Response - Remembering before Learning, What Constitutes Studying and What Makes You Happy?

This was written in response to a comment in the previous entry; it started to get long, so I figured "Why not make give it a home?"

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Learn Meaningful Things Before You Remember

Supermemo is only as useful as the knowledge you put into it. If something is put into Supermemo, it should somehow be useful to your existence. If you fill Supermemo with things that are irrelevant to you, then a great deal of satisfaction will go away.

In the past, I have created a number of "test collections," filling them with a considerable amount of flashcards. Usually they are made up of big collections of Chinese and Spanish vocabulary words, science charts, etc. I had no prior encounter with the knowledge in these flashcards, I saw them for the first time in Supermemo. Also, I didn't really care about the knowledge itself. This was simply an experiment, "something to do."

Generally I found these collections to be frustrating and easy to forget. In time those collections were either abandoned altogether or "absorbed" after a great deal of time (and struggle, for I got them wrong many times).

I learned first hand that if I didn't spend time learning what I was trying to remember, Supermemo is a waste of time. Something must be learned first, then remembered later.

Which Wastes More Time?

As far as how much time is required to use Supermemo, compared to traditional systems of learning, Supermemo saves a great deal of time. This is because a majority of traditional learning entails cramming until a test, then forgetting the material after the test. Many hours and a great deal of stress is spent, with nothing to show for it but a receipt (In the form of some certificate, diploma, report card, etc.) that proves to the world you can spend many hours cramming and passing a test. It has proved to be a very inefficient system for most cases.

Rather than being a tool for short-term cramming, Supermemo works to ensure the long-term stability of your memories. The more one "outsources" their studying and remembering to Supermemo, Supermemo becomes more and more of a way of life. When you are making flashcards, or rewording and refining flashcards, THIS CONSTITUTES STUDYING; the very act of adding and refining flashcards MEANS that you are learning new things. This doesn't mean that you are wasting time, it means you are making progress.

For right now we have no choice but to deal with the constraints placed upon us by a flawed educational system. Still, Supermemo can help to soften the blow dealt by such a system. Much like trying to eat a three-course dinner in a brief span of time, schools expect one to process a great deal of material in a short amount of time. Because schools are obsessed with only the short-term results, long-term retention isn't viewed as the gigantic loss that it truly is.

If the amount of material is too great, one possibility is that you could cram the traditional way and and process the information in Supermemo after the test is over. Not an ideal solution, but we're not working in ideal circumstances.

Usefulness of Knowledge

In regards to the usefulness of knowledge, it is very true that knowledge itself carries no value until it is acted upon. The APPLICATION of knowledge should be the eventual goal of acquiring knowledge.

Rather than try to articulate this point, I would feel better pointing you to an article on the Supermemo site: "http://www.supermemo.com/articles/devour.htm"

One of the main points is that 'Skills require learning, which requires knowledge. Learning does not have to be a process that simply occurs as time goes on, but technology can make learning into more of a controlled and conscious process.'

In regards to valuing knowledge when encountered in incremental reading, it is not necessary to determine the absolute value of information on first contact. You merely have to highlight and extract information that MIGHT be valuable. The real value will be determined as you review the information over the coming days and weeks. If deadlines or your circumstances require that you immediately go from reading to making flashcards (Therefore determining the value of information right away), that is certainly an option, but by no means a requirement.

Happiness

Your comment also smacks upon a very core principle (Which I don't think I've posted on here): "What makes you happy?" While I very much enjoy learning, what matters most to me is connecting with other people. Absolute knowledge and principles are not subject to change and are predictable by nature, but PEOPLE possess such a wide spectrum of emotion and can express themselves in an infinite number of UNPREDICTABLE ways. The simple act of conversation, the exchange of ideas, the unique perspective, the humor, everything that ensues can be such a delightful and stimulating experience! While I enjoy learning new ideas, I enjoy discussing those ideas with others (Possibly more than the act of learning itself).

What information do I incrementally process? I work part time so I can pursue my own interests, so it is not necessary to incrementally read for my job; most of the learning I do is because of my own curiosity and interests. I enjoy understanding how things work. Even though certain pieces of knowledge are not very applicable in the real world (For example, understanding how owls are able to hear and determine where sounds are coming from), this brings order to the unknown, and this act brings a certain satisfaction and happiness.

But I must confess, the most valuable and enlightening information I have incrementally processed would have to be my ongoing study of the various works of philosophy, religion and science.

