I Learned 21,506 Words in 2 Years With My Secret Vocab Learning Hack!

Summary

This video script discusses the struggle of memorizing foreign language vocabulary and introduces the concept of mnemonics as a powerful technique to enhance memorization. The speaker shares historical context about Lambert Schenkel, a 16th-century teacher known for his exceptional memory, and provides examples of mnemonic imagery to remember words in Arabic, Japanese, and Sanskrit. The script emphasizes the effectiveness of this method, as illustrated by the speaker's own experience of learning over 21,000 words across multiple languages. It concludes with a quiz to reinforce the learned mnemonics and encourages viewers to subscribe for more language learning tips.

Takeaways

• 📚 The script discusses the common struggle of forgetting foreign language vocabulary despite repeated exposure and attempts to memorize.
• 🔍 It introduces a method of remembering vocabulary effectively to avoid the need for constant re-lookup of words.
• 🧙‍♂️ The script mentions Lambert Schenkel, a 16th-century teacher of mnemonics, who was so adept at memorization that he was accused of sorcery.
• 🎓 The importance of mastering mnemonic techniques is emphasized, suggesting that it can make one appear like a 'wizard' in their ability to remember information.
• 🗣️ The speaker shares their personal goal of memorizing 30,000 words in a foreign language to achieve a deep understanding similar to one's native language.
• 🤔 The script challenges common beliefs about the number of words needed for fluency, suggesting that 30,000 words might be a more realistic target for true language mastery.
• 🔑 An example of mnemonics is given using acronyms (USA, FBI, NHL) to demonstrate how familiar associations can aid in memorization.
• 🌐 The script provides real-life examples of using mnemonics to remember foreign words by creating vivid and memorable images, such as imagining a galloping knight for the Arabic word 'galaba'.
• 🤖 It mentions the use of AI (Chat GPT) to assist in creating mnemonic images for those who may not consider themselves creative in devising their own memory aids.
• 📈 The speaker shares their own success with mnemonics, having learned over 21,000 words in various languages, highlighting the effectiveness of this technique.
• 📚 The script concludes with a quiz to reinforce the memorized words and emphasizes the power of mnemonics in language learning.

Q & A

What is the common issue the video script addresses regarding learning a foreign language?

The script discusses the frustration of repeatedly looking up a foreign language word and still being unable to remember its meaning, even after multiple encounters and reviews.

What method is suggested in the script to improve memorization skills for vocabulary learning?

The script suggests using mnemonics, a technique that involves creating associations and stories to remember information more effectively.

Who is Lambert Schenkel and what is his significance in the script?

Lambert Schenkel was a 16th-century teacher who traveled around Europe teaching mnemonics. His mastery of memorization was so impressive that he was denounced as a sorcerer, illustrating the power of mnemonic techniques.

What is the approximate number of words one should aim to learn to be proficient in a foreign language according to the speaker?

The speaker suggests that to be proficient in a foreign language, one should aim to learn at least 30,000 words, as this would allow for a deep understanding similar to one's native language.

How does the script use acronyms to illustrate the concept of mnemonics?

The script uses acronyms like USA, FBI, and NHL to show that connecting new information to familiar concepts can make it easier to remember.

What is the first foreign language word and its meaning provided in the script?

The first word is 'galaba' from Arabic, which means 'overcoming' or 'overcame' in the past tense.

How does the script suggest remembering the Arabic word 'galaba'?

The script suggests envisioning a knight galloping with gloves, which sounds similar to 'galaba', and overcoming a wall by jumping over it.

What is the Japanese word for 'truth' or 'real situation' mentioned in the script?

The Japanese word for 'truth' or 'real situation' is 'Shino'.

How is the Japanese word 'Shino' memorized using mnemonics in the script?

The script suggests imagining a shining soul emerging from darkness to reveal the truth or real situation, which helps to remember the word 'Shino'.

What is the Sanskrit word for 'distressed' and the mnemonic image used to remember it?

The Sanskrit word for 'distressed' is 'viava', and the mnemonic image is a weak lover with a drooping flower, symbolizing distress.

How many words has the speaker reportedly learned using mnemonics over the past two years?

The speaker has learned at least 21,056 words in various languages using mnemonics over the past two years.

