eBook of Chinese Vocab Mnemonics Storybook
A fun little project of Chinese-learning now made more affordable, thanks to eliminating printing costs:Check out the new eBook version at Blurb: "Chinese Vocab Mnemonics Storybook - HSK 1" at http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/470506-chinese-vocab-mnemonics-storybook-hsk-1
Free preview also at the link. Now that there's no printing costs at all, it'll be über cheap! Way to save the trees while building your memory at the same time.
http://blur.by/1tA0pb6
Based on the vocabulary list from the HSK standardized test, you can remember the pronunciation and meaning of spoken Mandarin Chinese words by using fun stories. Or just read it for fun. (Bonus: sneak peek at the manga / comic strip section is in the link--look at the back cover.)
What About Memrise?
You might have heard about Memrise (i.e. spaced-repetition flashcards with + crowd-sourced memory aids). It's a great resource too, and I use it myself sometimes. It's a good supplement when you want to make use of spaced-repetition reminders on a mobile device and want inspiration for mnemonics when you're stuck.
However, I find it does have some limitations. Words are usually not "in context" of each other, and the memorizing format is restricted to remembering isolated words individually (just like physical flash-cards) and don't make use of chunking or other tricks like the memory palace method (a.k.a. the loci method), tricks similar to what I use in the book. Some stuff you might have learned if you ever took a psychology course.
You can save brain space by thinking about the words for different directions as one system (chunking). How? By remembering them vividly in some visual, imagined/familiar scene, with a silly story that groups all of them logically together (sort of like mentally walking through a memory palace. More on that later.).
For example, I could imagine a silly travel story relating the words for the 4 compass directions. Or another example: take just 3 versions of the word "bao" with different tones: bao-- (bundle), bao\/ (full), and bao\ (hug). They sound exactly the same except for that tricky tone...oh, and they have very different meanings! So how do you remember which is which? They can be remembered by mentally grouping them all into one entity, like parts of a sumo wrestler (see page 6 at http://www.blurb.com/ebooks/reader.html?e=470506#/spread/7 and yes, I know "sumo" isn't Chinese--the image just works for me:).
You can save brain space by thinking about the words for different directions as one system (chunking). How? By remembering them vividly in some visual, imagined/familiar scene, with a silly story that groups all of them logically together (sort of like mentally walking through a memory palace. More on that later.).
For example, I could imagine a silly travel story relating the words for the 4 compass directions. Or another example: take just 3 versions of the word "bao" with different tones: bao-- (bundle), bao\/ (full), and bao\ (hug). They sound exactly the same except for that tricky tone...oh, and they have very different meanings! So how do you remember which is which? They can be remembered by mentally grouping them all into one entity, like parts of a sumo wrestler (see page 6 at http://www.blurb.com/ebooks/reader.html?e=470506#/spread/7 and yes, I know "sumo" isn't Chinese--the image just works for me:).
New Ideas
After the book was created, I continued to search for more efficient (and fun) ways to remember words. I found Memrise a little slow for my taste and even my own techniques could be improved to better deal with bigger vocabularies. I used an excel vb macro to do custom flashcards faster and practice at the speed of keyboard shortcuts. But to make lists of vocab absolutely portable (i.e. without technology) and make words stick in long-term memory, I decided to experiment with a fresh take, a fresh combo:Turns out it's all about quality to get real quantity. Actually using the memory palace method mentioned earlier, combined with a special peg method, I could just walk in places I'm familiar with and remember words that are mentally "anchored" to parts of my familiar environment. Or if I'm too lazy to go out and walk, I could just imagine the scenes and get the same effect. I find I retain virtually everything in the list for the day after just 1 sitting, seeing from testing a day or week later, so new words stick better and actually count. Focus on quality first, then quantity just comes out of practice. The memory palace and my version of the peg method work together to group vocab using the first letter of the words, and connect the hard-to-remember things to the easily-remembered things. Not sure if anyone else is using the peg method the exact same way as me, but I came up with it independently. I've been testing it with where I am now in the HSK 5 vocab. Here's some lists to give you an idea:
- Memory Palace / Method of Loci: make use of what you already know very well: your surroundings! Take a walk through your:
- room, and then
- hallway
- foyer
- entrance vestibule
- area just outside the entrance
- road outside entrance
- parking
- building nearby
- field nearby that
- other distinct, memorable buildings across the field, further away
- Alphabet Peg Method: make use of what you already know: the first letter of the names of famous cartoon characters, etc. Get them to do actions relating to both the scene and the word. ("famous" depends on you and how well you can imagine different characteristics of the character, so this list might be different for you):
- A = Aladdin
- B = Batman
- C = Cookie monster
- D = Dory
- E = Eeyore
- F = Fairly odd parents
- G = Gandalf
- H = Harry potter
- I = Ironman
- J = Jimmy neutron
- K = Keroppi (K was hard to find a generally-known one for, so I opted for a personal childhood memory)
- L = Lorax
- M = Mulan
- N = Nemo
- O = Optimus prime
- Q = Queen of hearts (from the original "alice in wonderland")
- R = Rapunzel
- S = Stitch (from "lilo and stitch")
- T = Thor
- U = Ursula (from "little mermaid")
- V = Voldemort
- W = Waldo (from those "where's waldo" books)
- X = X-men
- Y = Yoda
- Z = Zelda (oddly, I end up imagining link instead)
Here's a written version of what can be mentally imagined instantly (sorta reminds me of how things happen faster in dreams than when you're awake, like in the movie Inception): Looking at section D of the HSK 5 list, and starting from my room:
- Dā Yìng 答应 to respond: Dory gets the dying response from Yoda at my bed. (The tones match the action--imagine it! Maybe even literal high pitch and to a drop when it gets sad\quiet.)
- Dá Dào 达到 to achieve: Dory achieves self-cloning of another Dory by using the printer next to my bed. (It rises/jumps up from the printer and falls down--get that tone straight!)
- Dǎ gōng 打工 to work: Dory hits a gong as I work at the desk next to my printer next to my bed.
- Dǎ jiào dào 打交道 to come into contact with: Dory's feet
（脚 jiao\/）come into contact to （到） those of my roomate, across the room.
(...skipping to E...) - È liè 恶劣 vile: Eeyore is hiding just outside the room, behind the door. Sorta creepy. Sorta vile. Like a evil villain hiding in his lair, but hiding behind my door instead.
- and so on...
Hopefully this gives you an idea to make your own mnemonics. That's what the original book was all about too anyways. The idea is to make things fun to make things effective!
Any questions, feel free to chat.
____________________________________________________________________
- What's HSK?
- More ways to remember: Chinese Vocab Mnemonics Storybook - HSK 1
- Practice HSK Level 1 list
- Practice HSK Level 5 list
