Phonetic Substitution
One way to find a substitution for an unfamiliar word is to use a word or phrase that sounds similar, but that can also be visualized. This technique works well for names or words that are completely unfamiliar. As silly as the examples below seem, this method really does help to memorize unfamiliar words very fast and remember them for a long time.
Learning Words in Other Languages
When learning a new language, for example, the words do not immediately have any meaning for the learner. To memorize vocabulary it is necessary to link the word to its meaning. Most of the time, it is easy to find an English word or phrase that sounds like the word. The following are some examples of Spanish words and what they sound like in English.
| Spanish word | Meaning | Sounds like |
| sandia | watermelon | sandy |
| ropa | clothes | rope |
| grabador | recorder | grab a door |
| silla | chair | see ya’ |
| onda | wave | honda |
Of course, these might not be the only phrases that sound like the Spanish words, and you could use whatever comes to mind.
Now instead of trying to link the Spanish word to its meaning, link the meaning to what’s in the “sounds like” column. To memorize that sandia means watermelon, imagine dropping a piece of watermelon and getting it covered with sand. To remember that ropa means clothes, pictures someone dressed in clothing made entirely of rope.
There isn’t any reason why this technique has to be used with other languages; it can be used to memorize English words as well as scientific terms and other jargon.
Memorizing Names
Phonetic substitution also gives a way to visualize and memorize names. Many names can be visualized without any work, such as Marshall, King, or Wolfe. But most other names can be visualized using phonetic substitution. Some examples are Clark (clerk), Harvey (RV), and Gomez (combs).
This can be used to easily memorize names and to link them to other information. Soon we’ll be adding a section on linking names to faces of acquaintances.