Jerry’s Blog–Because Wit Happens

I’ve written about this software a time or two before, and even have a link there in that right sidebar to the site where you can download it (and eventually purchase, if you are half as pleased with it as I am).

I’ve now been using it for more than a year pretty much every day–it’s the first thing I do after my morning cup of coffee with the newspaper.

It is software employing a “spaced repetition” system for learning, which I have been using to work on language skills in anticipation of upcoming travel (once I can afford to go out my front door again).

As we all know, language learning can be tedious.  Learning grammar rules is the most boring and tedious element of the process (and almost certainly unnecessary at the beginning).  “Drilling” on vocabulary is the next most boring element.  Well, SUPERMEMO makes “drilling” actually fun.  I can sit sometimes for a solid hour and a half with this program, doing foreign vocabulary drills without getting bored.

Studies show that you pick up the vocabulary several times faster using this “spaced repetition” process.  The way the software works is that when I’m drilling, I rate myself on how well I know the particular word that comes along–and based on that rating the software optimizes how long it will be before the word shows up again.

Results have been amazing:  I’ve learned (with 80-90% accuracy) about 3000 new Spanish words in the last year, about 1500 Japanese Kanji (those Chinese hieroglyphic-looking characters), and several hundred vocabulary words for each of the following languages:  Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, German, Italian, and French (and a thousand or so new English vocabulary words).

SUPERMEMO is used by a lot of medical students (my son in med school uses it) to memorize the terms that they need.

I can’t praise it enough, and I highly recommend reading the WIRED Magazine (best magazine in the world) article that first made me aware of the program.

One of my big post-retirement things I’ve been working on is learning new languages–and then it occurred to me (after taking a vocabulary test a few weeks ago), that there might be something to be said for working on my command of the English language, too! Armed with my trusty and invaluable software tool SuperMemo, I have been able to find some good word lists on the Internet that are easy to input into SuperMemo. On to sesquipedalianism!

Not motivated yet? Watch this swell movie–and read more, people:

As far as I’m concerned, this is my software “find” of the last several years.

I first read about this software in a recent WIRED Magazine (best magazine in the world) article which you really, really, really should read right here.

It’s about a Polish guy that invented this drilling/memorization (flashcard-like) software that presents word lists to you scientifically optimized to hit you with a review of the material spaced depending on how “strongly” you’ve indicated your current memory for each word is. Having worked with it about a month now, it does seem uncanny in how it “hits me again” just as my memory is starting to fade. HIGHLY recommended (the software is at www.supermemo.com–free demo there)! Lots of languages to download free or cheap and you can input your own lists pretty easily. (I listen to the Pimsleur conversations and then input the actual words from a written source I have found on the Internet. By coming at it from several directions, I seem to be learning much more efficiently).

While mostly useful for memorization-type drills as in foreign language learning, there are also database questions suitable for various scientific studies: medical school, etc., where memorization skills are still an important key to success. Not so much law school, I wouldn’t think.

Anyway, I’ve been using it to brush up on my Spanish and have been making huge strides. Flashcards are boring–this is much more fun and kind of like playing JEOPARDY…

Encouraged, I plan on using it (along with the Pimsleur materials) to work on Japanese this summer–since I may be headed there for a couple of weeks in September.