Page 219 - Use Your Memory

19 Memory Systems for
Vocabulary and Language

As mentioned in my book Speed Reading, vocabulary is considered
to be the most important single factor not only in the development
of efficient reading but also in academic and business success.
This is not surprising when one realises that the size of one's
vocabulary is usually an indication of the range of one's know-
ledge. Since vocabulary is the basic building block of language, it
is desirable and necessary to develop methods of learning and
remembering words more easily. One of the better ways of
accomplishing this aim is to learn the prefixes (letters, syllables or
words recurring before root words), the suffixes (letters, syllables
or words recurring at the end of root words) and the roots (words
from which other words are derived) that occur most frequently in
the language you are attempting to learn. A comprehensive list of
these appears in the vocabulary chapters of Speed Reading.
Here are some more tips on how to improve your word memory:
1 Browse through a good dictionary, studying the ways in which
the prefixes, suffixes and roots of the language are used.
Whenever possible, use association to strengthen your recall.
2 Introduce a fixed number of new words into your vocabulary
every day. New words are retained only if the principle of repe-
tition, as explained earlier, is practised. Use your new words in
context and as many times as possible after you have initially
learned them.
3 Consciously look for new words in the language. This direct-
ing of your attention, known as mental set, leaves the 'hooks' of
your memory more open to catch new linguistic fish!
These are general learning aids to assist your memory in acquiring
knowledge of a language. They may be applied to English, as a
means of improving your present vocabulary, or to any foreign
languages you are beginning to learn. Having established a general
foundation for learning words, let us be more specific in the
remembering of particular words. As with other memory systems,
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