I had success in spelling bees via whole-word visualization. Once I had thrown up the mental picture, I just read off the letters, which almost seemed like cheating. Learning new words was a pain, though... basically drill-and-kill. Luckily I was an avid reader, so I already had an extensive collection of word visuals to begin with.
I still hear words from time to time and find out I'd been pronouncing them wrong in my head for eons. The most recent entry was "pedagogy."
If I meet you, you tell me your name, and it's a common one, I still have to work to remember it. If it's unusual, then the thing you just said to me is a jumble of unconnected noises. Even if I can reassemble them into something that makes the same sounds, I still can't associate that with you, because I'm not sure how badly I've constructed it. If you're wearing a nametag, then no worries. I had a neighbor with an unusual name that I couldn't hold in my head for more than a few seconds, until finally a piece of her mail was left in my mailbox by mistake.
Yes, I'm similar. Particularly with names and mispronunciations. I also have a difficult time with unusual names, I must see it before it sinks in and I couldn't believe the correct pronunciation of facile when I first heard it. I still want to pronounce it the wrong way.
