Date: 12 Dec 2017

Subject: The Ben Code

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D/CODING

1.0 Overview

1.1 What is D/CODING?

D/CODING is a mechanism for transcribing and decoding the English language phonetically into numerical sequences.

It is definitely not a secure code. However it is a useful learning tool, most especially for children. It is likely to be found entertaining for kids with an interest in patterns, mathematics, language or just playing spies!

D/CODING is by and large an inverse and extension of the “Ben System” (a method of memory and recalling numbers instinctively).

The “D” in D/Coding is for “Digit”. But the name also hints just a touch of irony in that the encoding process is akin to decoding of Ben System syllables.

1.2 What is the Ben System?

The Ben System is a phonetic memory system used for rapidly memorising numbers (and famously decks of playing cards). It was developed and popularised by Ben Pridmore who was for a time the World Memory Champion.

The basic principle is that any three digit number can be condensed down to a short, easily remembered word. For example, 701 can be translated to KOT which is easily remembered as a rain-coat. These can be combined so that 701,991 is a KOT,BAT (like a bat wearing a rain-coat). The sillier the combinations, the more easily they are recalled.

Ben’s complete system was somewhat larger and, as mentioned, he was able to use his techniques to memorise entire decks of cards in under a minute. However, the most widely used part of the system directly links digits with phonetic sounds for the alphabet.

One of the biggest differences between the Ben System and other phonetic memory or encoding mechanisms is that each digit gets given two distinct uses – both as a vowel and as a consonant. 2 sometimes means “n” and sometimes means “u”. This means that nearly the entire English alphabet of sounds can be forced onto the digits 0-9.

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1.3 Why learn D/CODING?

The goal of “D/CODING” is to get children interested in mnemonics. With the “Ben System” as a base, “D/CODING” has been put together with the goal of making the mechanics accessible and engaging to children without it feeling like a rote-learning exercise. By dressing it up as a code, and making it useful for the entire English language (not just for remembering long numbers) it can be used as an on-going game.

Children can learn to translate words and numbers backwards and forwards innately. The goal is to have fun with it and pick it up as they go. This is much more likely to succeed than having a goal of memorising a pack of cards and learning the Ben System to get there. Children can play encoding/decoding games with parents, or with each other and slowly absorb the alpha-numeric translations.

This could well be one of the earliest ways to engage children into an avid interest in mnemonics and memory mechanics. An interest in these techniques becomes extremely valuable through the teenage years. At high-school, where rapid learning and recall is called upon frequently, it is a great advantage to have developed a natural instinct to use mnemonic ideas to assist.

1.4 Is it easy?

It’s not the easiest of codes in the world for children, but with a bit of practice it’s quite intuitive.

A couple of useful skills which develop after a small amount of practise are:

1. Using mnemonic reminders to help get started and progress quickly. (Rather than going backwards and forwards looking at translation tables).

2. Context based cognition: using the alternating pattern to switch back and forwards between reading consonants and vowels instinctively.

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2.0 How Does the Code Work?

2.1 Quick Examples

The best way to illustrate the code generally is with a couple of examples:

BEN = 972 BENT = 972.1

CRAB = 7.499 CRACKS = 7.497.0

SUBSCRIBE = 01(9074)59

2.2 General Structure

Basically every word is written in digits following the pattern:

Consonant(s) – Vowel(s) – Consonant(s) – Vowel(s) – Consonant(s)

We just stop when the word is complete.

If a word has double consonant sounds, then these should be linked together. Such as 7.4 for KR or 7.0 for KS.

Double vowel sounds are not usually necessary as they often create just one main sound… But occasionally they are needed for the pronunciation of the word, and so should be linked together also.

If a word starts with a vowel sound, then we use a decimal point place-holder at the start so we know the first digit is a vowel not a consonant.

2.3 Table of Translations

This table of translations is a helpful reference while starting. BUT, it is definitely most important that children practice the tricks for turning letters into digits wherever possible without referring back to the table.

Learning to use mnemonic reminders is one of the big benefits of D/CODING.

2.4 Consonants

b d f g h j k l m n9 1’ 8 7’  - 6 7 5 3 2

p qu r s t v w x y z

9’ 7\ 4 0 1 8’ \ 7.0 / 0’

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Why is “c” missing?

Because we just replace C with K (as in car) or S (as in place)

Why are “qu” and “x” doubles?

Because QU sounds like “KW” and X sounds like “KS”

Why are there marks on “d”, “g”, “p”, “v” and “z”?

Because they are just slightly modified versions of “t”, “k”, “b”, “f” and “z” and so use the same digit with any little mark above or beside.

Why is “h” just a dash?

