Re: Memorization (conlang version)

On Tue, 8 Feb 2000, FFlores wrote:

>
> Does anyone know about this? What do *you* do when you want to
> learn a new language fast? For conculturers, please see my post
> to Conculture... Has any of you attempted to memorize their
> conlang's lexicon?
The easiest way is to practice.  Start small. For example, I memorized to
Songs of Solomon, which I found utterly beautiful, beginning with a stanza
at a time.  Eventually, with concerted effort and recognizing patterns and
sound associations, verses came easily.  There aren't that many verses so
it was easy to learn.  Most important you must be dedicated and
interested, but don't go on when you have brain fatigue- just relax,
do something else for about an hour, and go back to it.  Do a little more
each day if you can.  It's alot like working out :)

Diet also affects memory.  Salmon is an example of a good brain-food.
There are herbs that also help, e.g. gingko biloba (the "popular" one
right now, but there are others.)  A fully-rounded approach is the best
way to improve the mind, just as with the body.

Although I have little fluency in my conlang, I know the lexicon pretty
well (good thing- I've lost my notes like a million times).  What makes it
easy for me is that I painstakingly think about the meaning of every
single word before it gets admitted, but that's only because I am
extremely aware of the cultural assumptions behind much of English, and
rather than just coining correlative words, I painfully deconstruct and
refit to draqa cultural assumptions.  A word may be months in the making
(I know where I was and what I was doing when I created most draqa words.)
With my other langs, it's not as intimate, and thus, not as easy to recall
the lexicon :)

Hope this all helps :)

beac,
.yasmin.