36
Training Your Memory
Remembering
Words and Letters
T
o remember a group of names or
words—as in a list—or a string
of letters, use one of two straightforward
techniques. Acronyms create a trigger for
the memory, while the Phonetic Letter
Technique applies images to letters.
MAKING ACRONYMS
Acronyms are an age-old method
of remembering lists. To create
an acronym, take the initial letter
of each item and arrange them
to make a word. For example,
the five Great Lakes are Huron,
Michigan, Superior, Ontario,
and Erie. Reorder them as
Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie,
Superior, and the initial letters
create the acronym HOMES.
USING EXTENDED ACRONYMS
Extended acronyms take the initial letters of words
and use them as the initial letters of words in a
sentence. They are useful when you need to recall
items in a certain order. For example, a popular
acronym for the colors of the rainbow in correct
order (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo,
Violet) is “Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.”
●
Try to make acronyms as
a first step in memorizing
lists—most lists can be
rearranged to create one.
FOCUS POINT
Making lists manageable
Use more than one acronym if you have a particularly long
list to remember. Break the list down into groups—by color,
for example—then create an acronym for each group.
Getting the order right
To memorize the points of the compass—
North, East, South, West—in clockwise
order, you might use the acronym
Naughty Elephants Squirt Water.
Look for patterns
in your list
Sort into
shorter lists
Create acronym
for each list
Sort by color?
Sort by type?
Sort by shape?
PERSONALIZING THE IMAGES
The next step is to create images to go with each
word. For example, for K–Kilo, your image might
be weighing scales (in kilograms), for W–Whiskey,
a bottle of whiskey. It is vital to create your own
images—images that you will find easy to recall.
Recall the image, and that will bring back the
word, which will bring back the letter.
To remember a string of letters, make
up a story using your images in the
appropriate order.
USING THE PHONETIC
LETTER TECHNIQUE
Single or multiple letters crop up in
many places, from passwords to car license
plates. Most patterns of letters do not lend
themselves to images, so they need to be
converted into something that the memory can
hook on to. The Phonetic Letter Technique uses
the phonetic alphabet, an international system
for English-speaking countries that allocates a
word to each letter. That word can be used to
create an image. The following is the list of words.
Remembering Words and Letters
37
Remembering passwords
Letters are difficult to remember, but
you can use images—which your memory
finds easier to recall—in their place. This
is an ideal technique for remembering
your computer password, for example.
A Alpha
B Bravo
C Charlie
D Delta
E Echo
F Foxtrot
G Golf
H Hotel
I India
J Juliet
K Kilo
L Lima
M Mike
N November
O Oscar
P Papa
Q Quebec
R Romeo
S Sierra
T Tango
U Uniform
V Victor
W Whiskey
X X-ray
Y Yankee
Z Zulu
Making the alphabet memorable
Write down all the letters and words of the
phonetic alphabet. Next to each word write or
draw an image that you associate with it.
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