Here are two tricks to remember the days of the week

Back when I was taking high school German, our teacher would have us start each class by reciting the conjugations of sein, haben and werden in order.

Ich bin, du bist, er ist, sie ist, man ist
(take a breath)
Wir sind, ihr seid, Sie sind
(repeat)

I can't knock it, because it worked! However, when learning a new language outside of a grade school environment with other teenagers, there are more effective tactics you can use to memorize stuff.

Memorization gets easier when you can connect new concepts to existing knowledge. These associations create mental 'hooks' that help anchor and retrieve the information more effectively.

I'll share two ways you can remember the days of the week in Italian.

Semantic encoding: Understand the meaning of the days, so it makes more sense

As a native English speaker and a secondary German speaker, most of the days of the week don't really connect with what I already know, so I have found it challenging to memorize.

One way to develop a deeper connection is to understand the etymology of the days:

• Lunedì - Monday
  • From "Luna," meaning "Moon." This is already really close to the English Monday or the German Montag.
• Martedì - Tuesday
  • From Mars, the Roman god of war. This one is close to the French mardi, as in Mardi Gras.
• Mercoledì - Wednesday
  • From Mercury, the Roman messenger god.
• Giovedì - Thursday
  • This day stems from Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods. The Norse equivalent of Jupiter in the iterpretatio romana is Thor, which sounds a whole lot like Thursday.
• Venerdì - Friday
  • From Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Who doesn't love Friday?
• Sabato - Saturday
  • This has roots in the Latin word “sabbatum,” which comes from the Hebrew word “shabbat,” signifying the sabbath or the “seventh” day (the first day of the week being being Sunday).
• Domenica - Sunday
  • From the Latin Dominus, meaning "Lord." Makes sense, as it's the day for church.

Mnemonics: Link it to something that's already memorable to you, even if there is no logical link

Mnemonics are just fun. These are memory techniques to help remember information more easily by associating it with concepts, patterns or visual imagery you already know.

Common mnemonic methods include:

• Acronyms, where a word is formed from the first letters of a list (e.g., "HOMES" for the Great Lakes)
• Acrostics, which create a memorable sentence from the first letters of items to be remembered (e.g., "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" for the lines of the treble clef)
• Visualization, involving vivid mental images.
• Rhymes and songs
• Method of loci, which is associating information with specific locations in a familiar place.

Here's an acrostic to help you remember the days of the week in order, if you're familiar with Luigi in the Super Mario franchise:

• Luigi
• Makes
• Me
• Giggle,
• Very
• Silly
• Dude

For:

• Lunedì (Monday)
• Martedì (Tuesday)
• Mercoledì (Wednesday)
• Giovedì (Thursday)
• Venerdì (Friday)
• Sabato (Saturday)
• Domenica (Sunday)

Joke of the day

La maestra interroga Mario:
“Mario, dimmi due pronomi!”.
“Chi? Io?”.
“Bravissimo Mario! Ora sentiamo un altro”.