Theory of Deuxième Vue

The Theory of Deuxieme Vue, or second sight, is something I've been working on for a while now. I'm not sure what the general version is quite yet, but I will give some examples.

Book Suggestions

I get more books suggested to me than I could possibly read. How do I know, then, which books actually merit my time? I could only take suggestions from a few choice people whose tastes I respect most highly. However, I find that, even for people whose tastes I mainly share, the book suggestions thus obtained are still hit-or-miss.

My solution is the following: I take suggestions from anyone who I speak to. Each time a new book is suggested, I make a mental note of it, and that is all. However, the second time that a particular title is suggested to me, it goes directly on the reading list. This second exposure is called the deuxieme vue.

Failure to add to the reading list at the time of the deuxieme vue is nothing other than closemindedness. Adding to the list prior to the deuxieme vue is often a disrespect for one's time.

Names

I'm terrible with names. I can't put a face to a name if I have only met a person once. Deuxieme vue says: don't worry about it. Just make a mental note of the name, and then, when you are re-exposed to the name, in a new context, on a new day, then you can worry about remembering it.

Chinese Vocabulary

While learning Chinese, one is hit with a torrent of vocabulary. This is particularly true when one first tries to read a book. Perhaps four thousand characters and ten thousand vocabulary items must be learned, at least passively, before reading can proceed effectively without a dictionary. One strategy for learning these items would be to add every new item encountered to an SRS deck. However, this results in not only a massive bloat of due cards, but also in a low quality of recall: after just one exposure to a word in-context, the chances of recall are very low --- particularly if the word was not understood from context.

So, I have been applying the theory of deuxieme vue to learning Chinese as well. The trick is to only add a vocab item to your SRS deck after the second time you have seen it "in the wild". This second exposure gives the learner a second perspective on the vocab, which is important for understanding the sense of the word. Also, it seems to be many times easier to remember something that you have been exposed to twice, which results in much better SRS success rates.

Scientific Basis

I do not know of a neuroscientific basis for this theory, but I feel quite strongly that one should exist! I have heard of others having success with this method for learning Chinese. Has anyone heard of research that might have something to say about la signification de la deuxieme vue?

Originally published on Quasiphysics.