure receives as many epithets and colorful characteristics as possible. This once again makes the structure different from others. It also avoids the " horse surname". The fact is that we understand the meaning of a thing through generalization, reduction to a more general one.

For example, what is a jacket? We can say that these are sleeves, pockets, lapels, etc. But such an understanding will be similar to the feeling of an elephant by the blind, i.e., it will be fragmentary and far from the truth. Therefore, in our thinking, the jacket is reduced to several classes: men's clothing, light clothing, business clothes, etc., that is, the concept of a jacket is generalized. This leads to the fact that the word does not have bright characteristics, can be unconsciously replaced by a wider class, our brain will perform a generalization operation against our will. Many students, having insufficiently worked out the image, remember very well that, for example, some type of clothing grows instead of a nose, but they cannot remember which one at all. This leads us to the conclusion that in the structure it is necessary to use not the first word that comes across (meaning a word that is similar in sound), but the one that you have a good idea of, which you often use, the shades of which you know. Unfortunately, only specific nouns (and far from all) and some part of verbs (for example, scratch, bite, draw, etc.) have this property. Abstract nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. do not have in most cases a figurative representation. At the first stages, this causes difficulties, which often lead to disappointment in the methodology. This can be avoided by creatively using the techniques described below.

1. How to include an abstract noun in the structure, for example, the word "gamble" (gamble)? The problem is that it does not evoke specific images in most students. As an intermediate word (similar in sound) we use the word "Hamlet" (the first 3 and last 2 letters match). In the word "adventure" we select the first 4 letters "avan", we add "s". It turns out "advance". This word already has a well-defined image: a queue near the cash register, the rustle of money (recently printed), the accountant's voice: "Sign here," and so on. Therefore, our memory is quite able to cope with such a simple task as compiling and memorizing the structure of the two words "Hamlet" and "advance". It probably already happened to you. Imagine Hamlet, who received an advance payment of 70 Soviet rubles for reading his monologue "To be or not to be..." on the stage.
When we are presented with the word gamble, our memory will automatically associate it with "Hamlet", and it, in turn, with "advance", which will lead us to "adventure". There is no need to be afraid of this apparent bulkiness. You don't know your brain. He is able to quickly learn more complex operations.
Thus, the technique consists in the transition from an abstract word to a concrete one on a phonetic basis.

2. Another way to move to a specific word from an abstract one is to try to replace one or two letters in it. For example, swindle is a scam. We know perfectly well what a scam is, but to imagine it specific image complicated. Let's change the first letter "a" to "c". Get a "sphere". Swindle resembles a "pig" (4 letters match, that's enough). Imagine how small glass spheres are placed in the pig's feeder, which she "cracks" with great appetite. The word swindle could also be replaced by the word "windsurfing". Try to make structures out of this word and "sphere" on your own.

3. If the described techniques did not help, then you can mentally compose plot picture which is inconsistent with our experience. For example: disgrace - disgrace.
Disgrace is like combining two words at once: "disk" and "grace". So that these two words do not fall apart in our memory, imagine a gramophone on which a black disk spins rapidly. Disk to side reverse rotation running out of breath Leontiev and gasping for breath shouting: "Signorita Grazia!"
Most likely, you do not have a specific image of "disgrace" (although the whole world around you can act as it). Imagine this picture: a large red carrot with long tops says to a small carrot standing in front of it and downcast, with tops cut in the latest fashion: "Disgrace!" Play this scene over and over in your mind. Put yourself in the place of one or the other, and the word "disgrace" will be strongly associated with the word "carrot".
Now imagine that Leontiev not only runs across the disk, but also jumps over barriers formed by large carrots.
We again want to ask you not to fall into despair from the "impenetrable stupidity" that you, perhaps, see here. Despite all the frivolity, this method works. In addition, learning a language on your own or in a class turns into an entertaining process. In a class or student group, there is usually incessant laughter, which in itself contributes to memorization.

4. In English (and other) languages, verbs with postverbal particles are common. A limited small number of these particles form a huge number of meanings of the same verb. This leads to monotony and confusion in the head.
To avoid this, a specific word similar in sound is assigned to each particle.
For example:
out - spider
up - trap
to - ax
Imagine that we need to remember the verb bring ur - to educate. Вring resembles a "brigantine". All verbs, if possible, are translated into the corresponding nouns. "Educate" will turn into "educator", which, probably, has a specific image for everyone. This is a man with a stern face who threatens everyone with his finger.
Now let's build the structure. Imagine a brigantine sailing away from the pier, with a huge trap hanging instead of a snow-white sail. Between the teeth of the trap with the last of his strength, clenching his jaw like an atlas, stands the educator. He keeps shaking his finger at you.
5. Similarly, adjectives and adverbs are translated into nouns. If this fails, then you can try to use stereotypical phrases. For example: convincing - convincing.
Сonvincing resembles two words: "horse" and "wine". So that the words do not fall apart, we combine them in a structure. Imagine a horse with bottles of wine sticking out instead of ears, and he moves them when flies gnaw on them.
"Convincing" is hard-coded into the phrase "convincing example". Now imagine the horse standing at school board, solves an example and scratches with a hoof behind a bottle ear.