Because “h” ‘ardly makes any sound at all… so we just use a little dash

2.5 Blends and Digraphs

Double or triple consonants usually need to be grouped together. A decimal point is used as the connector where possible. A colon is used where the consonant is modified AND connected. Parentheses are typically used where more than 2 sounds are blended.

bl br ch ck cl cr dr fl fr gh9.5 9.4 6. 7 7.5 7.4 1:4 8.5 8.4 8

gl gr ng nk ph pl pr qu sc sh7:5 7:4 2.7’ 2.7 8 9:5 9:4 7\ 0.7 0-

sl sm sn sp st sw th tr tw vl0.5 0.3 0.2 0.9’ 01 0\ 1- 1.4 1\ 8:5

vr wh wr sch scr shr sph spl spr squ8:4 \ 4 0.7 (074

)(0-4) 0.8 (09’

5)(09’4) 0.7\

str thr(014)

(1-4)

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2.6 Vowels

uh uu ee or ai i e ay a oh1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

won too three four five six

seven

eight bat zero

u o oy ow ar er eer uhr oo air1 0 0/ 0\ 9.4 7.4 3.4 1.4 0.0 7’

put hot toys cow cart herd

meerka

tbaker pool

there

3.0 What are the tricks for remembering the translation?

Wherever possible, visual and aural cues are used to map between digits and letters. So generally each digit LOOKS or SOUNDS a bit like the letter it matches to.

3.1 Consonants (main 10)

1 t looks like a “t”

2 n looks like an “n” on its side

3 m looks like an “m” on its side

4 r fouR sounds like “R” also looks like a pirate sailboat (aRRRR)

5 L looks like your “Left Hand” – 5 fingers.

6 j looks like a “G” BUT ONLY THE SOFT “G”. So we write “j” instead

7 k looks kind of like a backwards “k” (well the angled bit at least)

8 f looks like an “f” in cursive script: f9 b looks like an upside down “b”. ALSO looks like a “b”alloon.

0 s SERO starts with “S” (obviously it’s really Zero… but it works anyway)

3.2 Consonants (the other 3)

\ W starting writing a W

/ y looks like the long edge of a y

- h -ardly makes a sound… so just a little dash

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3.3 Vowel Sounds (main 10)

Josh Cohen (http://www.artofmemory.com ) used a great technique for vowel allocation. Typically each digit represents the vowel sound present in the name of the digit as per the list below:

1 “UH” as in ONE (won)

2 “UU” as in TWO

3 “EE” as in THREE

4 “OR” as in FOUR

5 “AI” as in FIVE

6 “I” as in SIX

7 “e” as in SEVEN

8 “AY” as in EIGHT

9 “a” as BAT - if you cut the tail off, it looks like an “ ”

0 “OH” as in ZERO - looks like an “O”

3.4 Modified and Blended Vowel Sounds

Common

1 “U” as in PUT - modified 1 (“UH”)

0 “o” as in HOT - modified 0 (“OH”)

0/ “OY” as in TOY - blended O and Y

0\ “OW” as in COW - blended O and W

9.4 “AR” as in FAR - blended a and R

7.4 “ER” as in HERD - blended e and R

Uncommon (these subtle phonetic variations could often be ignored)

3.4 “EER” as in MEERKAT - blended EE and R

1.4 “UHR” as in BAKER - dullened blend of E and R (schwa + R)

0.0 “OO” as in POOL - doubled up version of the modified 1 (“U”)

7’ “AIR” as in AIR/THERE- modified 7 (“e”) just a more open extended sound.

If OW, OR and ER appear at the end of words, then connecting marks are optional.

Examples: 874 is FER 87.44 is FERR

70\ is KOW 70\\ is KOWW

7.504 is CLOR 7.50.44 is CLORR

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For this reason, there is also no need to double up the closing consonant sound.

However, connecting marks for vowels are vital where used mid-word

Examples: 8741 is HERUH BUT 87.41 is HERT

10\2 is TOWUU BUT 10\2 is TOWN

0041 is SORUH BUT 19.41 is SORT

3.5 Modifiers

Several of the consonants and vowel sounds are created using a digit with a little modifier mark. The modifier marks are used for two reasons:

3. There are only 10 digits available, so we need to reuse some within the code

4. By using a single digit to mean several similar sounds, it is easier to intuitively recall.

These phonetic sounds use the modifier:

Consonants

0 s 0’ z

1 t 1’ d

7 k 7’ g

8 f 8’ v

9 b 9’ p

Vowels

1 u (as in up) 1’ u (as in put)

0 o (as in rope) 0’ o (as in hop)

7 e (as in den) 7’ air (as in hare)

3.6 The letter “h”

In phonetic memory systems, “h” is often excluded as it makes nearly no sound.

