German Language Learning Memory Aids

Problem
How do I remember a new German word?

Answer
I look for a memory aid. My system is to look for reminders within the word I am learning, letters which match the English.

Story
Today I am doing my daily German exercise on Duolingo. I have the German words
passende Lösung.
The English is fitting solution.
I have already remembered it to copy it onto here.
This is my memory aid

passende - has a double letter. The matching letters are SS and TT, S and T follow each other in the alphabet. I had not even noticed that when I learned it. I simply looked for a double letter. passende and fitting.

L ö s u n g - solution. I see several matching letters. L O S U N g . The first three letters of the German word L ö s u n g reversed are the first three letters of the English word s o l u t i o n. The U in the middle is the same in both words. Then the sound N.

Now that you've seen how I do it, you can do the same with words you want to remember. I don't guarantee it works every time. Nor do I guarantee that you will remember the memory aid in six months time.

However, it helps to get you to answer the first time which give you a feeling of success.
You remember it long enough to repeat it three times. By typing out your memory aid, as I have done, you fix the word in your memory. I and you have now looked at L O S U N G and SOLUTION several times.

Maybe you won't remember this word. Maybe you will remember only 90 per cent of the words. Maybe you will remember only ten per cent of the words. However, that's ten per cent more than you otherwise knew.

I hope you have found this a fitting solution to the problem of learning foreign words in German and other languages.

passende Lösung.

Tips
duolingo.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, English teacher and speaker.
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