Turning Numbers into Words

For our memory class, we are required to memorize almost a hundred number combinations using the phonetic numbers. Having been given the phonetic numbers only with no further instructions, I was at a loss. They were all consonant sounds with no vowels! 

It was tricky at first but getting phonetic numbers 101 from this site made everything so clear now. It is just like texting! You only need to fill in the vowels! Here is a table I got from the site. It even has a memory aid if you also have trouble memorizing the corresponding consonants!

Number	Consonant Sounds	Examples	Memory Aid
0	s, z, soft c	Sue, zoo, ace	zero starts with a Z
1	t, d, th	toe, aid, Theo	a t has 1 down stroke
2	n	in, yawn, Anne	an n has 2 down strokes
3	m	my, home, Amy	an m has 3 down strokes
4	r	ray, hero, ear	R is the 4th letter of four
5	l	hill, owl, Will	L is the roman numeral for 50
6	j, ch, sh, soft g	jaw, chew, ash, huge	a script j has a lower loop like a 6
7	k, q, hard c, hard g	key, cow, egg	K looks like two horizontal 7's
8	f, v, ph	hoof, Eve, phooey	a script f looks exactly like a figure 8
9	p, b	ape, bee	a P and a 9 both have a loop and a tail

Dr. Reyes called this system the Phonetic Alphabet. I got confused by this term since the phonetic alphabet i know was the one used for ham radio e.g A for Alpha, B for Bravo, C for Charlie... It is a universally used system. When I was researching on the net for this topic I used the keyword Phonetic Numbers to get a positive result. It is only then that I found out via www.memorizeeverything.com that this memorization technique is called the "major system". It was developed by Stanislaus Mink von Wennshein ( I used mnemonics to type down his lengthy foreign name).     

It is all about sounds in this system. The number that you will be translating into words does not necessarily have to start in the consonant sound. It just needs to follow the sequence so that your numbers will still be in its proper position. Do not use unnecessary consonant sounds. Since we will be memorizing A LOT of numbers, chunking and using a linking list will be a great help to easily memorize it all. Good Luck!

Number	Word(s)
75	coal, clue, cola, eagle, glue, goal, keyhole, koala, quill, ugly
29	bean, bin, bone, bun, bunny, open, pan, pawn, pen, penny, piano
63	chime, gem, jam, Jim, shame
491	robot, rowboat, warped, robbed, rabbit
75214	calendar, colander
14265	tarantula, torrential
8426840	french fries