In this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, we talk about how to use Memory Palaces to memorize foreign language vocabulary.

In fact, one of the most important questions around memorizing vocabulary without struggle is raised and answered in-depth.

Program Notes

Today’s question involves your language of focus. When memorizing foreign language vocabulary using a Memory Palace it can be hard to settle on which language to feature along your journeys. These considerations combine a location you’re familiar with and the Method of Loci.

The inspiration for the podcast came from a reader of my book on how to learn Spanish vocabulary and memorize it. Focusing on Spanish words first and then finding the English definitions confused him, so I answer the issue in this episode. In brief, you should always focus on the target language and use images to memorize both the sound and the meaning.

How To Remember What You Learn

This is important because you want to train your mind to think in the target language by using imagery. Although you are connecting the images to your mother tongue in a real way, the stronger the images, the faster the meaning will come to mind. This effectively skips thinking about the meaning your mother tongue and drives you directly to the concept.

As I talk about in the podcast, you want to think about memory techniques as being a kind of bicycle. They involve universal principles that touch everyone the same way, but we still need to adjust them to our own uses. The Method of Loci and the Memory Palace you use for this or that language learning project will need to be adjusted to your needs and learning style.

As ever, the most important thing is to get started. Build a Memory Palace using all the tools provided by the Magnetic Memory Method. Then get started memorizing the foreign language vocabulary you’ve selected with care.

Choice Is The Ultimate Language Learning Memory Enhancer

There are lots of different ideas about how to focus on the right vocabulary. Some of the different opinions can be downright controversial. But there are also good discussions about word frequency lists and how to compile them using existing resources. Or you can create your own.

Luca Lampariello is one of my favorite polyglot teachers who focuses on what it really takes to master the art of language learning. And the good news is that he has been a guest on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast twice before! These episodes are called:

Luca Lampariello On Working Memory And The Oceans Of Language

Luca Lampariello On Language As A Net

Speaking of Luca, I’m looking forward to meeting with him soon for his birthday and some discussions about language learning. He also gave a great suggestion for the translation of my book, The Ultimate Language Learning Secret.

Originally my translator gave me the following choices:

Il Segreto Ultimo Per Imparare Le Lingue

Imparare Le Lingue: Il Segreto Ultimo

Imparare Le Lingue: Il Segreto Svelato

The first two are more or less literal translations. The third is roughly “Learning Languages ​​: The Secret Revealed” in English.

However, part of the trickiness of the situation involves the structure of the book. I can’t discuss more about why here, but it’s likely that each of these titles will be misleading in the end.

That’s why I’m so grateful for Luca’s suggestion, which is (drum roll, please) …

Il vero segreto di imparare le lingue

This translates more or less to: “The Real Secret To Learning Languages.” Due to the nature of how the book discusses the secret, this truly is the best title.

Thanks Luca!

Further Memory and Language Learning Resources

How to Memorize Concepts (with video)

Kirsten Hammes talks about the Real Meanings of Fluency

Olly Richards Talks About Technology and Language Learning

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In this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method podcast, you’ll learn how to make changes to a Memory Palace you’ve already created (and when not to do this at all).

Please supplement the podcast episode with this video on re-using Memory Palaces:

 

You’ll also likely encounter ghosting or confusion, often referred to in memory science as The Ugly Sister Effect.  Use that episode of the podcast and the blogpost to make sure you never have trouble with it.

Episode Notes On This Podcast

Today’s episode features a question about making changes to a Memory Palace to add new information. There are at least 3 options that we discuss in detail in the podcast. These are:

1) Creating Virtual Memory Palace elements. These can include imaginary bookshelves other types of invented or imaginary stations. You place these between pre-existing stations and the information memorized at/on/beside/in or under them.

This technique will be most useful for those Memorizers who already have some experience using Virtual Memory Palace elements in combination with the Method of Loci.

2) Create a mnemonic palimpsest. Although not recommended, you can use Memory Palace stations twice. But as discussed in the episode, it’s much better to add new phrases to words. That way you’re preserving the original station and adding new material without having to add Virtual Memory Palace elements or shift things around.

3) Create new Memory Palaces. Instead of modifying existing Memory Palaces, create new ones.

For example, create 3-4 Memory Palace per letter of the alphabet. You could have:

A1
A2
A3

… and so on. Then, when you have new words to memorize, you place them in a new Memory Palace altogether. This technique works well if you want to maintain old Memory Palaces and still add new words to your vocabulary.