It is my goal to hear any meaningful attempt to answer the basic questions of life and purpose. I might not like some of the answers I find, I might not even agree with them, but the least I can do is understand that different perspective and make an informed decision about whether any theory, way of life, etc. is good or not.

It is my personal belief that the true meaning of life should not be determined by pandering to emotion, petty fear-mongering, pious self-righteousness/arrogance, etc., but rather it should be firmly rooted in knowledge and rationality. If there is a tao (道 - "Road," or "Way") of knowledge, rationality and wisdom, that's where I want to be.

How to Incrementally Read Anything

When I first started using Supermemo, it appeared that Incremental Reading was a valuable feature, but I never really used it.

Once I began experimenting with Incremental Reading (Successfully) and adopting the Incremental Reading mindset when I look at learning material, I am now fully convinced of its superiority for nearly all of my intellectual needs. It is light years ahead of its time, and like the core concepts that power Supermemo, eventually it will likely be utilized on almost every level of the educational system (However many years that takes). Until such a time comes, we can rely on the quirky program Supermemo to accomplish this task in a basic way. (I have my own vision of 'the perfect implementation of Superemo,' but I'll save that for some other time)

The only problem is that Incremental Reading in Supermemo works only with a pure electronic text that can be highlighted, copied and pasted. What if you have a pdf file, a physical book, magazine, etc.?

I have recently adopted a crude but (At least for me) workable solution for using the incremental reading mentality to process non-electronic books (Real books), pdfs, magazines, etc.

Simply create a new topic and use it as a bookmark for whatever you are reading.

For example: If I am reading a new Popular Science magazine (That I cannot yet get a digital copy of), I create a new topic within Supermemo and I title it: "Popular Science - April issue". I take the actual magazine and read it until I get bored, have to do something else, etc. If I find an interesting passage, I transcribe the sentence or paragraph into that topic and create an extract of that passage. When I stop reading I make a note of that in the topic; for example, If I stop on page 28 on the third paragraph, I change the topic to say "Popular Science - April issue; Resume on page 28, paragraph 3."

I then place the magazine in a box next to my computer labeled "Incremental Reading." When I see the topic "Popular Science - April issue," I resume reading. Create extracts only of interesting material, read until I stop, change the topic bookmark to reflect my progress, place in Incremental Reading box. Repeat until the magazine has been read.

I realize the proposed solution would not be ideal for all situations, but considering the limitations of the current technology, it will have to do. Also, your reading material (and a highlighter) can travel with you, and you can "save your progress" when you get back to your Supermemo pile.

From the Internet to Supermemo

I have an iPod Touch, and I've ended up using it a GREAT deal more than I ever thought I would.

Two unexpected uses of my iPod have been:

1. Free, very comprehensive foreign language dictionaries (Which can be quite expensive) and

2. Instapaper. Instapaper is a program that takes articles you find on the internet and sends them to your iPod or iPhone as text (With maybe a couple of pictures). Because an iPod lacks a constant internet connection, this is a great way to read interesting material found on the internet when on-the-go. Since I've begun using it, Instapaper has become my preferred means of reading internet articles.

But what if I find something that I want to remember? How does this application relate to Supermemo? The answer is the useful screenshot function in the iPod and iPhone. To take a picture of your iPod's screen, press the Home button and the power button at the same time. You will see a flash and hear a camera shutter sound. Whatever was being displayed on the screen is now a picture, and those pictures can be accessed using the "Photos" app.

So here is how knowledge "flows" from the internet into Supermemo:

1. Find interesting article

2. Send to Instapaper

3. While reading on my iPod, take a picture of an interesting passage, statement, etc.

4. Periodically go through my photos and enter the valuable information into Supermemo

Thus, even when you're out and have a few minutes of free time, you can do some learning which will ultimately go in Supermemo (Just make sure you don't use it while watching a sunset, talking to a loved one, or during any other inappropriate occasion). The reason I post this now is because: 1. I'm a huge fan of Instapaper, and 2. Instapaper is going to be a launch application for the new iPad. Such an application could help rationalize an iPad purchase as an "educational expense" if I tried hard enough to convince myself.

Flashcard Zen? (My Morning Routine)

Because Supermemo (As well as other Spaced Repetition programs) requires that you review a piece of information a minimal number of times, the number of items you must review on a daily basis goes down quite quickly.

