Ahh, a picture is worth a thousand words. Why staring at plain text when you can please your eyes with memorable images. Here are some tips on how to replace the existing images and to create new images for your lessons. Although the following examples are based on the Italian language, the underlined logic applies to all other languages.
Image Tip 1 - Sound and Look Like
Here is an image to match the Italian number 2 - due. Instead of the old fashion showing you 2 apples (haha), you see two people dueling. So, next time you learn a new Italian word or phrase, the ideal is to pick an image that not only looks like the word/phrase, but also sounds like the word/phrase. Choose the best mnemonic image for you.
Image Tip 2 - Etymology
How do you express the Italian number 5 - Cinque? Tough, isn't it? Well, you can just memorize it, which is quite easy after you watch your personal teacher saying it, or you can do a little more research. Here, to kill 3 birds with one stone (not literally, please), you will find that Cinque has its Latin root and similarity to the French 5. So, you learn Italian, French and Latin. Now, it will be difficult for you "not" to remember the Italian 5.
Image Tip 3 - Object
The most common image usage will be simply showing the object itself. Here we took a picture of our Japanese teacher Asami while she is holding a bottle of water (hence, bottiglia d'acqua in Italian). Her image will make the picture more interesting, yet the blur background will not overtake the object itself. So, for those of you artistic photographers, this is the tip. =)
Image Tip 4 - Culture and Etymology
Do you know that Italian, Spanish, and French say the days of the week in a very similar fashion? Even many Italians don't know the etymology of these words (because they take it for granted). You can memorize permanently Monday through Sunday in 2 minutes if you know that they correspond in this fashion: 1) Monday = Moon, 2) Tuesday = Mars, 3) Wednesday = Mercury, 4) Thursday = Jupiter, 5) Friday = Venus, 6) Saturday = Sabbath, or the day of worship, and 7) Sunday = Domenica (the day of dominance). Fascinating, isn't it? Don't you like the culture now?
Image Tip 5 - Everyday Life
From inside the application, you can take pictures of everyday life. Say you are at a buffet salad bar, you can take dozens of close up images in a few minutes. We took this at a local restaurant, and enter the English and Italian translation.
Image Tip 6 - Relax and Have Fun
Well, last but not least, enjoy the application. Go to a beach and relax. At a spur of the moment, you will scream in excitement, "Spiaggia!"
Now bundle your image with sound and motion and create an unforgettable learning experience.