You can also use the Principle of Word Division with multiple Memory Palaces. Thus, you would have:

A1 = Words that start with “al”

A2 = Words that start with “an”

A3 = Words that start with “at”

… etc. …

Although multiple Memory Palaces for each letter of the alphabet may have limited appeal. But once you give it a try, you’ll find that it works a charm.

The worst that can happen is that you wind up not using some of the Memory Palaces you create. But that’s hardly a problem. It will give you a lot of practice in Memory Palace construction and you can always go back and use those Memory Palaces later.

Your mind loves this kind of exercise and the experimentation involved. You just need the mindset, the willingness and the determination to succeed and you’ll find more success than you imagined possible.

Multiple alphabetized Memory Palaces also work wonders when you’re memorizing vocabulary around themes.

For example, if you’re memorizing words based on the theme of restaurants, instead of having one Memory Palace with 50 words, you could have 5 with 10 words each. In fact, you could think of 5 restaurants that you’ve enjoyed and use these. This will create a nice connection between the theme you’re working on and the actual Memory Palaces you’re using.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions. And if you want more detailed training, over 20 hours of videos and dozens of PDFs and Worksheets await you in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass.

Further Resources

7 Ways To Make Your Memory Swiss Army Knife Sharp

Method of Loci article on Wikipedia

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Program Notes

As you all know, I focus on memorizing vocabulary. I also  share some ideas about memorizing poetry and decks of cards. And other ways to awaken the possibilities of your mind. Lots of other ways.

But above all, my goal is to help people succeed in their target language studies. Or within their profession so that can excel with sophistication and ease.

The method I teach involves creating many Memory Palaces based on the alphabet. Each Memory Palace features a journey, some long, some short.

But memorizing vocabulary isn’t the whole story when it comes to becoming fluent in a language or profession. So in this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, we talk about 5 other ways you can get a superboost of fluency.

So let’s get started:

1. Expand your fluency by studying the background of your language or profession.

If you’re studying French, turn to books on the history of the language. Read up on the countries where French is spoken or its influence has been felt.  Look at how it has shaped cultural customs, political structures and its speakers.

The same is true for reading about, say, medicine. Look at the history of the field and its cultural impact. You can look at how medicine has influenced art, theatre, literature and other aspects of culture.

2. Read within the language itself.

This means not only children’s books. In fact, as discussed in the episode, these can be more destructive than helpful when learning a language. They often have non-standard words that can be hard to find in a dictionary.

Try online magazines and newspapers instead. You can find a breaking news story in your mother tongue and then look for it in the language your are studying. Write down some of the words and phrases you’d like to learn and use the Magnetic Memory Method to memorize them.

3. Test what you’ve memorized.

This is critical. Recall Rehearsal not only tells you how accurately you’ve memorized the material, but it also does at least two things:

a) It improves your memory abilities
b) It depends your familiarity with the target information

In sum, the Method of Loci and Memory Palaces are best used by …

Using them.

4. Seek, develop and use motivation.

As discussed in this episode of the Podcast, motivation is a slippery fish. You don’t want to visualize goals that you can’t achieve. At the same time, you don’t want to encourage yourself to be an underachiever.

It’s kind of cliche to suggest this, but choose SMART goals. But the fact of the matter is that they work.

From Wikipedia, courtesy of Peter Drucker, SMART goals are:

* Specific. This means that they target a specific area for improvement.

* Measurable. You need to be able to  quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.

* Assignable. You have to be able to assign the goal to yourself. If you can’t do it, who will?

* Realistic. If it’s impossible to achieve, the goal will be of limited use.

* Time-related. You should specify when you expect the results.

Using SMART goals will help you a great deal as you continue your fluency development.

5. Teach.

As people often say, something taught is something learned twice.

And it’s true.

If you haven’t externalized a subject you’ve learned, you haven’t really internalized it. Without teaching it, you haven’t fully processed it. Like good coffee, knowledge needs to be percolated and then shared.

The same goes for everything, including mnemonics and other work with memory techniques. into place and the theories lose their complexity.

As always, thanks for listening to the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast. If you’re looking for information about the Masterclass, it’s currently open. If you’re already a member, please login now to continue learning about how to improve your memory and the quality of your mind. You really can learn and memorize anything.