What is the speaker's approach to language learning besides focusing on vocabulary memorization?

The speaker also spends time reading and conversing with native speakers to enjoy the languages and not just focus on memorizing words.

How does the script encourage viewers to use chat GPT for creating mnemonic stories?

The script demonstrates that even if one is not creative or good at coming up with mnemonic stories, they can use chat GPT to generate visual mnemonics to help memorize vocabulary.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Struggling with Memorizing Foreign Language Vocabulary

The speaker discusses the common experience of repeatedly looking up a foreign language word and still struggling to remember its meaning. They introduce a method for improving memorization skills, which could potentially increase the efficiency of learning vocabulary by tenfold. The historical context of mnemonics is given, mentioning Lambert Schenck, a 16th-century teacher of mnemonics who was considered a sorcerer due to his exceptional memory skills. The speaker promises to share this powerful technique to enhance language learning.

05:01

🎓 Leveraging Mnemonics to Master Language Vocabulary

This paragraph delves into the concept of mnemonics, using the example of remembering a series of letters by associating them with well-known acronyms. The speaker shares personal anecdotes of using mnemonics to remember vocabulary effectively. They also discuss the number of words one might need to learn to become proficient in a language, suggesting that 30,000 words could be a good target for comprehensive understanding. The paragraph includes a creative example of how to use mnemonic imagery to remember the Arabic word 'galaba,' which means 'overcoming,' by envisioning a galloping knight wearing gloves.

10:04

🔍 Creative Mnemonics for Language Learning

The speaker continues to explore mnemonics with examples from Arabic, Japanese, and Sanskrit, using creative stories and imagery to facilitate memorization. They share a method for remembering the Japanese word 'Shino,' meaning 'truth' or 'real situation,' by visualizing a shining soul revealing the truth. Similarly, a Sanskrit word 'viava,' meaning 'distressed,' is remembered through the image of a weak lover with a drooping flower. The speaker emphasizes the effectiveness of mnemonics in their own language learning journey, having learned thousands of words across multiple languages.

15:04

🗣️ The Power of Mnemonics in Language Acquisition

The final paragraph reinforces the power of mnemonics in memorizing vocabulary, as demonstrated through quizzes that test recall of the words introduced earlier in the script. The speaker reflects on their own language learning experience, having learned over 21,000 words in various languages using mnemonic techniques. They encourage the use of creative stories for mnemonics, even suggesting the use of AI tools like chat GPT to assist in crafting these stories. The paragraph concludes with an invitation to subscribe for more language learning tips and a wish for success in the viewer's language studies.

Keywords

💡Foreign Language

Foreign language refers to a language that is not native to the speaker. In the context of the video, it is the language being learned by the viewer, which is the focus of the script's discussion on memorization techniques. The script mentions the struggle of remembering foreign language words, which is a common challenge for language learners.

💡Memorization

Memorization is the process of committing information to memory. The video's theme revolves around improving memorization skills, particularly for language vocabulary. The script discusses the common issue of repeatedly forgetting words and introduces mnemonic techniques as a solution.

💡Pneumonics

Pneumonics, also known as mnemonics, are memory aids that help in memorizing information. The script highlights the power of pneumonics in significantly improving vocabulary retention. It uses pneumonics to create vivid images associated with foreign words, aiding in their recall.

💡Lambert Schenkel

Lambert Schenkel was a historical figure mentioned in the script, known for his exceptional memory skills. He was so adept at memorization that he was accused of sorcery. His story is used to emphasize the potential of mastering mnemonic techniques.

💡Vocabulary

Vocabulary refers to the set of words known to a person or used in a language. The script discusses the importance of expanding one's vocabulary in a foreign language to achieve fluency, suggesting that knowing 30,000 words is a good target.

💡Acronyms

Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a phrase. In the script, acronyms like 'USA' and 'FBI' are used as examples to illustrate how familiar acronyms can be used to create pneumonics for memorizing new information.

💡Galaba

Galaba is an Arabic word introduced in the script, meaning 'overcoming' or 'overcame'. It is used as an example of how to create a pneumonic by associating the word with the image of a galloping knight, which sounds similar to 'galaba', to aid in memorization.

