How much can a mnemonic help?
When the etymology or origin of a word doesn't help us remember the word, we can create a mnemonic. How much does a mnemonic really help? It depends on two factors.
(1) First and foremost, it depends on the learner's position on, for lack of a good term let me temporarily call it, the scale of word analyzing habit (WAH). Some people strongly prefer rote memory while some prefer to do some word analysis in vocabulary study. Generally, the younger the learner, the lower WAH score he/she has. With increasing age, people diverge on the score. I personally have a high WAH score and enjoy and heavily rely on word analysis, but I know very well many people (adults) have a low score and speak foreign languages fluently. Word analysis in this context consists of two parts: etymology and mnemonics. In this blog posting, I'm only referring to the latter.
(2) Some words can have remarkable mnemonics created while others defy such effort. If a great mnemonic is found, such as “I like the smell of Olay (a name brand skin care product)” that helps you remember Spanish oler ("to smell") or olor ("smell", n.), even a person with a low WAH score may like it. On the other hand, a mnemonic such as “Harry cooked beans” that is meant to help remember French haricot ("bean") probably only appeals to an adult learner with a high WAH score.
So we see that the two factors, (1) and (2), should be combined to judge how helpful a mnemonic is. If you say I don't like mnemonics, you probably still use this trick occasionally when the good mnemonic is too good to ignore. If you say I use mnemonics a lot, there're still times you can't think of one even remotely helpful and you more or less resort to rote memory.
One side note: A mnemonic can help you remember the word but can also negatively affect your fluency. If you strive for speaking the language fluently, word analysis should be out of the picture; after all, your brain can't run as fast as a modern computer. That's why I said in the past that once a word is firmly stuck in your brain, you should forgo the mnemonic you used to remember it, and optionally the etymology (although the latter can be retained for other purposes, as knowledge of the culture for instance). In short, to answer the question how much a mnemonic can help, we should limit the scope of what is being helped to first-stage word study, i.e. when the word is still relatively new to the learner.
(1) First and foremost, it depends on the learner's position on, for lack of a good term let me temporarily call it, the scale of word analyzing habit (WAH). Some people strongly prefer rote memory while some prefer to do some word analysis in vocabulary study. Generally, the younger the learner, the lower WAH score he/she has. With increasing age, people diverge on the score. I personally have a high WAH score and enjoy and heavily rely on word analysis, but I know very well many people (adults) have a low score and speak foreign languages fluently. Word analysis in this context consists of two parts: etymology and mnemonics. In this blog posting, I'm only referring to the latter.
(2) Some words can have remarkable mnemonics created while others defy such effort. If a great mnemonic is found, such as “I like the smell of Olay (a name brand skin care product)” that helps you remember Spanish oler ("to smell") or olor ("smell", n.), even a person with a low WAH score may like it. On the other hand, a mnemonic such as “Harry cooked beans” that is meant to help remember French haricot ("bean") probably only appeals to an adult learner with a high WAH score.
So we see that the two factors, (1) and (2), should be combined to judge how helpful a mnemonic is. If you say I don't like mnemonics, you probably still use this trick occasionally when the good mnemonic is too good to ignore. If you say I use mnemonics a lot, there're still times you can't think of one even remotely helpful and you more or less resort to rote memory.
One side note: A mnemonic can help you remember the word but can also negatively affect your fluency. If you strive for speaking the language fluently, word analysis should be out of the picture; after all, your brain can't run as fast as a modern computer. That's why I said in the past that once a word is firmly stuck in your brain, you should forgo the mnemonic you used to remember it, and optionally the etymology (although the latter can be retained for other purposes, as knowledge of the culture for instance). In short, to answer the question how much a mnemonic can help, we should limit the scope of what is being helped to first-stage word study, i.e. when the word is still relatively new to the learner.
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Learning Spanish, French, and Italian Words Through Etymology and Mnemonics
(1) Small corrections and updates to the published book, "Learning Spanish Words Through Etymology and Mnemonics"
(2) Miscellaneous notes about the unpublished books, Learning French / Italian Words Th ...more
(2) Miscellaneous notes about the unpublished books, Learning French / Italian Words Th ...more
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