Adoncricg to a sutdy dnoe et the Uvinertisy of Cmabrigde, the oedrer of ltteers in a wrod is not itmoprnat, the olny tnihg of itpomcnnarte is taht the frist and the lsat wrdos are in the rghit pclae.The rset can be in taotl dedrisor and you wlil slitl be albe to raed tehm whotiut any plorebm.Tahst bausece the haumn biran deos not raed ervey ltteer ilstef but the wrod as a wolhe
You will be surprised to note that the visual memory of the whole word takes precedance over the word as it is written. The image that you carry in your memory of the word is enough for you to find the word that make sense immediately.Second Language LearningIn second language learning however, this phenomena is restricted to common words that you already know but, you can often make an educated guess at the word from the logic that you posses of word construction in your visual memory.There are also a few tricks that can work, at least when reading in French and there must be notable examples that can be found in other languages, due to linguistic or historical aberrations that have occurred throughout history and the life of ever-mutating languages.one trick when reading English to French is the use of ‘é’ before a vowel which can, nine times out of ten, be read as an ‘s’ in English.For example with a direct replacement of ‘é’ for an ‘s’ and read as is :école = Scole = Schoolétalon = Stalon = Stallionétrange = Strangeétable = Stableetc.Place an “s” after the letter with a circumflex in a word.hôpital = hoSpital, pâté = paSte etc.-MENT becomes -LY:Evidemment – Evidently / RapideMENT = RapidLY etc.“CH” becomes “C” at the beginning of a word:CHâteau = Castle / CHat = Cat / CHapeau = Cap etc.There are many more, have a look around.Now, it does not work in 100% of the cases, but one of the best weapons in the language learners armoury is the ability to guess and imagine then to try things out – did I say ‘language learner’, I should have just said ‘learner’.If you slip up and meet the odd ‘false-friend’ try to learn from your mistakes – in fact this is where you will probably be learning the most – so make the most of it.Memory involves the full functioning of the 5 senses, congnition and emotions. So sensations and feelings are therefore just as important for your memorisation techniques as reason, logic and reflection.So the next time you are reading something in a foreign language (as long as the alphabet is the same as your own) – even if you only have notions of the language – resist the temptation to say that you understand nothing – it just isn’t true.If you have difficulties remembering things then it is more likely that it is a malfunction in the way that you attempted to remember it than a memory malfunction per se :
- It is difficult to remember something you didn’t clearly hear.
- It is difficult to remember something you haven’t seen.
- Nothing can be commited to memory if your senses are not alert.
- Concentration needs to be good and functioning, which relies on such elements such as interest, enjoyment, curiosity and a relatively calm emotional state.
- Being in the right state of mind.
- Being active and engaging fully with learning.
- Being Proactive
- Being empowered and responsable for your learning.
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