People find it hard to remember Korean words because they are different in sound and structure from their native language. Learning and memorizing Korean words can be a lot of fun and easy! Not to mention the fact that Korean is very interesting.
Have you ever studied a list of words in a new language and seemed sure you knew them, but when it's time to remember the words in a real-life conversation situation, you couldn't remember the word? Learning to remember is considered much harder than recognizing, but it doesn't have to be that way. World record holders in memory competitions have even claimed that people with an average IQ can easily use the same memory techniques and mnemonic tools to win world records themselves. In this blog, I'll present you with a story through which you'll improve your memorization of common Korean words.
These strategies will help you learn how to memories words that are key to learning to speak Korean or any other language. Relying on memorization to learn vocabulary is difficult and often not fun! Korean words and sounds can sound meaningless to speakers of other languages. Note, repeating words over and over in your head won't help you learn the words properly. They can be memorized, but when the time comes to remember them, you will forget them.
One of the most common methods that those who learn a language use is that they try to make it memorized by repeating it by heart. For example, imagine that on your list of words to memories is a Korean word (ireum | "name"). A typical student might just repeat this word over and over in his or her head. Although this may be successful in better memorization, it is impractical because:
1. It takes an inordinate amount of time.
2. No deep connections are formed in the brain to recall the material learnt.
Remember the winged phrase: "A picture is worth a thousand words". It really is true. Let's try comparing your brain's ability to remember picture details with its ability to remember the same details verbally, and you will notice that the brain can remember visual cues much more easily. The fact is that it takes less time to write down a word than it does to sit down, make an association and create a visual image.
Visual images greatly reduce learning time, although their creation is also time-consuming. The technique involves creating mini-movies in your mind. You have to train your brain to create visual images for the information you are reading, by doing this a much deeper association is created. It is like reading a book rather than watching a film. When you read a book, your mind is forced to create visual images for the information you are reading, and you create much deeper associations in your mind. However, when you watch a film, the action is much more passive, because the director has already imagined what things should look like and shows it visually.
In this sense, using different processes to learn words is like reading a film script! You can imagine for yourself what is going on. Consequently, the process becomes more powerful if you create your own stories. How do you learn a poem by heart? As with many things in life, there is no definitive way to learn a poem. The way you remember things will be different from the way other people remember things. Your memories may be full of color, while someone else will remember sounds vividly.
You may like lists, while someone else prefers pictures. One thing that the best memorizers agree on is that the more avenues you take for your memory, the better your recall will be. So, what should you do? One simple tip is to learn poems with your family. Why? Because when you study a poem with your family, you can more easily appreciate the ideas, emotions, language and points of view that you are expressing. Learning poems as a family, especially with young children, makes them stay in the children's brains for life! Also, memorizing poems helps everyone learn the complex intricacies of the English language by providing new terms or showing complex syntax!
Top tips for remembering a poem
1. Be strategic. Choose a poem with pictures, sketches, patterns - it's much easier to learn a free verse by heart.
2. Do as you have done before. Rewrite the verse several times - on real paper.
3. Every time you try to learn something, be in tune with yourself
4. Be relentless
5. Be patient, success does not come overnight. You have to practice!
6. Be amazing, don't be afraid to develop your own verse learning plan, the main result.
Once, a very interesting story happened to one of my students. He was in 7th grade, and he had a task for the week, to learn a poem. Since my student was confident in his abilities, he unashamedly put it off until the last minute until he said: "Oh s***, I've got homework!" and searched frantically for a poem that had the minimum number of words needed to pass. And then he tried desperately all night to learn the poem by heart, but all to no avail. But one morning, as he was being driven to school, he had a brilliant idea which he shared with everyone. A melody! You may ask what a melody has to do with it! It's simple! During the first period, he hummed quietly in one of his math’s lessons until he turned the poem into a song. And then he could even sing it in his sleep! When his name was called, he proudly stood on the podium in front of all his classmates and recited his poem. "Hope and skill are a thing of feathers. Turn the poem into a song. See if it really works. Just don't sing it in front of the whole class! So, I hope that my tips will help your children in their studies. You will no longer spend hours studying a poem or preparing an essay.
