I’ve noticed that I recently, as of ca. Level 28, stopped getting all the kanji’s mnemonics into my head (to be fair, some are getting weird and hard to remember), and instead “just drill” some of the kanji.
I’m worried that this is a bad idea and will come back to bite me at a later time. Did this happen to anyone else, or am I good to go on like this?
I’d say this is normal. I only glance at the mnemonics during the lesson, and only focus on them if I’m having a hard time remembering a kanji.
that’s the intention of them from start. as you learn them more and more and have experience you rely far less on them. especially if you start regularly reading.
That’s normal and a good thing. Mnemonics are training wheels, they’re a great way to start but eventually they’ll hold you back. When you’ll become fluent in Japanese you won’t be summoning hundreds of mnemonics per minute while you’re reading something! You’ll just know.
Yes, for any single kanji I expect to first rely on mnemonics, and after a while, I wouldn’t need them anymore.
But what happens now is that for a new kanji, I sometimes disregard the mnemonics from the beginning. I wonder if, by the time they reach the Enlightened stage, I will forget all of those kanji and have to basically start them again, with the mnemonic (until I don’t need the mnemonic anymore).
I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. Just do what feels the most comfortable and see how it goes.
Nah, that seems fine. If you’re reading outside of WK you should be fine to remember stuff.
yeah past 30s; i got to where i’d only skim mnemonics and only really dig into them if i had trouble remembering the readings (usually kanji that i just don’t seem to be seeing often)
From my experience and perspective- our brains can only take in so much information (at least at once), and this platform has 2000+ Kanji and ~7000 Vocab words. Should I dedicate that brainpower to a vague, often silly and nonsensical mnemonic? Or should I just spend that effort building a (maybe a little more repetitive) familiarity with the actual content until it naturally sticks with me?
If the mnemonics work for people- that’s great! But for me, their utility fizzled out pretty quickly. I don’t think it’s an uncommon occurrence nor one that should be worrying unless you are feeling tangible negative effects from it. And in that case, I think it could still be argued that just slowing down a little or adding in some external practice is just as, if not more, effective than recommitting to mnemonics.
As long as you feel comfortable without them, no fault in not trying to juggle it on top of everything else.
I never really used the mnemonics outside of just trying to see how they made the strange radical names. I’ve found that using the “found in vocabulary” helps me the most to understand the meaning of the kanji. The only time I actually listen to the mnemonics is for understanding the readings. I recently got the kanji https://www.wanikani.com/kanji/挿 “insert” and the mnemonic is helpful for me.
You insert one finger, it burns up immediately, and its soul (そう) comes flying out screaming for a moment before it disappears. Hmm. You insert another finger and as it burns up, another little soul comes out screeching, “WHY WOULD YOU INSERT ME IN THERE!” and is gone.
If you’re progressing fine enough through the levels, then don’t worry about trying to remember the specific mnemonics. The idea is that by enlightened/burned you shouldn’t need to remember the mnemonic to get it right. If you don’t ever need the mnemonic at all, then you’re already a step ahead!
I wouldn’t really say it’s a “bad” idea. It sounds to me like you are starting to use rote memorization, which is just another way or style of memorizing things. I did this for the entire WaniKani program and I feel just fine. And as far as I know, that’s essentially what Japanese students do to learn the Kanji in school.
I’m not even doing mnemonics in the low levels. It’s not that helpful for me personally. Sometimes it can be entertaining or helpful but honestly that’s very rare…
Sometimes they are so funny that I remember them.
But I tend to forget the mnemonics simply because there are too many.
I totally forget most of the radicals.
On my second go around, I’ve noticed I’m actually more focused on the mnemonics this time. Of course, if I immediately recognize the kanji meaning and reading, it’s not the necessary, but knowing which kanji I struggle with really helps with figuring out what to focus on.
However, I also notice myself focusing more and more on the mnemonics of kanji I clearly know lately, and have noticed a much better recall. Even if you feel like you don’t need it, it might be more beneficial than you realize.
The usage of mnemonics is but a tool to help strengthening the connections between different facts and concepts. Maybe instead of using the mnemonics that are weird and hard to remember, make your own connections that will help you remember the reading and meanings of kanji and vocab. Perhaps that’s what you’re already doing when you say you’re “just drilling” the kanji?
The idea that learning kanji makes you better at learning kanji is (as far as I can tell) central to WaniKani’s philosophy. For example, this is from the level 24 congratulatory email:
What do you think your kanji learning is all about? Quality? Quantity? I’d say quantity is the deciding factor. The more kanji you can read, the easier it is to learn more kanji until it becomes almost automatic. That’s right, you can actually get better at learning kanji more quickly with practice.
I feel like skipping the mnemonics as you get more and more kanji under your belt is a manifestation of your improved skill in learning kanji. Maybe mnemonics are most helpful when you’re “learning how to learn” the kanji and less helpful once you’ve figured out your brain’s process for picking this stuff up.
I don’t use mnemonics less.
Because I never used them much to begin with. Only for items that I repeatedly (like 7+ times in a row) get wrong.
I generally look at them during the lesson, and sometimes that sticks, other times it doesn’t. If I get to the point where an item is continually failing, I’ll pay more attention then. I like that they are there, though.
I’m on level 28 too, I think I’ve probably forgotten most of the mnemonics for the kanji that I know well from many levels ago, certainly the ones I’ve burned, and I don’t always use the new mnemonics. But I do still use the mnemonics for maybe half of the new kanji or readings, at least through apprentice and Guru I.
I think one thing is that the kanji and readings seem to be more regular as time goes on - it’s a pattern in every language and Japanese is the same that usually the irregular things are the most common and the long tail of obscure vocabulary tends to be more regular - so by level 28 for a new kanji it’s probably one kunyomi, one onyomi, the onyomi reflects one of the radicals, all compounds are jukugo or at most with rendaku.
I only rely on brute force, I don’t use mnemonics.