💡Shino

Shino is a Japanese word for 'truth' or 'real situation'. The script uses 'Shino' to demonstrate how to create a pneumonic image of a 'Shining Soul' to help remember the meaning of the word, despite the slight difference in pronunciation.

💡Vivava

Vivava is a Sanskrit word for 'distressed'. The script provides a pneumonic image of a 'weak lover' to remember this word, showing how even a slight phonetic resemblance can be used to create effective mnemonic devices.

💡Fluency

Fluency in a language refers to the ability to speak or write with ease and accuracy. The script suggests that achieving fluency in a foreign language may require learning a substantial vocabulary, such as 30,000 words, and demonstrates how pneumonics can contribute to this goal.

💡Chat GPT

Chat GPT is mentioned in the script as a tool used to generate visual pneumonics. It is an example of how technology can assist in the creation of mnemonic devices, even for those who may not consider themselves creative in devising such memory aids.

Highlights

The struggle of repeatedly forgetting the meaning of a foreign language word despite multiple exposures.

Introduction of a method to improve memorization skills for vocabulary retention by 10x or more.

Historical reference to Lambert Schenck, a 16th-century teacher of mnemonics, who was denounced as a sorcerer for his exceptional memory skills.

The assertion that mastering mnemonics can lead to extraordinary memory capabilities, akin to magic.

Discussion on the number of words needed to become proficient in a language, suggesting 30,000 words as a personal goal.

Explanation of the concept of pneumonics as a method to connect new information with existing knowledge for easier memorization.

Demonstration of how to use pneumonics with an example of remembering a series of letters by associating them with familiar acronyms.

Use of chat GPT to generate visual pneumonics for those who may not consider themselves creative in devising memory aids.

Example of memorizing the Arabic word 'galaba' meaning 'overcoming' using a pneumonic involving a knight galloping with gloves.

Japanese word 'Shino' for 'truth or real situation' is memorized with the pneumonic of a shining soul emerging from darkness.

Sanskrit word 'viava' for 'distressed' is associated with the image of a weak lover holding a drooping flower.

Personal testimony of the speaker's use of pneumonics to learn over 21,000 words in various languages.

The speaker's approach to language learning emphasizes enjoyment and conversation alongside vocabulary memorization.

Encouragement for viewers to use pneumonics and chat GPT to enhance their language learning and achieve fluency.

A quiz to test the audience's retention of the pneumonics and words discussed in the video.

Final thoughts on the power of pneumonics in language learning and the potential for anyone to achieve significant vocabulary retention.

