Lessons from learning foreign languages

Hadrien
September 2018

Polygot Myths

  • “Polygots are naturally gifted”
  • “Polygots have incredible memories”
  • “Polygots have more free time than normal people”

Polygot Truths

  • “Polygots have discovered specific hacks for learning and memorizing languages which you can also use”
Sir John Bowring claimed to know 200 languages and to be able to speak 100

Working memory vs. long term memory

  • working memory: limited space
  • long term memory: a quadrillion connections (15,000,000,000,000,000)

The purpose of forgetting

egg

# loading data into short-term memory
# morning breakfast... yesterday's breakfast.... mom's pet chicken...
# ...
# cannot allocate vector of size 3.1 gb

Remember the useful

Memory: it's normal to forget

  • Choose what you want to remember
  • Apply memory techniques to remember that information

Your brain knows what's important

“du sens et de l'éclat” - Sebastien Martinez, France memory champion since 2015

  • Does it have meaning?
  • Is it memorable?
  • How often does it need to be retrieved?

The Forgetting Curve

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\[ R=e^{- \frac{t}{S}} \]

\( R \) is retrievability, a measure of how easy it is to retrieve a piece of information from memory. \( \ S \) is stability of memory, which determines how fast \( R \) falls over time in absence of training, testing, or other recall. \( \ t \) represents time.

The Forgetting Curve: reticulate

  • reticulate is an R interface to python
  • use reticulate to call Python from R in a variety of ways including R Markdown, sourcing Python scripts, importing Python modules, and using Python interactively within an R session.
  • Python objects can be accessed from R by calling the variable py$object_name
  • R objects can be accessed from Python by calling the variable r.object_name

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Recall vs. Review

Would you rather study a list of foreign words (or R functions) for 10 minutes or study the list for 5 minutes and trade it for a blank sheet of paper and pencil (or keyboard)?

Waiting until the last minute is a good way to practice

  • “There is a complex balance between the advantages of nearly forgetting and the disadvantages of actually forgetting” -Gabriel Wyner

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Strategies for taking advantage of the spacing effect

  • Rule of thumb: recall twice on day 1, once on day 2, once the week after
  • Use technology to help you: Spaced Repetion System software, such as Anki
  • Increase the stickyness factor \( S \)

Practice recalling now

  • What is the reticulate package?
  • How would you access a Python object, x, created in a Python chunk, from R with the reticulate package?
  • How would you access a R object, x, created in a R chunk, from Python with the reticulate package?

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Strategies for taking advantage of the spacing effect: use SRS software

  • Rule of thumb: recall twice on day 1, once on day 2, once the week after
  • Use technology to help you: Spaced Repetion System software, such as Anki
  • Increase the stickyness factor \( S \): write code you wish to remember rather than copy, increase your understanding.

Strategies for taking advantage of the spacing effect: improve S

  • Don't copy and paste, write instead
  • Don't review, recall
  • Increase meaning

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Word frequency lists

  • be strategic about which concepts you commit to long term memory
  • 80/20 rule: focus on information and concepts which will have the biggest impact
  • 1000 words –> 75% comprehension

reticulate package

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Summary

  • Employing specific memory and learning techniques can supercharge your memory.
  • Understand the forgetting curve and adapt your learning strategies to use it to your advantage. Recall over review, practice just before you forget, activate your senses.
  • Focus on internalizing information and concepts which will be most useful to you.

Works Cited