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wish him well because he’s such a lajar！
“Horse” in Russian； transliterated into English script； is lo…shod； pronounced almost
exactly like LAW…shod。 You try to bring your own horse with you into the Soviet Union；
but at the border the Soviet customs officer tells you Sorry； he’d like to accommodate
you； but your horse doesn’t have horseshoes and； according to Soviet law； all horses must
be shod。
“Horse” equals LAW…shod。
The Greek word for “grape” in English transliteration is stafilya； pronounced sta…
FEEL…ya。
You’re in a Greek vineyard in the mountains near Albania。 You see the most
luscious grape you’ve ever laid eyes on。 As you reach for it； the air is split with a squeaky
voice screaming “Don’t touch me！”
“I’m sorry；” you sputter； retreating in shock and shame。 “I wasn’t going to eat you。
It was just to FEEL you （jus’ sta…FEEL…ya）。”
Grape equals sta…FEEL…ya。
The Serbo…Croatian word for “lunch” is ru。。ak； pronounced almost exactly like RUE…
chuck。 You’re having lunch in a restaurant in Yugoslavia。 The waiter overhears you
making a political remark he doesn’t appreciate； so he throws you out bodily。 Never one
to go quietly； you pick yourself up out of the gutter； dust yourself off； and； just before
you head for the American Embassy to protest； you shake your first at the waiter through
the window and vow he’ll rue the day he chucked you out while you were having lunch。
“Lunch” equals RUE…chuck。
“Plate” in Indonesian is piring； pronounced exactly like the English “peering”
（PEER…ing）。
Your Indonesian restaurant experience is a bit more pleasant than the one in
Yugoslavia。 You walk in and find yourself suddenly becalmed by the serenity of the
dining room。 All the Indonesians seem to have their heads bowed in prayer。 You ask the
headwaiter if you’ve interrupted some sort of religious service。
“Not at all；” he assures you。 “They’re not praying。 We just got our new plates with
mirrored surfaces and they’re all peering at themselves to see how they look！”
“Plate” equals PEER…ing。
The Farsi word for “cheaper” transliterated into English is arzontar； pronounced
our…zone…TAR。
The hotel in Tehran is filled； but the clerk tells you it’s a warm night and he’d be
happy to rent you sleeping space on the roof。 You’re delighted to learn you’re paying
only half what the other roof sleepers are paying； until you get to your designated spot on
the roof； at which point you exclaim to your spouse； “Now I see why our spot is cheaper。
All the other tourists are sleeping on those nice ceramic tiles。 Our zone； the spot assigned
to us； however； is tar！”
“Cheaper” equals our…zone…TAR。
“Potato” in German is kartoffel； pronounced exactly like cart…AW…ful。
You buy potatoes from a cart and they turn out to be awful。 “Potato” equals cart…
AW…ful。
Stop right here！ Do you remember the Spanish word for “old？” Or the French word
for “anger；” the Italian word for “wife；” the Serbo…Croatian word for “lunch；” or the
Indonesian word for “movie screen？”
When we display this system of word capturing at seminars for the Learning
Annex； there’s a collective gasp when； after spelling out an association to capture the
tenth word； we suddenly stop and ask how many can recall word number one； four； and
so on。 At no point did we suggest that the students try to recall the words used as
examples as we laid out the system。 When they see that almost everybody recalls every
single one of them anyhow； the students realise this system contrasts well with the kind
of rote learning they’d tried earlier。 One grateful participant exclaimed； “This system
teaches you words you’re not even trying to learn。 The old way doesn’t teach you no
matter how hard you try！”
The Almosters
The skeptic has one shot left before he’s wiped out by the power of the method。 He can；
at this point； say； “Hold it！ Every word you’ve used to demonstrate the system so far falls
much too neatly into our lap – liar； mole…yay。 It’s a setup。 It’s not real。 Very few words
will cooperate with the system once you tackle the real world！”
And he’s right！ The words we’ve been subjecting to the memory system so far are
automatics。 They fall right into your lap with self suggesting images。 Only a small
percentage of words will fall into the system as facilely as the automatics。 More； many
more than you imagine； will fit automatically into the system； but far from enough to
conquer another language。 Never mind！ Behind the words that fit neatly into the system
are many times that number of words that； while fitting nowhere nearly as neatly； can
nonetheless take you so close to the target word that true memory can easily complete the
job。 We call those words almosters。 Of our four groups – automatics； almosters；
toughies； and impossibles – the almosters make up by far the single biggest category。
Let’s demonstrate。
The Chinese word for “lobster” is transliterated as low…shah； pronounced very
much like LOAN…shark。 If you imagine that lobster is so expensive you need a loan shark
to negotiate a lobster lunch； true memory will easily putt you from loan…shark to low…
shah。
Shrimp in Indonesian is gambiri； pronounced gam to rhyme with “Tom” followed
by “beery” （gam…BI…ri）。 You complain to your waiter in Indonesia that the chewing gum
he served you tastes awfully beery。 He advises you it’s not chewing gum； it’s shrimp。
Your putt will take you from GUM…beery to GAM…beery。
The Serbo…Croatian word for “spoon” is kasika； pronounced KASH （to rhyme with
“gosh”）…ee…kah。
You want to get a spoon in Belgrade。 They send you outside the hotel to a cash…
and…carry to get a spoon if you want one。
Or if you’re familiar with the Eastern grain called kasha （buckwheat groats）； you
can imagine dipping you spoon into a bowl of kasha in the back seat of your car。 True
memory will carry you from kasha…car to KASH…ee…ka。
“Spoon；” then； equals KASH…ee…ka。
The Italian word for “day” is giorno； pronounced JUR （as in “jury”）…no。 You’re
eagerly awaiting the outcome of a legal action； but the jury has been tied up all day with
no verdict。 Even stronger would be the notion of eagerly awaiting the outcome of the trial
and learning that the whole day went by without the jury even showing up！ All day and
jury no。
“Day” equals JUR…no。
“Humid” in Farsi is martoob； pronounced mar （as in “marshal”）…TOOB （as in
“tube”）。 It’s so dry in Central Iran that in order to provide comfortable humidity in your
room； the maritime authorities arranged to bring water in through a tube。
True memory will easily let you lop off all but the first syllable of “maritime” and
change the vowel from the a as in “maritime” to a as in “marshal” so that humidity equals
mar…TOOB。
“Banana” in Indonesian is pisang； pronounced PEA…song； the second syllable
rhyming with the cong in “conga”。 You’d long h