Contents:
- What are mnemonics?
- How can you use them when learning Russian?
- Five popular Russian mnemonic rhymes
What are mnemonics?
Mnemonics are memorization techniques and strategies that help you learn and retain information by using association, rhymes, spatial relations, and other original formats.
One very famous example is the fabled mind palace – if you’ve ever seen BBC’s Sherlock you’ll likely recall the image of Benedict Cumberbatch with his eyes closed and a concentrated face, recalling some minute detail of a crime scene. A dramatized version of the method of loci, this technique involves “placing” facts you want to remember inside a visualized familiar place in your mind. Then, as you mentally go around the space, you can recall the facts “hidden” there.
But it doesn’t have to be so dramatic; sometimes, a simple rhyme will do the trick.
How can you use them when learning Russian?
Here, your only limit is your imagination. You can find your own unique associations or create rhymes to remember grammar rules, difficult spelling or pronunciation, or even particularly useful yet evasive phrases.
Five popular Russian mnemonic rhymes
Here’s a selection of rhymes every Russian school student is bound to learn at some point. While you might not find direct use for them (you likely know these rules already), but they will definitely be a fun addition to your language learning practice – and a conversation starter with your Russian friends.
- Пифагоровы штаны во все стороны равны – “Pythagoras’ pants are equal in all directions.” This one’s used to memorize Pythagoras’ theorem.
- Биссектриса – это такая крыса, которая бегает по углам и делит углы пополам – “an angle bisector (rhymes with “rat” in Russian) is a rat that runs into corners/angles and splits them in two.”
- Чтобы нам не ошибиться, надо правильно прочесть: три, четырнадцать, пятнадцать, девяносто два и шесть – “Let’s avoid mistakes and read correctly: three, fourteen, fifteen, ninety-two, and six.” A handy mnemonic to remember several digits of the number pi.
- Каждый охотник желает знать, где сидит фазан – “Every hunter wishes to know where the pheasant sits”; a fun way to memorize primary colors in Russian: красный (red), оранжевый (orange), желтый (yellow), зеленый (green), голубой (blue), синий (indigo), фиолетовый (purple).
- Надеть одежду, одеть Надежду – “to put on clothes, but to dress Nadezhda.” Believe it or not, native Russian speakers also need help remembering some complicated grammar rules, and this is one effective way to remember how to use two similar verbs correctly.
Looking for more fun Russian words and phrases? Here’s a collection of our stories on the subject.
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Title image credit: Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
