Sohcahtoa helped me get through my trigonometry class!

But sometimes learning something as a simple list works just as well. I can still easily recite us-i-o-um-o; i-orum-is-os-is, and the feminine counterpart, a-ae-ae-am-a; ae-arum-is-as-is. Somehow chanting the list made it easier to remember it in order (I've got holes in my memory for the other declensions, however)

It is difficult for Americans to acquire Esperanto since they rarely have had any exposure to foreign language - except in the larger metropoli and in areas like where I live in SE Florida. I have a lot of respect for any American who is trying to acquire Esperanto. On top of that, our country is so big and clubs are geographically so far apart which makes meeting others who speak Esperanto very difficult. I think it is great that this guy is trying and I commend him on it.

xdzt:On a related note, the only mnemonic device I've ever learned was "sohcahtoa" for "sine: opposite/hypotenuse, cosine: adjacent/hypotenuse, tangent: opposite/adjacent" -- my math teacher loved that phrase and drilled it into our heads. Even today it flashes up when I deal with any trigonometry -- and I hate it. It firmly compounded the idea that mnemonics are just extra things to memorize and are ultimately counterproductive when compared with simply memorizing the thing.

They can be useful at times. Coming from the Great Lakes region, I was taught early to remember their names by remembering the word HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). Now, when naming them, I still say them in that order. I suppose such tricks could be applied to anything that needs to be remembered. I suppose some people find it helpful and others don't. If they become too complicated, the mnemonic tricks themselves can become hard to remember.

I think that hebda999 should appoligize for his stupid attack. He offended a beginner who is trying to make sense of a new language.

Mustelvulpo:

xdzt:On a related note, the only mnemonic device I've ever learned was "sohcahtoa" for "sine: opposite/hypotenuse, cosine: adjacent/hypotenuse, tangent: opposite/adjacent" -- my math teacher loved that phrase and drilled it into our heads. Even today it flashes up when I deal with any trigonometry -- and I hate it. It firmly compounded the idea that mnemonics are just extra things to memorize and are ultimately counterproductive when compared with simply memorizing the thing.

They can be useful at times. Coming from the Great lakes region, I was taught early to remember their names by remembering the word HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). Now, when naming them, I still say them in that order. I suppose such tricks could be applied to anything that needs to be remembered. I suppose some people find it helpful and others don't. If they become too complicated, the mnemonic tricks themselves can become hard to remember.

I agree that you can use them to memorize, but then that data gets tied up in the mnemonic. Like you said, you still think of the great lakes in that order. I organically learned the names of the great lakes (since I didn't grow up in that region, it wasn't something we were taught) and can recall them in any order I please. Similarly, which months have how many days -- I never managed to learn the little poem, so I just learned how many days are in each month. Friends who learned the little poem always have to recite it to figure out how many days are in a given month.

Ultimately, I think mnemonics are generally limiting. The only exception I can think of would be for long, ordered lists that you'd never want to access out of order.

robbkvasnak:I think that hebda999 should appoligize for his stupid attack. He offended a beginner who is trying to make sense of a new language.

Still feel angry for my response on your religion?
1. Prove that it was an attack
2. Prove that it was stupid
3. Apologize me.

Mustelvulpo:They can be useful at times. Coming from the Great lakes region, I was taught early to remember their names by remembering the word HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). Now, when naming them, I still say them in that order. I suppose such tricks could be applied to anything that needs to be remembered. I suppose some people find it helpful and others don't. If they become too complicated, the mnemonic tricks themselves can become hard to remember.

Being from Western New York. We learned SCOOM(T) for the five (later six) for the Iroquois tribes.

Seneca
Cayuga
Onondaga
Oneida
Mohawk
(Tuscarora)

Forigite

We learned PASS in Firefighter I for using fire extinguishers...

Pull Aim Squeeze Sweep

erinja:Sohcahtoa helped me get through my trigonometry class!

But sometimes learning something as a simple list works just as well. I can still easily recite us-i-o-um-o; i-orum-is-os-is, and the feminine counterpart, a-ae-ae-am-a; ae-arum-is-as-is. Somehow chanting the list made it easier to remember it in order (I've got holes in my memory for the other declensions, however)

My German teacher often made us chant different phrases to remember things, such as prefixes and prepositions.

Chanting works wonders, more than you would think.

I vividly remember when I learned to read music as a child, chanting E-G-B-DF! for the lines, and F-A-C-E for the spaces

Never did learn the bass clef very fluently with names, I knew perfectly which piano key went with which line, but I didn't think of it in terms of letters. Perhaps I needed more chanting for that one.

Actually that was taught to us with a mnemonic as well. The spaces on the treble clef obviously spell "face", and we were taught "every good boy does fine" for the lines. It's the chanting that comes to mind when I see it, though, not the phrase.