For the past couple of years, I have probably reviewed only 200-350 items per day. Thanks to being able to use a Nintendo Wii Remote with my computer, I can now review items almost as quickly as I can recall them; very little time is spent actually pressing buttons (Mainly the A and B buttons on the Wii Remote).

After a bit of reluctance, I have started increasing the number of items I add on a daily basis. As a result, the average number of items has jumped to around 500-650 per day. But strangely, the amount of time I spend on them is around 1 to 1.5 hours; this increased workload has not changed my morning routine much at all (Wake up, do Supermemo, jog, eat breakfast, leave). In fact, rather than feeling more stressed ("Oh no! I have 600 items today!"), I feel more refreshed and excited in general.

(Update on remembering Chinese words: It is indeed working, and I am able to remember words very quickly, although not as quickly as I did Japanese words; before they are "locked" in my memory, I usually get the tones wrong a couple of times.)

ChinaTown

Sorry this post took so long. I wanted to make sure that this method worked (It does) before posting. To test this, I put Chinese vocabulary words into Supermemo. Usually it takes a week or two for new information to be truly "remembered" with Supermemo, as you need to review them two or three times (Successfully) before you can say to yourself "OK, I know this word now."

KanjiTown was a mnemonic system that made Japanese vocabulary acquisition a piece of cake. When I began to study Chinese, I thought "A slightly modified version of this would have to work just as effectively for Chinese, right?"

The goal was simple:

1. Group together Chinese characters based on their pronunciation

2. Somehow link all of those characters together

3. Learn vocabulary at an absurd rate (Just like Japanese)

For the past year I have struggled to complete step two in this process. I attempted many different ways of linking the characters together, but none of them worked as well as KanjiTown did. I now realize that the main error was this: I tried to remember both the pronunciation and tone of a character with the same story at the same time. This resulted in too much mental clutter, too many images moving around in the mind. Rather than try to remember both the pronunciation and tone, I should simply focus on the pronunciation first. Should I want to design a system for remembering the tones of characters, that can be done later.

But honestly, I don't think there will be a need for a tone mnemonic system. Why? Japanese does not have a tone system, but stress is placed on certain syllables, and not on others (For example, you do not say "konNIchiwa," it is "KONnichiwa"); when I was studying Japanese, never was it necessary to create a mnemonic system to remember them, as proper placement of emphasis came naturally with time and exposure to the language through downloaded TV shows, radio, etc. Although Chinese tones do not sound as natural as sense stress does in English or Japanese, I have a feeling I will learn them like I learned Japanese sense stress.

When you have a hammer, sometimes everything seems like a nail. In this case, I was mnemonically trigger-happy, and was trying to use mnemonics to do a job they weren't cut out to do.

Now that I've learned my lesson, here is my present method for Chinese character memorization:

Once you have grouped the Chinese characters together, the next step is to assign a specific INDIVIDUAL to each group. This individual could be a real person or a fictitious character. After you have assigned an individual to one group, each character in the group somehow becomes an attribute of that individual.

Let's take an example: JIA. JIA sounds a lot like JACK, so let's assign Jack Nickelson to the JIA group. After we find a list of characters all pronounced JIA, we somehow link them to Jack Nickelson. For example, the character for "armor" is pronounced "Jia," so imagine Jack Nickelson in knight's armor. He will wear the armor for the whole duration of the story (Like the Japanese KanjiTown, these stories should somehow connect with one another when possible to ensure memory stability). JIA can also mean "to support, frame, rack." So imagine our knight Jack Nickelson trying to stabilize someone on a big ladder, so that they don't fall, perhaps fighting off a dragon at the same time (He is wearing the armor, after all).

Also, it is good for each story to have a primary objective that the character works towards. Rescuing a girl, climbing a mountain, fighting a dragon, etc.

(This is merely an example, I am not actually using the above story.)

So where KanjiTown focused on location, "ChinaTown" focuses on people. I imagine it would be preferred that the people used for "ChinaTown" be those that have not appeared in KanjiTown (I'm assuming this would not work; I could be wrong, but I don't want to test this for fear that it could disrupt my memory).

I have assigned a few individuals to a few groups of characters, and I can recall words that include those characters with great speed compared to my previous attempts at retaining Chinese vocabulary. Now that I know the process, it's simply a matter of time before Chinese is conquered, one little group at a time!

("Jack Nickelson" is a song by "Bloodthirsty Butchers," a Japanese band. I enjoy their music.)

Edit: I changed the posting date to reflect the fact that I finished the post recently. I started the post about a month ago.

