Things like nin vs jin usually don’t have their own mnemonics, and I think they should. As far as I can see there’s no specific rule for nin vs jin and if there is, it’s not pointed out in the lessons, so it’s down to rote memorization, which I believe is what wanikani claims to be so good at simplifying. And it is, but it could be even better !
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I agree. For kanji with multiple common on’yomi readings like 人, the mnemonic shouldn’t just say “you know this”.
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This is very true. Many people complain about it (including myself). What you should do is create your own mnemonics and do some research on jin and nin. I kind of don’t want to explain jin and nin to you considering that my information may be false. By the way, I also learned 住人 (Resident/Inhabitant/Dweller). I usually compare jin and nin with number and important. For the one I just learned, I think about it like there are many residents and it’s not like your a race or something important like that. Good luck!
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I don’t think じん vs にん is really ever easy, but eventually you can guess somewhat reliably based on how the word sounds. The wrong answer will sometimes sound awkward to say. Saying those words out loud when you study may help remember which reading is used.
Some mnemonics I’ve seen used are NINtendo, NINja, GIN and JIN Kazama (from Tekken). If you can have your mnemonics oppose each other, like GIN = drunk ninja or something, it may make the mnemonics more memorable.
This is one of those “wrong answer sounds awkward” cases. “じゅうじん” would involve two “j” sounds in a row, which is annoying to pronounce. I don’t think many words have consecutive “j” sounds.
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And then there’s kani like 打, which say “this vocab uses the on’yomi, you’ve never encountered that before” basically every single time…
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There’s very rare cases where they’ll suggest you a jin/nin mnemonic like:
病人 - びょうにん
When you are sick you stay home and play NINtendo… or something like that.
It’s a good idea as I usually mess up the たい/だい with 大.
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じん and にん can only be predicted with accuracy when 人 is used as a suffix.
The rules for this still require some careful wording.
When it’s just part of a compound word that includes the 人 character, the reading is based on the time period it was borrowed from Chinese.
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I usually use a ninja or a bunch of ninja in mnemonics if it’s にん and the blue genie from Aladdin for じん.
Wasteland background for だい (because everything is dead) of Thai temple background for たい.
And so on, like a gecko for げつ and Guts from anime “Berserk” for がつ.
That’s pretty much the list from the top of my head. I also think this kind of mnemonics should be included by default, it will improve WaniKani.
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