Transcripts

tell me if you've had this experience of

looking up a foreign language word

seeing the meaning going back to your

reading going back to your studies and

then when you come across it again you

can't remember what it means so you look

it up again you go back to your studies

you come across it again you still can't

remember what it means and this goes on

maybe four or five times uh or maybe you

are using an uny flash card deck and

every time that card comes up you just

can't remember the meaning even though

you see the meaning each and every time

you review the card when it comes up a

day later or a few days later you just

can't seem to remember it this used to

happen to me too a lot before I came

across a method of remembering

vocabulary so if I told you there's a

way that you could remember vocabulary

with certainty and that you wouldn't

have to look up the words five 10 times

would you take that I know I would I'm

about to show you how you can improve

your memorization skills by 10x tfold if

not more now in the late 16th century

there was a guy named Lambert

shenko and he was going around Europe

teaching neonics which is something I'm

going to get into later in the video but

neonics help you to remember or memorize

information

and he was going around to various

countries teaching his methods and he

was so good he was so good at

remembering and memorizing

information that he was denounced as a

sorcerer by the University of louan in

Belgium so if you master this technique

of

pneumonics uh you might get so good at

remembering and memorizing stuff that

people are going to think you're a

wizard you're a wizard or you're a witch

you're going to think that there's no

possible way a regular person could have

done this unless they used magic to do

it so that's how powerful this is I'm

going to show you and teach you how to

do it and hopefully you can use it in

your foreign language

studies so before we get into that let's

discuss how many words we need to

memorize to get good in the language for

me personally that number is 30,000

words in the language

now that may be a bit higher than what

you're used to hearing uh a lot of

people say you only need to know 10,000

words some people say you can get by

with 5,000 words some people even say

you can get by with 3,000 words I'm sure

that is possible but if you want to be

able to understand the language like you

do with English the same way that you're

understanding me as I speak then you

probably want to learn at least at least

30,000 words if not even more maybe

40,000 or 50,000 but I think 30,000 is a

good number to aim for you'll be able to

understand pretty much anything without

any serious problems so to give you an

example of what I mean by pneumonics if

I gave you these letters would you be

able to remember them straight away u f

n SB h a i

can you repeat those back to

me go ahead and

try if you can you have a superb memory

but if you can't you're probably like me

like most people now it's interesting

because if I say the letters in a

different way you might be able to

remember them now so what if I said the

same letters but I said

USA

FBI NHL

now if you're from America you probably

recognize all three of these acronyms

they're pretty popular but if you're not

a hockey fan or if you're not in the

sports you might not recognize the last

one

NHL uh which is National Hockey League

but this goes to show you that if you're

able to connect the

information to something in your mind

that you know already it becomes much

easier much faster to remember the

information and that's the basic core of

pneumonics so let's get into some real

examples and what I did for us was I

found some foreign language vocabulary

that I got from my real life anidex from

material that I'm studying right now and

to prove that anyone can do this I

actually asked chat chpt to give us

visual pneumonics to use and I did this

because some people have come to me and

they said Robbie I love the idea of

pneumonics but I'm not that creative I

can't come up with good stories to be

able to remember the words so I decided

to use just chat GPT to show you that

anyone can do

this so the first word that we have is

an Arabic word and my pronunciation is

very poor I'm not going to try but it's

galaba galaba means overcoming or

overcame it's the past tense but let's

just say it means overcoming or overcame

galaba so to remember this

word uh Chachi P says that we should

imagine a knight on a horse

Galloping okay Galloping sounds like

galaba Gallop galaba it sounds similar

so this is going to be the key to

remember the vocabulary term galaba is

to Envision a knight Galloping on his

horse and something I noticed was that

galaba also sounds like glove so you can

imagine the knights having gloves as he

gallops and that will help key you into

the word galaba and as he's Galloping he

approaches a huge wall and he overcomes

it by jumping over the wall so he

overcomes the wall by Galloping on his

horse now in the nemonic image the best

way to do it is you want to really make

it VIs in your mind so for the gloves

you really want them to stand out you

might want to picture either really cool

looking gloves or really ridiculous

looking gloves like maybe they're pink

bright fluorescent pink and they're big

and maybe when you see the horse

scalloping maybe it's scalloping so fast

that the legs are just a blur as it

approaches the wall and jumps over it

overcoming it at any rates when I say

overcoming or overcame you want to

remember Galloping with gloves a night

Galloping with gloves which is galaba

Gallop sounds like galaba Globes sound

like galaba that's how you remember

galaba for

Galloping uh I mean for overcoming the

uh wall or whatever it may be so galaba

means

overcoming the next term the next word

we have is from Japanese the word is

Shino Shino means truth or real

situation so the neonic image that chat

came up with for us is a Shining Soul

because Shin sounds or appears it's

written the same way as shining so sh sh

i n Shin in Japanese also the first four

words of shining so again it's not a

perfect fit in terms of the

pronunciation but that's okay it's

supposed to to just remind us of the

word in Japanese and Trigger it in our