6. In the previous example, another example was used at the same time - a play on words. An example can be understood in two ways - as behavior and as a mathematical problem. Use the game as often as possible. To do this, you can use an explanatory dictionary, which indicates all possible values words in different contexts.
However, there is another version of the play on words. For example: tire - get bored. The word tire resembles a dash. The verb "to get bored" can be understood not only in the generally accepted sense, but also as "to collect something in a heap", "to pile up a heap", etc. Therefore, it can be easily translated into the noun "heap", which has an image. Imagine picking up scattered dashes from the field (short sticks that fell out of the lines of a book when you took it carelessly from a shelf) and folded or swept them into a pile.
We have described to you only a small part of the techniques. When you start learning a language on your own, you can easily expand their list, choose the most effective ones in your opinion.

In conclusion, we would like to dwell on the time factor. With large amounts of stored information, every saved second becomes significant. You can win significant amounts of time if you discard unnecessary repetitions. Remember that the repetition of words that began immediately after they were memorized (after 30-60 seconds) leads to a deterioration in memorization and to unnecessary waste of time. You can also save time at the stage of creating the structure. Some students cannot concentrate, set themselves up, and spend ten minutes thinking about finding the right word and connection. This greatly slows down the creative process, erases previously learned words, as the unconscious cycle of short-term memory is interrupted. The lesson is a sprint distance, it cannot be run with breaks and heavy thoughts. First, try to come up with structures in a competitive situation: which of the two or more people who undertook to learn a language with you will come up with more such structures in the same time. Downtime should be avoided at all costs.
If you still have an insurmountable difficulty, then it is better to skip the word and return to it a little later (in one or two days).

As a rule, in this case, the right words are found immediately. Before starting classes, it is useful to tune in with a few phrases: “I don’t have much time. I want to think very quickly. Search the right words and associations will not cause me any difficulty. "Another setting option is to have the person you are holding waiting for you in the next room. But you can only talk to him after you have learned the planned lesson. Try this and you will see that this contrived situation really makes you work harder.It is also useful to time your mental activities.Make sure that one word out of 20 on the list takes no more than 3 minutes on average, including all types of repetition.Aim to constantly compress this time.If you are a teacher, then it is much more difficult to force students, that is, another person, to work quickly than yourself.In this case, it is useful before the lesson to force future polyglots to perform some fast work, for example, quickly-quickly squat (but this can be tiring) or quickly copy the teacher's actions that are not physically difficult. For this, a simulator is very useful, consisting of 10 light bulbs, which the teacher lights in random order at a fast pace. The task of the students is to have time to touch the tanned light bulb. Fast movements that do not cause fatigue bring our entire body at the physiological and mental level to a state where all operations begin to be performed at an increased speed. You can activate activity in the tuning process with the help of another exercise that directly works on memorizing words. Students become in a situation of competition: they are asked as quickly as possible (who is faster) to name the translation of the word proposed by the teacher. However, this exercise does not lead to physical activity.

Another effective way saving time is the simultaneous study of all synonyms of a given word in a foreign language.
For example: recruit - recruit, enlist
Let's turn "recruit" into the word "willow."
Recruit resembles "recreation", enlist - "broom, leaf".
Imagine that the entrance to the recreation is littered with willow branches. You take a broom made from sheets of paper, wave it, and willow branches fly apart.
The number of synonyms, of course, can significantly exceed the number two. The more synonyms of a foreign language you include in one structure, the higher the density of information, the greater the amount of memory provided, the greater the likelihood that none of them will be forgotten, the higher the memorization speed.

This concludes the presentation of the methodology. We would like to emphasize once again that we do not seek to ascribe to ourselves the authorship of this method. You have probably heard and read about it. The only thing we see our merit in is a detailed presentation of the technology and an attempt to convince you that it is quite possible to learn a language in a few months, even with total absence relevant abilities. We wish us successful studies!

APPENDIX 1

0 things you should remember when learning a foreign language by the structural method:

1. Remember that only the dynamic structure is remembered well.
2. The main objects in the structure must be in a relationship that does not coincide with your past experience.
3. The main objects of the structure, as well as the connection between them, should have a colorful rich image, unlike other secondary objects of this structure.
4. Remember that the possibilities of our memory are limited: at a time (one lesson) you can learn no more than 20-25 words, and when condensing information, no more than 100 words. The number of lessons per day is limited by the necessary rest periods of our memory.
5. Consolidate information: use pictures and blocks of synonyms.
6. Translate abstract nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives in specific images.
7. Do not forget that 50% of success lies in the ability to set yourself up.
8. Remember that you can not load your head with any thoughts immediately after completing the study of words.
9. Use a rational system of repetitions. Save time.
10. Do not rush from a place to a gallop: start with five words a day.
11. Don't lose your notes, you will need them.
12. Use structural method together with the classical methods of memorization, this will allow you to identify its advantages and disadvantages for yourself.
13. Remember, the function of the method is to expand the possibilities of your memory, and not to create in you a steady desire to learn a foreign language. Desire is your problem.