HOT sounds a lot like OT

HORSE sounds a lot like ORSE

However, in English, we do need a letter “h” for some specific reasons, but because it’s a minor sound a simple dash - is used in D/CODING.

This dash is also useful for the blends which use “h” below.

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3.7 The blends: Sh, Th, Ch & Zh

As mentioned above, “h” is used in English to create several blended sounds. So we can also simply use the dash to change the sound of S, J, T and Z

Sh (as in sheep) 0-

Ch (as in chips) 6-

Th (as in thin) 1-

Zh (as in vision) 0’- (Zh needs the modifier mark for 0 also, luckily it’s rare)

Note, Th (as in thin) and Th (as in them) are similar enough that they are both treated the same way – just as they are in their English spellings.

3.8 The letters “w” and “y”

Just like “h”, the two letters “w” and “y” are often excluded from phonetic memory systems as the sound is not strong.

However, D/CODING does need these sounds, so simple “back slash” and “forward slash” are used.

W \ \ looks like the start of a W

Y / / looks like the long edge of a Y

There are several blends that use W

Sw 0\

Tw 1\

Qu 7\ (Qu is pronounced like Kw)

3.9 The Coding Rules

1. Every word starts with a consonant digit. (if there is none, start with a decimal point placeholder)

2. All words follow the sound pattern Consonant, Vowel, Consonant, Vowel, Consonant, Vowel, Consonant… etc

3. If two consonants are consecutive then a connector mark must be used for the pair of digits. (There are also a small handful of triple consonants or more)

4. If two vowel sounds are consecutive (dipthongs) then a connector mark must be used for the pair of digits. There are a few of these.

3.10 Connectors

Often, two or three consonants are strung together and must be connected so there is not confusion about which digits are consonants and which are vowels.

In addition, there are a just a few cases where vowels strung together need connectors

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The table of translations shows all these connected sequences as an underline.

However, any reasonable connecting mark may be used to guide the reader’s eye. Using a variety of connectors does actually help the code look more interesting on a page.

Typical connecting marks might include underlines, overlines, parenthesis, brackets, or sketching a ring around a pair of digits.

3.11 Running Words Together

In some cases short words cay in fact be connected with decimal point placeholders for missing vowels or consonants

there is a cat 1-74609791

This is especially useful where words begin with vowels and simply run on from the previous word.

4.0 An Example!!

Terry didn't consider himself particularly unusual. Sure, he spent his teenage years as a willing and sometimes absurdly cheerful social outcast, upon adulthood immediately transitioned to playing side-kick to a magic-savvy private investigator, accidentally became the confidant of an apparently ageless time-traveller, and just recently declared war on a corporation widely recognized as one of the top ten charitable organizations in the world, but he figured most people had a few weird phases in their lives.

1743 1’61’62.1 70’2061’74 -63.075.8 9’9.4167259.453 .1220-295. 0-44 -30.9’72.1-60 13286 /74.0909 \656292.1’ 013.1530 .99.07(41’5)3 6.74.81’5 000-65 .[0\]1.790.1, .19’0’2 .91’0’5.1.-1’1’ .6331’3.81.53 1.492.060-62.1 129:58/62 051:767 129 39667-098’3

9:458’61 .62.8’70.167’8104, .97.061’7(215)3 93783 1.170’2861’0’2.1 .0’892 .99’947(215)3 .86.570 153.(14)98’7574, .921’ 610.1 4307(215)3 1’37.574.1’ \040’29 704.9’0480-62 \51:53 47707:250.190 \1208 1.110’9’ 172 6-94616965 .04.7’9250’80-62.0 .62 1.1\7(451’), 911 -3867’74.1’ 300.1 9’39’65 -91’9 8\2 \74.1’880’7062 1-74 558:0

5.0 Available Simplifications and Contractions

Always bear in mind that D/CODING is entirely phonetic. There are many opportunities to take shortcuts provided the reader is going to be able to make sense of the transcription.

Possibilities include:

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Running short words together: .9974 (a bear) 1.1550’2 (the lion)

Drop some modification marks: 613.962 (jumbin / jumping)

Drop some vowels from the start of words: 1.560 (tlis / atlas)

Drop vowels from short words and link the whole word together: (0743) scream (722) cannon

The key to deciding whether to use any contraction is whether the reader will understand easily what you’ve written.

6.0 Any Further Conversation or Contributions

This draft document serves more or less as a user-manual for D/CODING transcriptions. However, by no means do I presume this to be a fully refined prescription.

My early experiences with introducing D/CODING to children have been positive but anecdotal.

I’m keen to open further conversation or contributions to the idea and so will upload to Josh Cohen’s forum on www.artofmemory.com

Alternatively any feedback by email is welcomed on dalejay09@gmail.com

Thanks very much for your interest!

Dale Oliver

12 January 2018

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