Appendix: Tips on Creating Mnemonics

Mnemonics to aid memory are personal; they vary from person to person. For example, if you have a friend whose name happens to sound like a new word you’re studying, you can associate the word with the person.^[1] If you know a language in which there’s a word or phrase that spells or sounds like the new word, even if it has no etymological connection, you may use it as a mnemonic.^[2] In spite of the personal nature, however, English-speaking learners may have a lot of experience in common, and a suggested mnemonic for a word may have fairly widespread applicability.

A good mnemonic for a word should not only create a scene or image to establish an association, but ideally should also make a phrase or find another word that sounds or spells like the word being studied.^[3] Since we assume the reader of this book only knows English, we only search English dictionaries. There are two types of search or two directions to follow: given the meaning, search for a word (let’s call it MW); given the word, or rather, the spelling form, search for another word with a similar pronunciation while maintaining the same or similar meaning (WP).

The first type (MW) relies on a thesaurus, or simply a Google search for synonym theword. Suppose we wish to find a good mnemonic for parete (“wall”). Among the synonyms given by a Google search for synonym wall, we see parapet, which sounds close to parete. You may also use a website dedicated to providing English synonyms, among them thesaurus.com being a good one. Once you’re on the result page such as http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/wall, you may highlight the phonetically most critical letters of parete e.g. par to help you focus attention. (In most web browsers, press Control-F and type par.)

The second type of search (WP) can be done on the websites that provide sound-like words. After testing a handful of them, I have settled down on RhymeZone’s http://itools.com/tool/rhymezone-words-that-sound-like. For example, to remember dolore (“pain”; “sorrow”), a word of unhelpful etymology unless you already know English dolor or dolour, you enter dolore on the website and search, and get dollar, dealer, deplore, duller, etc. To use dollar as a mnemonic, imagine “Life is hard. Even making one dollar is a pain.” Alternatively, think of dull pain or duller pain.

Not all parts of a word have equal weight in serving as memory clues. Generally, the first part is more important. For example, moglie (“wife”) is better learned by just focusing on mo- and think of mother. You can of course think of motherly. Sometimes a quick dictionary lookup helps because the words spelled the same at the beginning are adjacent so you can scan through them to find a good mnemonic candidate.

A mnemonic is not limited to matching a whole word with another whole word in sound or spelling. You can use two or more words as a mnemonic for a single word being studied. For instance, asta (“rod”, “pole”) can use “a staff”. If you don’t mind a farther separation, piccolo (“small”) can use “a small picture hanging low”. This kind of mnemonics, however, have to be created by a human. No website or software I know of can do a good job at it. [Update December 2025]: See Test of AI's to suggest mnemonics for a discussion of AI’s potential use and its limitations.

Sometimes a word has multiple meanings not obviously related to each other or it may take an effort to link them. One type of mnemonic, a link mnemonic, or “mnemonic link system” or “chain method” according to Wikipedia, is particularly helpful. The trick is to conjure up a logically coherent chain of events or a mini-story that can be narrated. For example, pena has three common meanings, “penalty”, “punishment”; “sorrow”, “pity”; “trouble”. Using this mnemonic method, you can imagine a young man getting into some trouble, being punished by law, and his mom feels sorrow and pity for him. Sometimes two words merge or conflate in form and their meanings are totally unrelated. For example, pesca can mean either “fishing” or “peach”. As a mnemonic, imagine a man eating a peach before he begins his fishing work.

Learning words about a specific category sometimes helps. But it’s more helpful if two or more words in the same category sound alike. For example, you may learn the similarly spelled cavallo (“horse”) and capra (“goat”) together as if they are on the same page in a children’s picture book showing various animals, or learn pera (“pear”) and pesca (“peach”) together since they both begin with pe- and are words of fruits.

Mnemonics have been used for thousands of years, from ancient Greek poet Simonides, Roman statesman Cicero, to the current time. A good summary of general mnemonics can be found in such books as Harry Lorayne & Jerry Lucas, The Memory Book, 1974; Dominic O’Brien, How to Pass Exams, 2016. No doubt many people can learn to be proficient in using the techniques in those books, often by thinking up an out-of-the-ordinary image of an object somehow involving the word being studied. (An absurd image of an often-quoted “gigantic” object is said to strengthen memory, although this so-called Von Restorff effect is disputed by some psychologists.) For example, take “Visualize a gigantic chicken playing polo” as the mnemonic for pollo (“chicken”) (Harry Lorayne’s Page-a-Minute Memory Book, p.25). These mentally stimulating mnemonics may be excellent for a very short-term memory for some people. If, however, you find it difficult to remember these mnemonics themselves, especially when required to keep the words in mind for at least a few days, and the number of words being studied exceeds a certain threshold so that these absurd images start to clutter, the approach of etymology supplemented by mnemonics may serve the purpose better. In the case of pollo, adult learners with some language experience may find it more logical to study this word by seeing its cognate relation with poultry.

As with anything, using mnemonics is a learning experience. After plenty of practice, you’ll find yourself more skilled in creating good quality mnemonics, even if some of them are only meaningful to yourself. Over time, the number of new words that have to rely on rote memory to study will decrease and your interest in the Italian language will grow.

_________________________
^[1] The word peto may be the best example to illustrate the point, if you have a friend named Peter.
^[2] For example, if you know Chinese, pàngzi (“fat person”) will be a good mnemonic for panza (“belly”). Note that this is different from knowing a language that offers cognates, which have etymological connections. If you know a language sharing a large number of cognates with Italian, such as another Romance language, you are at a great advantage in vocabulary study. You don’t even need mnemonics in the first place.
^[3] Thus, the word sound is a good example to help remember sondaggio (“survey”, “poll”), because they pronounce alike, and using sonar to measure depth is a common technique; note sondaggio is not cognate with sound as in sound of music. Unfortunately, not all mnemonics meet the two requirements well, i.e. similar sounds and an associative image.