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In this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, you’ll learn the 7 best ways to make your memory sharper than a Swiss Army Knife.

MacGyver, in case you’ve never seen the show, is a secret agent with a background in science. He’s always building bombs and troubleshooting problems.

His favorite tools?

Duct-tape and a Swiss Army Knife.

He also had a cool boss who was also his best friend.

How many secret agents can say that?

But what has MacGuyver got to do with the Magnetic Memory Method?

A lot, actually.  

When you use the Magnetic Memory Method, you’re transforming your mind into a Swiss Army knife and duct-tape at the same time.

Your mental Swiss Army knife extends just the right associative imagery at the right time. And your mental duct-tape (your Memory Palaces) makes those images stick.

They stick for as long as you want to keep the information memorized.

And there are a lot of tools that go along with it.

Here are just 8 of those tools in your Swiss Army knife-brain that you might not have spent enough time on yet.

Listen to this episode of The Magnetic Memory Method Podcast and read the following to learn how.

1. Sensory

Whether you’re building your Memory Palaces or filling them, it’s important to be aware of your five senses.

The more of the main senses you activate when working on your language learning goals, the easier it will be to recall your vocabulary.

2. Intensity

Your mind has the amazing ability to make its contents more vibrant, hilarious, and strange. This will help you memorize and recall information.

And it’s easy to do. You need only focus on the associative-imagery you’ve created and then amplify it. Make it even more colorful, large, vibrant and strange.

 3. Distinction

This point relates to intensity. But the difference here is that you focus on differentiating the images in your mind.

One way to do this is to focus on the borders of the images you create.

For example, let’s say my image has Fred Flintstone kissing a frog in a tutu. I can make the image more outstanding by taking a few seconds to really see the edges of the image and strengthen them.

You can pretend that you are tracing over them with a black marker like you might do in a coloring book if it helps.

It’s kind of a weird thing to do, but once you try it, you’ll find that your images are at least 10x more memorable. All because you’ve focused on making them distinct.

It doesn’t have to be black lines either.

Try silver, gold, red, the color of duct-tape – any color will do.

4.  Emotion

Believe it or not, there’s a little pea in your brain called the amygdala. It deals with emotional content, both positive and negative, and …

You can hack it.

Just by presenting it with crazy imagery.

This works because the amygdala is designed to sense emotions and literally scream, “pay attention to this! It’s important!”

And so you can supercharge your associative images, and the Memory Palaces themselves, by giving them strong emotional elements.

5. Survivalist impulses

Our brains come with some heavy duty wiring to ensure that we have the necessary drive to survive.

And it’s not just a physical thing. We need to survive – and thrive – emotionally, mentally, financially, nutritionally, etc.

In other words, if you want your memory to work better, make sure you’re well-fed, well-watered and well-rested.

6. Personal connections

I’ve had some people tell me that their life histories interfere with their Memory Palace language learning work.

I find this surprising, because I think it would be just the opposite.

Part of the mnemonic principle that underlies the Magnetic Memory system is association. Normally associations to things that you’re already familiar. Things that need zero memorization (because they’re already in memory).

To each a zone, of course, but do experiment with increasing the personal importance of the images you use. It will make everything more memorable.

And it only stands to reason that your favorite TV shows, actors, musicians and movies are personal connections that you can draw upon with ease. It doesn’t just have to be family and friends.

7. Repetition

A lot of people have told me that because I’m against rote learning, I’m against repetition.

This is absolutely not the case.

There’s smart, useful and results producing repetition that takes less time and effort. Like using Memory Palaces and the Method of Loci in your work with mnemonics.

And then there’s the other kind.

I call this the ..

Blunt Force Hammer Of Rote Learning

The fact of the matter is that the Magnetic Memory Method lets you recall on demand based on associative imagery.

But you perform the repetitions based on what you’ve memorized, not as an attempt to memorize in the first place.

Sounds like a winning formula to me.

That’s all for this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method, dear Memorizers.

Until next time, get out the duct-tape and then teach someone else what you’ve learned about Memory Palaces.

Teaching a skill is one of the best ways to learn it and helping people improve their memory is one of the best ways we can make the world a better place.

The more we remember, the more we can remember. And the more we learn, the more we can learn.

And if you want to learn more, then feel free to check out the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass.

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