I.I.T. Pass out launches the first ever Mnemonics Dictionary

In order to help those poor students who scratch their brains about the new words to be learnt, the GRE aspirants who find all the words in the wordlist Greek and Latin, or even the language enthusiasts who are fond of picking up newer words every day, a mind map bank is now available online which gets them move on from the known to the unknown: a dictionary devoted for the mnemonics. Mnemonics, a memory tool that helps people by giving associations of words (A mnemonic can be a visual, a key word, acronyms or anything that can relate new information to something that is previously known), has been there from the ancient Greece but the idea of a dictionary only for mnemonics is broached for the first time by a person who is an out and out techie from India: Amit Aggarwal, an I.I.T. Mumbai pass out.

Mnemonic Dictionary uses mnemonics to revolutionise the way we learn and remember new words wherein the content is contributed by users. “The idea for a mnemonic dictionary came when I was back in college, when I was preparing for my GRE. This technique works wonders to improve my vocabulary, so I figured others could benefit from this too,” says Amit. He was later joined by Preeti, a management student and by Prameela Jeppu a designer in actualizing his mission. The website also has the language consultancy set up by the alumni of the premier language centres of English and Foreign Languages University and the University of Hyderbad, Increment Language Solutions (INLAS) as its language partners with them providing the necessary linguistic expertise for semantic related issues. Now customized for targeted audience such as GRE takers and students, Mnemonic Dictionary aims to build up a system that would supplement the Princeton University data bank, Wordnet which consists of not less than 150,000 words.

Proper to the training of Amit, the website makes use of the technological modes in its attempt to be extremely handy to users: its key features are :

• Word List Feature that lets you create your own word list and add words to it
• Chat and discussion forums for mnemonics
• A word test zone where you can generate dynamic vocabulary test based on word lists
• FREE SMS word of the day
• Free email word of the day.
• Word games
Thus a new word order is in place!

Contact person: Amit Aggarwal (+91-9703425155)

The human brain follows a four step process of attention/selection, encoding, storage and retrieval, for memory. The manner of encoding determines the way the brain stores the information, and affects what and how much of the information is available for recall. This is where mnemonics enter the picture.

The same information can be encoded in various different ways-based on the sound, visual, or meaning. It is the easiest to recall information when it has been encoded using techniques and associations with the data already available and familiar to us.

There are various techniques that can aid in memory which are discussed below:

1. Acronyms: The simplest of all mnemonic techniques, acronyms are formed using the first letter of each word in a list or a group. The most common example would be the acronym used to remember all the colours of the rainbow: VIBGYOR- Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red.

2. Acrostics: Acrostics takes acronyms a step further. You use the first letter of each word in the list to make a sentence. Acrostics are simple to remember and are of a great help to remember a list in a specific order, the planets in the solar system for example. Here’s a fairly simple way to remember the planets in their order of distance from the sun:

My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

3. Rhyme: Rhymes or rhythms use the auditory memory and are often highly useful and fun way to remember words, list, and even extremely boring formulas. How many of us have forgotten the childhood rhyme to remember the number of days in each month?

“Thirty days has September, April, June and November…”

While mnemonics are believed to be first used by Greeks in as early as 477 BC, people have found many new contemporary uses to this ancient art of memory. It is not only a means to amuse and tickle your brain, but an important study tool, particularly for the contemporary competitive exams, the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), for example. Obtaining a good score in the GRE requires high levels of proficiency in English and an excellent vocabulary. Remembering the meanings of at least a quarter of the words in an average Oxford English Dictionary, is task daunting enough for any scholar to break into sweat.

Many students, particularly those who are non-native speakers of English, face a serious disadvantage because of poor vocabulary in English says Amit Aggarwal, the owner and administrator of the website Mnemonic Dictionary. Aggarwal, whose interest in mnemonics started when he was preparing for his GRE, now maintains the website to help people improve their vocabulary using mnemonic associations. “Mnemonics involves linking words and meanings with some information that is already available in our long term memory. This techniques works in amazing ways, particularly when you’re trying to cram a lot into your memory.”

Be it the top brains of the world grappling with complex problems or an average student trying to better his grade, mnemonics is a useful tool in everyone’s mental toolkit.