I think that’s still the case. They also don’t accept more obscure readings for some vocab items.
However, for instance 側 has two accepted readings, yet one could argue they don’t mean exactly the same thing:
側 pronounced かわ／がわ - side of something
側 pronounced そば - near, beside
So theoretically, こんにち for 今日 would be okay-ish, but since 今日 is such a common word, it might confuse people a lot.
For にん I use la bambina Nina and the ninjas, while for じん I’m using 臣, the public servant. Like 恩人, only a public servant is wealthy enough to be your benefactor.
日 I don’t use anything, it’s hard. When it ends in ん I tend to guess にち, as in 犯人, 何日 and 何人. Then again, 先日, 前日, 全日 and 連日 (maybe it’s got to do with -en?). If it’s got a geminate I think it’s also generally にち.
Completely seconded! I have massive trouble remembering which reading 数 takes for what, and I’ve consistently got it wrong for 人数. Definitely stealing this tactic!
I also find creating my own jin/nin pronouncation mnemonics works ^^ I use Ginny Weasley and the ninja population, so - Ginny Weasley gets hired, but also murdered… And ninja can disguise themselves as merchants or even public servants when needed. They are usually bad people.
The only trick I have that works for me is to not remember readings in isolation. These readings are part of words. Focus on memorizing the words itself.
Like say it’s 日 and you don’t know if it’s じつ or にち. If it’s an unknown word, you’ll have to guess. But if it’s a word you’re learning, don’t memorize the new word by the kanji meanings. Like take 毎日. You focus on memorizing the word まいにち that means “every day”, not the kanji “every”+“sun” and then try to guess the reading by just the kanji itself, and failing the review half of the time (if that makes sense to you).
When you encounter a new word, focus on the reading first and the kanji last. You can then use the kanji as hints for when you need to recall the reading. You see 毎日 and when you try to read it you don’t remember learning any まいじつ, so that’s obviously the wrong reading. There are exceptions of course (as for anything regarding Japanese), but I feel this is a good method to avoid the trouble of remembering which readings to use when.
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