minds to remember it so a Shining Soul

if you haven't guessed already the

second half of the word Shin soul soul

sounds like Soul again it's not a

perfect fit there is that l sound that's

added with soul but it does kind of

sound like Soul so a Shen Soul a Shining

Soul so imagine a Shining Soul emerging

from the darkness revealing the truth

truth and the real situation hidden

behind a curtain now this is a bit

abstract you want to make it more

concrete and visual in your mind so you

might want to think of a soul however

you imagine the soul maybe you see it as

kind of a Spirits or a ghostlike figure

but imagine it brights and Shining

that's how you get The Shining into it

so a Shining Soul imagine a soul whether

it looks like a ghost or whatever it may

be shining and so remember that means

truth or real

situation uh imagine it coming out of

the darkness revealing behind it a

curtain and revealing behind it the

truth and the real situation behind it

and you might even want uh

imagine something that is true or

something that is the real situation

like imagine the real situation being

you sitting in front of a computer or a

phone watching this YouTube video that's

the true situation of right now that's

the real situation so The Shining Soul

is emerging from the darkness revealing

the truth the real situation of you

sitting watching this YouTube video so

when I say truth or real situation you

want to think of Shining Soul and you

want to think of the word Shin Soul

Shining Soul Shino so the truth or a

real situation Shino

lastly I have a word from Sanskrit when

I gave it to uh Chachi the word

viava viava which means

distressed the pneumonic image that

Chachi gave us was a weak lover because

VI laa sounds kind of like weak

lover so the way that you can remember

this is you want to imagine

imagine uh a weak lover and you can

imagine someone with a drooping flower

like let's say they look distressed

because they went and they professed

their love to their lover but the lover

uh negated them denied them and now

they're distressed because they're a

weak lover they're not a strong lover

they're a weak lover and so now the

flower just droops over because they're

weak and now they are distressed because

they've been denied by their lover and

they're a weak lover you might want to

remember weak being Vic as a German weak

lover because in German they often

pronounce the W's as v's and in this

Sanskrit word the word does start with a

V so VI a weak lover meaning distressed

when the weak lover is distressed his

flower

droops and because he's a weak Lover he

feels

distressed and are being negated or

denied and that's how we remember that

viava means distressed so when I say

distressed you think of a weak lover

which is

vava so using the monics over the last

two years I tallied up the words that I

learned and I learned a total of 21,000

56 words at least it's probably higher

than that to break it down that's

9,936 words in Spanish 6,45 in Arabic

1,646 in Korean 1,282 in German 1,000 in

Japanese 638 in Sanskrit 599 in French

and it's higher because I didn't even

include the words I learned in

tuu Swedish or Italian which were three

languages I learned quite a bit of over

the last two years but I didn't have

proper anid decks so I can't count the

number of cards that I have for each

vocabulary item so it's at least

2,56 words probably higher now if you

remember earlier in this video I said

that you need to learn about 30,000

words in a language to gets you know

pretty decent at it so if I had focused

all my time and energy and so what

language and learns 21,000 most likely I

learned 25,000 but let's just call it

21,000 I would be pretty close to that

30,000 word Mark and hey I would be

pretty good in the language I would be

pretty fluent I'd be able to converse

discuss most topics now because I'm

learning eight languages at least at the

same time the words got split up over

the eight languages so I did not make as

much progress in one language but I did

make progress in a lot of

languages and if I continue over enough

years and decades I'm sure that I'll

progress pretty

well okay so now it's quiz time thinking

back to the

pneumonics if I say the word overcoming

or overcame do you remember what the

word is in Arabic for overcoming or over

came the word is galaba which the

Demonic image was scalloping with gloves

to overcome a huge wall what about the J

what about uh do you know the Japanese

word for truth or real

situation do you know how to say the

truth or the real situation in

Japanese the answer is Shino

and the the monic image is a Shining

Soul revealing the truth or the real

situation of you watching this YouTube

video all right how about in Arabic or

Sanskrit I mean how do you say

distressed do you remember how to say

distressed in

Sanskrit the answer is

viava which the nemonic image being a

weak lover that has distressed that the

love of his life has denied him so

either you got the words right away or

if you didn't you probably remember the

neonic image pretty quickly and if I did

again you'd probably remember like that

so you can see how powerful pneumonics

are and the pneumonic images are at

getting you to remember and to memorized

vocabulary and that's basically what I

did for

2156 words over the last two years I

probably could have memorized even more

words if I had really focused on

studying vocabulary but I also just want

to enjoy the languages too so a lot of

my study time is just spent reading or

conversing with native speakers so I'm

not just focusing on memorizing words if

I just focused all my time on

remembering vocabulary I probably could

have doubled that so keep that mind this

is a very powerful technique and even if

you're not very creative even if you're

not good at thinking up of pneumonic

stories you can just use chat chpt just

tell it to make you a neonic story using

imagery and if you can do that it'll

give you a story and that's how you can

memorize 30,000 words and get fluence in

whatever foreign language is you are

studying all right I hope that helped

you if you found this useful are helpful

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language okay thank you so much and good

luck studying