Another good resource is The Memory Book[0]. It covers a few different systems that cover different scenarios, such as lists, like in the article, names and numbers. It uses techniques like the article, but also expands on them in interesting ways. If you put the practice time in, it does work!

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Book-Classic-Improving-School/...

Also would recommend books by Harry Lorayne (The Memory Book is the most well known). I've not yet read Moonwalking with Einstein to see how it compares, but it likely has the same techniques (loci/memory palace, different mnemonics, peg lists, etc).

https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Book-Classic-Improving-School/...

Personally, though, beyond using mnemonics for numbers, I never did master the techniques. I think it's a lot easier if you start at around age 10. By the time you're in your 20's you have a lot of habits around memorizing that you have to unlearn.

I have never tried to memorize a deck of cards, but I did spend some time improving my memory a few years ago using "The Memory Book" (http://www.amazon.com/The-Memory-Book-Classic-Improving/dp/0...).

I don't know if it made much difference in my scratch memory (i.e. remembering random things that occurred, or facts that I've seen), but it made a significant difference in things I chose to remember. There's an effort required to file away facts, but once you've gotten that system down it's quite useful. I use it for remembering things like flight confirmation numbers or license plates.

There was a different memory book suggested in the MeFi thread, but I really got a lot out of "The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play" http://www.amazon.com/The-Memory-Book-Classic-Improving/dp/0...

These techniques seem to be getting a lot of attention lately, but they've been written about extensively for a long time now. You don't hear much of these older books, but they're well worth looking at if you're interested in this topic:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Memory-Book-Classic-Improving/dp/0...

http://www.amazon.com/Use-Your-Perfect-Memory-Techniques/dp/...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Memory-Book-Remember-Anything/dp/1...

There are many others as well.

I was the same way. Foreign language was extremely difficult. Then I realized that memorization itself is a process that can be learned, improved, and mastered.

Once I began studying and learning the process of effective memorization, then foreign language became fun. It was a way to prove to myself that memorization techniques worked.

Granted, learning a language is more than just memorization of vocabulary. But elimination of that huge hurdle makes the rest more interesting and tractable.

I was tipped off to this by the best seller "The Memory Book" (which I highly recommend), but now there are plenty of web resources that may be as effective.

Here are some relevant links: http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Book-Classic-Improving-School/d... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorization (and click on all the links on this page)