KanjiTown

Japanese characters can usually be read in at least two ways. There is the "ON" reading of the character and the "KUN" reading of a character. Many different characters share the same ON reading, but very few share the same KUN reading. Therefore you can easily group together characters based on their ON reading, but not based on the KUN reading.

The only problem is that many characters with the same ON reading have very little to do with one another. They bear no resemblance strong enough that they could easily be grouped together and remembered. This is what KanjiTown is for.

Basically, KanjiTown is a catchy way to say "Group characters based on ON reading, then think of a unique location to correspond with each group." Locations can be real (Your high-school math room) or imagined (A dungeon in The Legend of Zelda). Recently I googled KanjiTown to find someone that took the same method but instead of using locations used different MOVIES for different kanji groups. What a good idea! If you are a gamer, I imagine you could have different GAMES correspond to different kanji groups. Or if you are a literature nut, different BOOKS could be used for the different groups.

I found that using this method of grouping kanji was my other "secret weapon" for Japanese fluency (Supermemo being the first one). When I saw a kanji, the ON reading seemed to "jump" out in my mind. Not only did I recall the reading and meaning quickly, but reading Japanese felt like reading quotes from my favorite movies and TV shows ("Oh, I remember when such-and-such character did such-and-such-action, that was awesome!). Also when I hear a word I don't know, it is surprisingly easy to correctly guess what the word is based on the hints provided by the pronunciation. The more you do this, the better you get at guessing.

Because of Supermemo and KanjiTown, Japanese no longer requires a significant amount of time to study (Aside from review in Supermemo). I spend a minimal amount of time every week finding Japanese words I don't know and putting them into Supermemo (I'm trying to learn slang words, internet terms ("2828" is ツンデレ, for example) and onomatopoeic words to spice things up). Nearly all of the terms are learned and retained with very little effort (Thanks Supermemo!). If learning Japanese is an MMORPG, now I am in the "endgame" phase now.

Please don't get the impression that I'm bragging. This is simply the result of the methodical application of useful tools. I am convinced that if others used the same tools (With effort, of course), the same result could be achieved.

The reason I post this is because I've struggled to put together a similarly useful system for recalling the pronunciation of Chinese characters. Based on how well the Japanese system has worked, I knew that a Chinese system was possible, but I wasn't sure how to do it. To make a long story short, I recently "cracked" the mnemonic "code" to make such a system work for Chinese, but before I went "gung-ho" into remembering Chinese I wanted to do a thorough check to make sure all of the Japanese kanji were properly "archived" in Supermemo (Both the meaning and the pronunciation of the character). Before I started another big project I wanted to make sure the first one was done.

Tonight I finally finished this project, and I can say with confidence that all of the kanji I studied are in the hands of Supermemo, never to be forgotten (Or at least 90% of them).

Next post: How to beat the crap out of Chinese vocabulary acquisition.

(Just to clarify, KanjiTown is purely for vocabulary purposes. Grammar is a separate beast. )

Supermemo History

Before I decided to use Supermemo as my primary flashcard system, I created many paper flashcards. As the number of paper flashcards increased, so did my struggle with them. Managing hundreds of cards began to feel overwhelming. Many words were forgotten. Hopelessness started to set in; next came anger, which led to the discarding of flashcards and dismissal of their relevance. "I'm better off without them," I thought to myself, only to realize that my language skills had become even more dismal. Indeed it was a very discouraging cycle. Now that Supermemo handles the scheduling, this is no longer a problem.

Recently I began to wonder, "What were the older versions of Supermemo like? Are the newer versions really better than the older ones?" Some web sites (Scroll to the bottom) mention that Supermemo has changed in how it calculates future repetitions (Relying on E-Factors, Optimization Matrices, and other complicated-sounding words). Some claim that the change was for the better, some say that it needlessly complicates things.

On the Supermemo web site, there is a history of the algorithms used for the various versions of Supermemo. One has even been adapted for paper flashcards. Both to satisfy curiosity and to (hopefully) more fully understand how Supermemo works, I am going to be involved in an ongoing experiment: I will use paper flashcards to learn completely new information (Greek, Arabic, Hebrew and Korean characters), using older Supermemo algorithms to calculate the next review date.

I plan on learning about each iteration of the Supermemo algorithm and how it calculates the next review date. Once I think I fully understand how one version of Supermemo works, I will make a post about it.

Right now I am using the paper version of Supermemo. After the fifth repetition using paper flashcards, I will put the information into my main Supermemo database.