Essays on Writing and Language in Honor - Sino-Platonic Papers

Sirlo-Platonic Papers, 27 (August 3 1, 199 1)
number of study guides, sets of flash cards, learnersr diction-
aries, workbooks, and, most recently, computer programs that
cater to their demand for ever more potent means of making Chi-
nese characters as instantly recognizable to them as the faces of
their friends and relations. Leaving aside the wisdom of ap-
proaching the task of learning how to read and write Japanese
this way, I cannot help wondering why these students pay so
little attention to the mnemonic techniques explained by Mr.
Lorayne, who regularly astounded audiences by memorizing the
faces of dozens of total strangers--together with their names,
phone numbers, occupations, addresses, and other particulars--and
recalling them all, in any order desired, with breath-taking
speed and flawless accuracy.
Harry Lorayne himself performed his feats as entertainment:
he never pretended to be anything other than what we might call a
mental strongman. Performers who specialize in what is called
"mentaly1 or "head" magic make use of the same techniques but less
openly, playing the role of a mind-reader or clairvoyant; by
injecting a theatrical element of challenge and mystery into the
proceedings, they make them more entertaining. Yet others use
the same mnemonic techniques to carry out premeditated deception
for profit.= But only a snob would pass over these methods
because of their popularity among actors and criminals. Lorayne
does not describe them with sophisticated academic jargon, but
they are far from primitive; on the contrary, they represent the
fruit of literally centuries of experimentation and practical
experience3--deceptively simple methods good enough to fool even
the shrewdest spectator when executed with appropriate misdirec-
tion and sang-froid. They are definitely worth examining in
detail, for they have much to tell us about how, and how not, to
tackle kanji.
2. The Three Techniques
Lorayne recommends three techniques, which he refers to as the
"link system, I' "peg system, and the use of "substitute words. "
Linking refers to the imaginative association of a pair of tangi-
ble objects or meaningful words that have no apparent connection
with one another. For example, suppose you need to link "carpet1'
with llpaperll--why you might want to do this will become clear
later. You imagine (literally, try to see in your llmlndls eye")
a single visual scene in which "carpetn and "papern are somehow
associated.
The associatjon must be as ridiculous as possible. For example,
you might picture the carpet in your home made out of paper. See
yourself walking on it, and actually hearing the paper crinkle
under foot. You can picture yourself writlng something on a
carpet instead of paper. Either one of these is a riddculous
picture or association. A sheet of paper lying on a carpet would
not make . a good association. It is too logical! Your mental