To the point about some languages being harder to memorize than others, I definitely agree. The languages I find hardest to memorize are those that I don't speak at all - e.g., Russian, German - while the easiest to memorize are those I do speak, even if only to a limited extent - e.g., English, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin. I think this is because in the languages I don't speak, part of my memory is always in "remember the meaning of the word" mode - because memorization involves not just memorizing the foreign words themselves, but also their meanings in English. By contrast, with the other languages, I already know the meanings of most of the words (if not all) so I don't have to "use up" part of my memory trying to remember what the words mean, and can devote all of it to simply remembering the words themselves.
I have found that with the "non-fluent" languages, it helps to internalize the meaning of the text as early as possible, while repeating the foreign words either with the notes, or just spoken on the rhythms. But I also accept that it's a simple fact of life that it will take me 2-3 times longer to memorize a piece in German or Russian than it would were the piece in French, Spanish, or English (Italian and Latin are somewhere in between, because I don't really speak them, but I "get" them by extension because of being fluent in French, Spanish, and the Latin Mass).
KM ............................ NEIL SHICOFF, TENORE SUPREMO http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Own Website http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + I sing hymns with my spirit, + + but I also sing hymns with my mind. + + - 1 Corinthians 14:15 + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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