These and others mnemonic associations in our database. Add your associations, use others!

photo tumblr.com

THREE SCIENCE-BASED METHODS THAT WORK

You learn, you learn these words, but there is no sense! After a couple of days everything is forgotten.

Use scientific approach to memorization! Here are three science-based techniques that will allow you to quickly and permanently remember foreign words.

HOW MANY WORDS SHOULD YOU KNOW?

To begin with, let's figure out how many words you need to learn in order to begin to understand most of the foreign speech, and to express your thoughts yourself. A five-year-old child living in an English-speaking country uses 4,000-5,000 words, and a university graduate uses about 20,000 words. However, a person who studies English language, as a foreign language, owns a vocabulary of only 5,000 words, despite several years of study.

But there is also good news : a vocabulary of 2,000 words is enough to understand 80% of foreign speech. The researchers came to this conclusion based on the analysis of the Brown Corpus. A linguistic corpus is a collection of texts on various topics.

Interestingly, after you have learned 2,000 words, vocabulary replenishment for each subsequent 1,000 words allows you to increase the amount of text you understand by only 3-4%.

HOW TO REMEMBER A WORD QUICKLY?

The first question that interests everyone is how to quickly memorize foreign words?

Scientists have come to the conclusion that information is remembered faster, which has an emotional connotation. Accordingly, it is a good idea to learn words through games, riddles, movies. I liked the song - do not be too lazy to look at the translation of incomprehensible words. These words will forever be associated with the song you like, which means they will leave an emotional trace in your memory.

An excellent technique is a mnemonic. Create colorful associations - this will allow you to remember even hard-to-pronounce words. Usage example: the word weather is similar to the Russian word wind, we build a wind-weather pair in our head, remember forever that weather translates to weather. There are special reference books where you can find various mnemonic techniques for memorizing English words. However, it is better to come up with such associations on your own, since our associations and emotions are strictly individual.

HOW CAN YOU NOT FORGET A WORD AS QUICKLY?

So, you learned a couple of hundred words, but after a week, about ten of them remained in your memory. What is the problem? This is due to the existence of short-term and long-term memory. The mechanisms of short-term memory allow you to store information for 15-30 minutes, then, noticing that this information finds no use, the brain gets rid of it as something unnecessary. How can we make it clear to the brain that we really need these words? The answer is repetition. It's like with Pavlov's dog: the light bulb lights up - saliva is released. However, it is released only after 5-10 repetitions of the food + light chain. If food is not served when the light is turned on, the association of the light bulb with food in the dog's brain will be destroyed, and saliva will stop secreting.

So how many times does a word need to be repeated in order for it to stably move from short-term to long-term memory?

German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus developed the Forgetting Curve, which characterizes the amount of information lost over time in the absence of repetition. During the first 20 minutes after learning the words, we will already remember 60%, and within 1 hour we will lose more than 50% of the information. Then over time everything will be erased more information, and by day 3, only 20% of the information will remain in memory. Thus, if you miss at least one day in the repetition - forgotten words you will not return.

The conclusion is obvious: without repetition, nowhere. Use words in speech, make up stories using new words, play flashcards on your smartphone for at least a couple of minutes a day - all this will help you save the learned words. Otherwise, the time spent on their initial study will simply be wasted.

We suggest using the following repetition schedule:

10-15 minutes after learning the words;
After 50-60 minutes;
The next day;
After 1 day;
After 2 days.

After that, most of the information will be fixed for life.

HOW TO EXPRESS THOUGHTS FASTER?

I really want foreign words to flow from my mouth without requiring excessive brain tension and several minutes to formulate a phrase. There is an opportunity to accelerate the formation of foreign speech - this is the development of muscle memory. By muscles here we mean the muscles of our articulation apparatus. These muscles, like the muscles of the legs when riding a bicycle or the muscles of the fingers of a pianist, have a memory that allows you to perform automated movements almost unconsciously.

In order for muscle memory to form, it is important when learning words to pronounce them out loud, making movements with the tongue and lips. It is also useful to simultaneously present an image of the subject being studied. Over time, you will no longer think about what word to say - the muscles will do it automatically.

Thus, the correct organization of the work of the brain in the formation of short-term, long-term and muscle memory will allow you to quickly and permanently replenish your vocabulary.

Good luck with your learning!

Boring English for children and adults!

Portal for the student. Self-training

As vocabulary is reduced , so are the number of feelings you can express, the number of events you can describe, the number of the things you can identify! Not only understanding is limited, but also experience. Man grows by language. Whenever he limits language he retrogresses!