It’s the kind that tastes like chicken
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Humans? Or do they taste like pork? 
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I didn’t say that subconscious is an insult. But it’s a little condescending to say that people only think mnemonics are great for learning because they’ve never tried not using them.
Exactly. That’s what I said in the part that you didn’t quote. But you don’t need someone to tell you to
If you had said to stop using mnemonics as soon as you can relate a new reading to another kanji instead, I wouldn’t have disagreed with you. Some people will need only a few levels to get to that point and others need more. It’s not the number of levels that’s important, it’s whether you learn something quicker or slower by using mnemonics.
Edit: Do you use one of those scripts that let you practice between official reviews? That’s another way of learning by sheer repetition, but if you’re able to learn without mnemonics with just the normal reviews, that’s pretty impressive. Not many people are able to do that.
It’s not about level. I use mnemonics as well. They fall away a few levels after I learned something so I just remember the kanji/reading/meaning, but they’re still extremely useful right at the beginning–which is the entire point of them.
You’re making a lot of assumptions based on your own personal learning style. And trying to discredit what someone says because their level is lower than yours is extremely petty.
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You’re making a lot of assumptions based on your own personal learning style. And trying to discredit what someone says because their level is lower than yours is extremely petty.
I was using the mnemonics more at level 08 myself. I was not attempting to discredit him, but rather explaining that our experiences were more similar than he was suggesting and that as he gets further he might also want to see if discarding the mnemonics speeds him up.
Edit: Do you use one of those scripts that let you practice between official reviews? That’s another way of learning by sheer repetition, but if you’re able to learn without mnemonics with just the normal reviews, that’s pretty impressive. Not many people are able to do that.
No, I don’t use a review script, though I do use several of the scripts. One of the things I do is to use the ignore script to keep repeating and repeating the words in the lesson without the mnemonic until I get them that way. Then when I do get it, it doesn’t count against me and I tend to mostly continue to get them after that or to get close enough that I keep progressing until I get from close to exact.
I don’t really think it is impressive and didn’t mean to bring it up to brag, but rather because I think the approach saves the cognitive load of all the extra memorization of the mnemonics and the extra steps involved with them.
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So you use some way to review them more often than you would with WK only.
And I think mnemonics save cognitive load. Learning the mnemonics doesn’t feel like an extra step to me at all. They stick so easily in my brain that it doesn’t feel like extra work. At least the ones that work for me. When they don’t, I make up my own. That’s extra cognitive work, but I need to do it only once (per kanji) and then it saves time and effort.
We seem to have different learning styles which is fine by me. Live and let live.
So you use some way to review them more often than you would with WK only.
Well, technically, no. If I did it with WaniKani alone, I’d see the words the exact same amount, but I’d just be marked as wrong for most of them the first time I am quizzed on them. The ignore script (or WaniKani double-check, which I used to use, but doesn’t seem to work anymore on Safari) lets the repetitions from the first round of quizzes not count against me and by the second or third round the information tends to be more in the subconscious mind with or without the mnemonic in my experience.
It is easier to do this way once you’ve built up more vocab though, due to all the homophones in Japanese.
But aren’t you then still using mnemonics? Only in Japanese instead of english?
But aren’t you then still using mnemonics? Only in Japanese instead of english?
Kinda, yes, though I often just tend to directly memorize the verbalization of the pictograms.
I looked up the mnemonic for 札. It is “sat.” For me, it is really similar to remember “sat” vs. さつ, but if I remember “sat” I might get さ and forget つ. I could think it was さた or さと by mistake. It also for me seems when I did it that way I was always seeing the picture and going: “‘Sat’ what’s ‘sat’ the mnemonic for?” “Oh yeah, さつ.” And that all takes extra time and effort in my experience than just memorizing さつ for the picture.
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Is there a connection between the two Kanjis? Because, how would you remember that the reading is the same? I do associate readings with single radicals, though, e.g., everytime Geoduck is in the Kanji … it seems, it’s always GAN (fuer Gandhi, lol). Or, if one of the radical is construction, it’s is KOU.
If there is no connection between the Kanjis, I don’t think it is helpful to remember the Kanji are connected only because of the reading.
I do use the Mnemonics until I don’t need them. The mnemonics use the Kanji radicals to tell a story. I find that very useful for many Kanji, especially if they are similar.
The thing is, you shouldn’t remember sat. You should remember the story. And then the poor tree satsu down … lol.
Oh, I forgot to add to my other post: My problem is not that different words are used for the same reading. But that sometimes I pronounce words differently and then they don’t make sense for the reading.
I think mnemonics are most useful when the reading or meaning is not easily fitted into your existing framework. They are like scaffolding, to be discarded when no longer necessary. And in terms of remembering an unusual reading or word you learnt on WK a while ago, without other reinforcement, it’s sometimes easier to remember the mnemonic trigger as a path to the actual reading.
For me too, the effort to create or summarise your own mnemonics is really useful in building long term memory.
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Is there a connection between the two Kanjis? Because, how would you remember that the reading is the same?
That’s a good question. I think it is somewhat like in English where as we progress through language learning we build up knowledge of homophones and nuances in meaning.
Like now when I think of きょく both the music of 曲 and the bureaucracy of 局 comes to mind, but a similar thing occurs in English when I think of moose 
and mousse 
.
I’ve realized one script that is helpful for the style of learning I described is the Phonetic-Semantic Composition add-on.
I am currently learning the radical for Wash, せん or 洗.
But wait, that radical has the radical for Previous 先 inside it and the same pronunciation せん!
This happens a lot in Japanese and saves you from learning many mnemonics as well.
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