>Well, here we disagree slightly. There does seem to be something physical going on.
We actually agree completely, but I need to clarify.
I know nothing about this subject, hence my inquiry; but I am not guesstimating that nothing physical is going on. Firstly, because in my opinion there is nothing else. It's all physical. But also because I started by asking about differences in brain dynamics. Does a different part of the brain or a different neuronal dynamic govern second language acquisition? That is my question. I just know from experience that adults can learn to speak foreign languages very well (though not quite as well as natives) and that therefore there is no total physical "block" in the average adult brain. I thought that was what you were saying, but clearly I was mistaken.
In sum, there clearly is something physical going on up there that makes it very difficult for an adult to learn a foreign language, but whatever it is can be overcome through hard work.
> But it seems to me that using mnemonics is just rote learning done better.
Sure, I guess. But one works and the other doesn't, so the distinction is important.
From what I've read, there is no solid theory on all of this, but apparently it has to do with the number of neuronal pathways. If you rote learn that "kahl" is Korean for "knife" (you sit down and say "kahl, knife" fifty times or whatever) that's one pathway. If you use a mnemonic to associate "kahl" with "kill" and "kill" with "knife", then you have three. You can add as many as you like. The more pathways you create, the higher the odds that you'll be able to retrieve (find your way back to) the memory on cue. This is the simple substitute word system, but there are dozens of mnemonic methods and they can all be superimposed on a single memory task to create a bigger web of associations.