Memory Training

Two of the best language students I ever knew were senior citizens. They had taken practical adult evening classes, the last one being in ceramic painting. But they had never in their lives tried to learn a language. A holiday in Portugal had motivated them to have a go.

Their worry was that they would find it too difficult to remember the words. " We don't remember things as well as we used to," they said nervously.

How often have you heard that? How often have you said it? Yet these seventy-year-youngs proved themselves wrong. After just fifteen weeks, the amount of vocabulary they knew was prodigious. Even better, they could string the words together and make sense.

How did they do it? Easily. They certainly surprised themselves by outperforming most of the class highflyers.

First we decided that a target of 500 words would be adequate survival vocabulary. We ignored any "difficult bits" and agreed to focus on ten words ( or phrases ) per week.

We used classic memory training technique. The words were read and understood on Day 1 of the week. They were revised within 24 hours, then each day for the rest of the week. They were then used or simply glanced at once a week for a month. The rest of the technique suggests you revise all learning once a month for a year and hey presto! The words are in your long-term memory for later recall.

Sounds like hard work. It wasn't. These superstars had a great advantage. Working as a pair, each had a listening ear to practice on daily. Other students are quite happy talking to family members, the family pet, themselves, the pot plants, even the hoover. If you can confidently greet your vacuum cleaner with a happy bom dia ( pronounced bong deea and meaning Good Morning ) every day, you will have no trouble using the phrase to a Portuguese friend or acquaintance.

Now we have seen and thought about two words out of the 500 already. Bom means good and dia literally means day. When it comes to remembering boa noite (pronounced boa like the feather variety or the snake and noitie like nightgown spoken in an Irish accent and meaning good evening) I imagine either a figure in a feather nightgown or a snake snoozing under a starlit sky. Mental pictures are an effective way of triggering memory.

Another learning technique is to write the words aloud. In other words, speak what you are writing as a child might. Then pin or blue tack your small lists in handy places. Put them beside the kettle and recite them while you are waiting for the water to boil. Put them in the bathroom beside the sink . Look at them when you brush your teeth. Put them anywhere you are likely to sit or stand, on the arm of your favourite armchair or beside the telephone.

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