Memorization

[Universezero]

I have a French speaking test due on Monday where I have to memorize and recite a couple of paragraphs of French. What is the best way to remember something like that?

[lord_day]

I would start by not being on the forums!

For French oral tests I would always read and re-read the passage to myself. Then I would try reciting it from memory, and if I couldn't remember a line, I checked what it was and repeated it over and over. :x

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

I've been in a shit-ton of plays in my day (at some points, being in three simultaneously), and here's how I usually memorized my monologues:
Memorize the script in units of increasing size, starting with phrases, then moving up to sentences, small groups of sentences, paragraphs, and then whatever is larger in the context of whatever it is you're memorizing.
For example, break the first sentence into phrases and memorize those individually. When you're comfortable with all parts of that sentence, say the phrases you just memorized in one stream, and memorize that sentence. Then move on to the second, memorizing by phrases, saying the memorized chunks one after another, and memorizing the resulting sentence. Then double back to the first sentence, make sure you've still got that committed, and say it followed by the second sentence. Keep saying the two sentences one after another until you've got that pair. Move on to the third, memorizing it phrase-by-phrase, and eventually combine it with the pair of sentences you've already got. Keep going until you've reached a good breaking point, like the end of a topic or the end of the paragraph, and start afresh with the next paragraph. Once you have the second paragraph down, revisit the first one, then back to the second, back to the first, and then try saying them both one after the other. Do it enough that you think of them as one unit in and of itself, and press on to the next paragraph...
Etc.

Repetition is obviously the crucial element here. It's not a play, so this may be less applicable, but I've also found that if you take some time to understand why the speaker is talking, his mood at the time, and the particular style in the way he talks, then the words will come much more naturally than through strict memorization.
Also, if you're going to move around when you talk, move around when you memorize the speech. If you're going to be behind a podium, stand so that there's something, anything, that's even, flat, and chest-high when you memorize the speech.
Most importantly, for a foreign language, make sure that you understand what every single word means and why everything in the sentence is in the form it's in. It is tremendously more difficult to just memorize the sounds.

Other than that, it takes time and is tedious. If it's just the equivalent of a long monologue, it shouldn't take you all that long. Maybe an hour at most.

[Tanner]

I've been in a quite a few plays in my day and this is the technique that I use for a monologue.

Firstly, I read the entire thing. Over and over. Probably a dozen times. Aloud, if at all possible. It's good to read it over and over but it's infinitely better to be able to actually hear your own voice while you're doing this.

Secondly, after I've read it a bunch of times, I grab a pen and just jot down one or two keys words for each sentence and then see how much of the monologue I can do just by looking at these keywords. It's then fairly easy to wean yourself off these keywords and work on some problem areas.

If you just need to maintain all the main ideas, this may be all you need. If you need it word-for-word, Suki's technique may be better for you.

[Tunco]

There is another way of memorizing text.
Find a word -and make sure you know that exactly what it means- in a sentence that makes you remember something in the past.
You won't find it in every sentence, or not just a word, it can be the whole sentence.

I'm sure that this will work.

[Spawn of Yanni]

For something like French orals, I figure you'd be best off doing Tanner's method - you wouldn't need to know it word-for-word, would you? Identifying and remembering keywords would probably give you some room for clever improvisation, as well as help you understand and manipulate the language rather than just read off letters in your head.

There's always Tunco's method, of course.

[kkstrong]

Having also been in a few plays, for me, memorizing lines is the easier to the two battles. The second battle is remem bering the cues. What line goes in what order.

For example. think of a playlist or songs you have made, or have generated. When you listen to it a bunch of times, then mess around with the order, the "new" next song feels out of place, because you are so used to hearing the last few notes as a cue to the next song.

As for memorizing lines, something I have always done is to use acronyms, where I take the first letter of the first word of each sentence or phrase and put another word to it. I hope that makes sense...

Memorize lines, then memorize cues.

[Universezero]

Okay, I did the speech today. I used Suki's method of remembering each line/section, and then putting it all together at the end. It took me a while, but I eventually memorized each part. The hard bit was putting it together again; however, I neglected to mention I could have a cue card with 10 words on to read during the speech. This helped me remember the structure of the sentences. And, after a lot of work, I got a B+! (Merit, as it’s called in NZ)