Don’t Just Memorize English Words But Also "Visualize" Them!

Remember when we were still at school, our teachers would never stop saying to us that “practice makes perfect”, which has long become somewhat of a cliché in our lives? Well, although there is no denying that practice does make perfect, it is the way you practice that determines whether it makes perfect or not. When it comes to practicing a language, the first thing that comes to mind is memorization. In other words, it is often believed that if you memorize five words a day or practice writing sentences using different tenses, your English – both vocabulary and grammar – will improve.

A “mental” picture is worth a thousand words?

 
Personally, I have taken memorization to the next level by complementing it with “visualization”. Let’s take prepositions such as “on” and “in” as examples: “On”, as we all know, means something is situated above something else. But the meaning might not be as obvious to most people when it is used in sentences such as “I get on the bus” and “I am on the bus”. Both sentences can be quite confusing because it is common sense that both passengers and the driver are always “inside” a bus, rather than “on top of” it. That said, if you try to “imagine” getting on a bus, you will realize that the use of “on” makes perfect sense. To be specific, when the driver opens the doors, the first thing you will do is walk up some stairs “onto” a high or “raised” floor before looking for a seat. As for the example featuring the preposition “in”, it is commonly seen in sentences such as “I am in my car”, which, again, can be confusing to most English learners. The good news is that there is also a way for all of us to make sense of why “in” is used instead of “on” in this case: Unlike buses, cars do not have stairs or a “raised or high” floor, meaning that a person can go “directly” to their seat “inside” the car – be it in the front or in the back.

The “visualization” approach could also be applied when studying or memorizing (quite a few) common expressions. Let’s take the expression “a long shot” as an example. As some of you may already know, we describe something as “a long shot” when talking about an attempt that is “unlikely” to succeed due to its high level of difficulty. Now imagine that you are in a basketball match trying to score for your team, but then you are standing quite far from the hoop. It’s obvious that, if you choose to shoot, it’s very unlikely that you will get the ball through the hoop – hence it is “a long shot”.

Finally, although I know that it is “a long shot” for me to get many people interested in reading my articles, I want to share my thoughts and experiences with people from all walks of life. Until next time – bye!

Keywords
Cliché (noun): 決まり文句 (フランス語)
Raised (adjective): あるいは正常な位置より高くに位置する
Visualize (verb): 想像する
A long shot (expression): 望みの薄いこと
There is no denying (expression): ～は否定できない
A picture is worth a thousand words (idiom): 百聞は一見にしかず

Author

Name: Brian Yap
Nationality: Canadian
Education :
M.A. in Pacific Asian Studies, SOAS University of London (SOAS: School of Oriental & African Studies)
Past Work Experience :
- Tokyo Correspondent - Bloomberg Industry Group (An affiliate of Bloomberg L.P)
- Asia Reporter (Hong Kong-based) - International Financial Law Review, UK-listed Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC
- General News Reporter (Internship) - Thomson Reuters Corporation
Areas of journalism :
Sports, Entertainment, Politics, Finance, Trade, Business. etc

著者:
Brian Yap ブライアン・ヤップ
学歴:
クワントレン工科大学の新聞学科 (バンクーバー、カナダ)
ロンドン大学東洋アフリカ学院の太平洋研究科 (ロンドン、イギリス)
職歴:
ブルームバーグBNAー東京特派員
ユーロマネー・インスティテューショナル・インベスターアジアレポーター (香港駐在)
トムソン・ロイター (インターン) レポーター
報道の経験/分野:
スポーツ、娯楽、政治、金融、貿易、ビジネス

Brian講師が活躍するスパルタ英会話法人部HP：
https://corp.spartan-english.jp/

3ヶ月で英語が話せるようになるスクール スパルタ英会話HP：
https://spartan-english.jp/