Mnemonic - Application of Mnemonics - For Foreign-language Acquisition

For Foreign-language Acquisition

Mnemonics can be helpful in learning foreign languages, for example by transposing difficult foreign words with words in a language the learner knows already. A useful such technique is to find linkwords, words that have the same pronunciation in a known language as the target word, and associate them visually or auditorially with the target word.

For example, in trying to assist the learner to remember ohel, the Hebrew word for tent, the memorable sentence "Oh hell, there's a raccoon in my tent" can be used. Also in Hebrew, a way to remember the word, bayit (bahy- it), meaning house, one can use the sentence "that's a lovely house, I'd like to bayit." The linguist Michel Thomas taught students to remember that estar is the Spanish word for to be by using the phrase "to be a star".

Another technique is for learners of gendered languages to associate their mental images of words with a colour that matches the gender in the target language. An example here is to remember the Spanish word for "foot", pie, with the image of a foot stepping on a pie which then spills blue filling (blue representing the male gender of the noun in this example).