The idea is not necessarily to be ‘edgy’, or even ‘funny’ – although humour can help – the idea is to be strange and weird, and therefore memorable. It’s the kind of ‘absurdity’ of the mnemonic stories and word-associations that is known to make some mnemonics more memorable than others.
Also, whatever works for you. They are suggestions, but if any of the mnemonics don’t ‘click’ with us, we are encouraged to make up our own.
And again, the idea is for it to be memorable. Even a wannabe-edgy not-really-funny mnemonic can be very memorable. At least we all remember Nic Cage, after all, eh?
I reached a different conclusion with mnemonics, actually. For me, a mnemonic doesn’t need to particularly strikingly memorable for a lifetime. If so, having only a single one, and when the first one fails, memorization will fail as well. I don’t think someone should strain to particularly make it work. (Only if last resort, maybe.)
It might be better to only need tools (mnemonics) when memory doesn’t stick, or move to another tool (another mnemonic) when the first one fails. (Nonetheless, mnemonic creation is yet another learned skill. One only has to try to get better at it.)
Also, if intermediate level (plateau) is reached, mnemonics don’t need to particularly be in English anymore; considering mnemonics usually don’t have Japanese context.
Huge congratulations on reaching level 60! We’ve interacted here and there on the forums, and every conversation with you has been an absolute pleasure! Hope to still see you around from place to place and time to time.
it is way worse when your main -language is not English XD , because of the translation in your mind (Japanese → English → French )
Even if i don’t have a problem with english , i wish sometime there is a French Wanikani ^^
Well, actually, even as I was writing that, I was also thinking that mnemonics don’t need to last a lifetime either. I think I was just in an exaggerating kind of mood. Mea culpa!
One time a friend of mine got a new cell phone and was having a hard time remembering the new phone number. I quickly came up with a little mathematical relationship between the numbers – which is a mnemonic trick I’ve used many times in the past to help remember things like phone numbers, and which I eventually came to learn is an example of the memory technique known as ‘chunking’ – and I told him the pattern, basically saying, “Oh, this one’s pretty easy, if you think of it as being based on the number 7, blah blah blah…”
A couple of months later, I needed to be able to call him, so I asked him what his phone number was, and he said something like, “Don’t you remember?” And I’m like, “Uh, no. How would I know your phone number?” He says, “You’re the one who came up with that pattern for remembering it!” Well, yeah, …, but it wasn’t for me to remember it, it was for him to be able to remember it.
The point being that mnemonic devices like these aren’t the ultimate key to remembering something, they are just little tools we can use to help our brains do their natural super-power of remembering all sorts of things. But once your brain remembers something, the mnemonic has done its job, and can usually be forgotten in due time. And likewise, even if I come up with a good mnemonic for something, if I never use it – because it’s not my phone number, after all – then it will quickly fade from memory. It’s not a magical thing that will instantly burn itself into my memory forever more.
