To Learn and to Remember – Some Tips for Language Learners

Most of us, including avid readers, often have an embarrassing experience of being sure of having gone through a book, but not remembering a single line from it. For a language learner, a translator or an interpreter, the problem with memorising may turn fatal sometimes. Shall we hold our individual brains responsible for this kind of “Forgetfulness”?

Or does our brain work like a sieve?

The “Forgetting curve” (Vergessenskurve) by the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus shows the levels of forgetfulness within a certain period of time.

Remarkable is, while some of the information, that we feel, smell, hear, see or taste go missing while many of them exist forever. So, there lies a scope of information selection – some invisible “sieve” that filters the information and ensures which one should go away, which one should be saved for some time and which one forever.

Further observation shows us that:

We remember an idea easier and longer after learning when a similar concept is already known to us. (Learning a language which has structural similarity or vocabulary common to a known language is easier than picking up a completely unknown one).

Similarly, learning a word and remembering it is easier when we can associate the new word\idea learnt with a picture we have seen before, a smell known to us or a sound known to us. (Learning language is more effective with audio-visual help or through interactive method than only with books).

Inference here is, more sensory associations a newly acquired information has, more likely it is to stay longer in our memory.

So, based on our observation, if we are keen to evade the “Forgetting curve”, we find some tips and tricks for everyday practice, which helps in the long run.  In fact, 15% sounds obviously very little, if we consider the time we take to complete reading a piece and the magnitude of our post-reading reflections. But we can challenge the curve here and make a change in our everyday life as well as learning behaviour by doing so.

How to do this?

Five tricks to avoid forgetting or crossing the limit of 15 %

1) Framing questions after reading\learning

Soliloquising by framing questions and giving answer helps a lot. Explain yourself what you have learnt, e.g. when you are travelling by train or waiting in doctor’s chamber. More we repeat what we have learnt, better it is preserved in brain.

2) Paying attention to small things around us

Many of us face another extremely embarrassing situation very often - we meet an old acquaintance whose name is not in our memory anymore. This should not happen if we are little attentive also to the relatively unimportant things. Practicing memorising the names of all our colleagues is a good memory training game. Let’s remember our colleague‘s names and save some from that 15%.

3) Repeating the lesson learnt

One cannot learn and remember forever by reading it once. “Repeat” is the magic spell for which we have to allocate some time in our daily learning plan.  More often we repeat the lesson we have learnt, better we can retain it in our memory.

4) Knowledge sharing

Sharing not only ensures disseminating the knowledge but also memorising that. This can be done following the method of giving a lesson or just by explaining the learnt lesson to a friend who perhaps could not understand the topic so well. Especially learning a natural language is not at all possible without sharing. Helping others is another name of self-help!

5) Visualising the lesson learnt

Illustrations added to reading materials helps in visualising the material which in turn is retained in memory through a mind map. Another option is to write down the main points once the reading is over.

6) Last but not the least, Trying to establish as many associations as possible with the newly learnt topic\concept helps in retaining it longer. In general we learn only 10% of what we read, 20% of that what we listen, 30% of visual experience, 70% of what we tell and 90% of what we do. Hence, language learners study materials have to include audio-visual media, ample scope of discussion and practical usage along with books and notepads.

Let’s consider if the problem lie somewhere else.

Many times the issue does not exist with the learning method, but with the learner himself\herself. Perhaps the student is a forgetful person – or always absent minded?

We may have different reasons behind: many of us have to take care of various things in our professional as well as personal life. This is reason the adult learner is slower than his young classmate in picking up a new language. Especially when we start with a foreign language as an adult learner, the learning practice has to go on without disturbing the other activities. Hence, we are in greater risk of forgetting things and schedules in this case. But how to train the brain against forgetfulness?

The following tips may help:

Opting for the most suitable learning method

There are different learning methods for different category of learners, but the adult learner himself is the best person to opt for the one most suitable for him. Some can remember better by listening whereas some need to read it all to understand. First determine whether you are an auditory, visual or tactile learner. But as we have already discussed, the more sensory organs one can associate with the learning, more is the scope of retaining it.

Taking notes

Note down immediately after reading, what you have to memorise essentially.  One can use post-it, a set of flash cards or even a mobile phone for this. Sometimes colour coding important lines may help, but there is a chance of overlooking the rest of the reading material in that case. Ensure that the notes are well visible. Closing the device after taking the note is not of any help!

Making a To-do-List

Working with a to-do-list is a good old idea. We do organise our day better making a daily or weekly to-do-list and following it. Our language learning schedule has to be organised the same way.

Keeping useful items at hand

Are you an adult language learner trying very hard to learn the names of vegetables in German? Keep a few of them every day on your table, try to memorise their names every time you see them.

There is a famous Confucius quote on method of learning: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Exercise helps the most. For a natural language practitioner, being in constant touch with the language is of highest importance in order to cross the forgetting curve.