JLPT BC 82 | Creating Memory Hooks

Japanese memory hookIt’s been a busy time for me of late.  Busy time at work, busy time at home.  The school year in Japan starts in April and so I have new students to meet and classes to get used to.  I’m obviously adjusting to my new life at home as well.  I’m finding it harder and harder to really schedule things.

My main focus right now is to absorb as much vocabulary as I possibly can.  That involves a lot of vocabulary drilling with my trusty side kicks, memrise and StickyStudy.  I have been able to really make a lot of progress with memrise.  I’m currently learning around 20 wors a day, but StickyStudy has been starting to get less time because I have less standing around time.

I do want to get in a practice test sometime this month so that I have a clearer picture of what my weaknesses are for the test.  I already have a general idea that I’m going to have a lot of weaknesses across the board.  The main one is going to be just an utter lack of the sheer quantity of vocabulary that you have to study for the main test.

A Memory Problem

When you go to remember a new word a grammar point there is a lot to put in your head.  For vocabulary words, you not only have to remember the meaning or general sense of the word, but you also have to know the collocations, usage information, what part of speech it is, etc… There is a lot to know and the test will most likely cover every little aspect of it.

A lot of times if you try to cram all this in at once, it is liable to simply fall right out of your head.  This is especially true for grammar I feel.  It usually takes me good two or three sweeps through a grammar book to really grasp it and be able to use it naturally.  When I first started studying for the test, I would always try to internalize everything in one go, and that is simply not possible.

Regular Tactics Don’t Seem to Work

When going to remember some of the trickier vocabulary words or grammar points the regular methods you use to remember Japanese often don’t seem to work.  If there is a short phrase to remember with out too many nuances to it than you can easily build up a link in your head.  For example, it is pretty easy to remember that ねこ means cat.  It is a pretty short word and we can pretty easily visualize a cat.

However if you take a word like 作戦 (sakusen), it becomes a little bit more difficult.  This word has a basic meaning of strategy, but it can also be used to mean operation, like a bombing operation. Now, those two senses are very similar, but they are different, and it is hard to remember those both the first time you see the word.

Often times you can use a clever mnemonic to help you remember a particularly stubborn word, but what about grammar points?  It is pretty difficult to break a grammar point down into small enough pieces to build a mnemonic out of it.

Or what about one of my other tried and true tactics?  Saying everything out loud?  This can help in a lot of ways, especially if you have some example sentences to work with, but it won’t solve all your problems.  And some grammar points or vocabulary words are simply too unwieldy.

Create a Memory Hook

Since all of this is too difficult to remember the first time you see it, it is best to create a smaller link to start off.  The simpler the better with this one.  You don’t want to stuff too much information onto that link at first.

I like to call these links “memory hooks” because they act like little hooks that you can link more information on to later.  Once you have that initial bond created in your head, you can add on more and more information later when you review to further expand your understand of the word or grammar point.

So don’t try to bit everything off at once.  Try to keep it to a minimum.  A lot of times, I’ll see these huge decks in Anki that contain 6 or more definitions for a single word in Japanese.  Although the Japanese word may very well mean all those things when used in different contexts, it is next to impossible to try to remember all of those words the first time you see it.

Next time you go to study a new grammar point or vocabulary word, make sure to try to reduce the amount of information to its most primitive form.  Remember you can always add on more information later to clarify the memory.

Do you Currently Use Hooks?

What do your flashcards look like?  Is there a lot of information on them or just a little?

Photo by Jean-Baptiste Carre

{ 4 comments… add one }
  • Matthew May 30, 2012, 4:24 am

    Does StickyStudy have vocabulary lists? I purchased the app based on your recommendation but it only seems to contain lists of individual kanji. Are vocab lists something I need to create on my own from within the app?

  • Nob June 3, 2012, 10:37 am

    What you recommend is so true ! Thanks a lot ! I am only a candidate for the jlpt 5 but I prepare another very difficult exam and one can applied your advice in a lot of domains. My default is trying to remember everything the first time which takes in fact more time than with your method. I have to use more flashcards. Good continuation to you ! And good luck for the jlpt 1.
    Ps : I am going to Tokyo at the end of June. 🙂

    • Mac June 4, 2012, 2:31 pm

      Thanks for the kind words Nob! and I hope you have fun in Tokyo. You should try to check out the SkyTree while you are there!

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