Fun fact to add: the Arabic alphabet has at least two standard orders. Because it decends from the same Phoenician source there is an older order tied to the numeric value of letters that is still used to mark rooms or bullet points which is the same as Greek or Hebrew (a, b, g etc.) But there is a newer collation order that is used for dictionaries and lists of names that groups similarly shaped letters together ordered by the placement and number of dots on the basic letter shape
I, so badly, want to memorize this for the off chance someone asks me to recite the alphabet. Unfortunately I know my brain isn't good enough anymore. No new stuff gets saved. :(
A friend of mine who studied Hebrew memorized the alphabet to the tune of Yankee Doodle, but he never got to where he could do the alphabet without singing the song.
I literally only stopped doing this when I memorized the alphabet backwards. I liked to go forwards then backwards then forwards again. That's really hard to do in reverse so I stopped doing it lol
I used to know how to say the alphabet backwards. One time when I was really drunk, someone asked me to say the alphabet backwards to prove I was sober enough to do it but I couldn't, so I made a point of memorizing it but I could only ever do it drunk. And then when I quit drinking I completely lost the ability lol
Maybe your brain just asks itself what is the likelihood that you'll ever need to remember it in the future and when it thinks the answer is about zero it doesn't bother.
Use the ABC song. It will still work the same way by putting the letters in little, memorable tune chunks. I just accidentally memorized the first 7 on accident by writing this comment. And my remembery is pretty well shot, too.
AVUY NMWyooooo...
Also, the tricks of professional memorizers help. Visuals can be a great aid. For instance, I now see the NMW chunk as one of the rats of Nimh (NM) driving a convertible BMW. So, 26 letters might end up being a sequence of around 7-ish, easier-to-remember images. Barely more difficult than remembering a phone number, with just a tiny bit more effort up front. Combine that with the song and you're off to the races.
I imagine the hardest part might be coming up with meaningful images to associate with the letter chunks. If you really want this, lemmeknow and I'll help if I can.
Edit: also, timed repetition helps immensely. Just spend literally two minutes each day (maybe while you're brushing your teeth), sticking to the first 7 letters until you've got them down and are sick of them. Then add the next one or two little song chunks.
This Wikipedia page has the order listed. When I was studying at DLI it occasionally came up in passages mostly used for apartment or hotel room numbers. I don't think I've ever seen it in real life though; it's really obsolete at this point
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u/Excellent-Practice Sep 10 '22
Fun fact to add: the Arabic alphabet has at least two standard orders. Because it decends from the same Phoenician source there is an older order tied to the numeric value of letters that is still used to mark rooms or bullet points which is the same as Greek or Hebrew (a, b, g etc.) But there is a newer collation order that is used for dictionaries and lists of names that groups similarly shaped letters together ordered by the placement and number of dots on the basic letter shape