My nemesis, 月, and how to overcome his evil ways

I’ve just been introduced to this kanji and its readings and although I wasn’t facing any problems with memorising it, this trick will definitely make the reading concrete in my mind. Thanks a ton and sorry for your struggles to gain this knowledge :grin:

Are there any other useful tricks out there that I should know about?

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This is ever so helpful!!! I have struggled with this too. I went to level 11 before restarting a week ago as my reviews have sky rocketed to an unmanageable level and after feeling overwhelmed for days I decided to restart my wanikani journey. The truth is that 月 has entered many of my dreams turning them into nightmares for many many months. So, thank you so much for your post! Once I get to 月 again, I will be like-hello you gorgeous, and not - oh no, not you again :partying_face::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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In my years of studying Japanese since 2016, I struggled with this too! I learnt this lesson as well when I was in class just last week. My Japanese teacher explained this concept and I was the only one (out of three students) staring at the whiteboard with pure comprehension and shock. :joy:

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You… beautiful… human being… ::sob: Thank you so much. You are/were NOT alone at any point in time. Thank you!!

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Whaaaaaaat :dizzy_face: So simple! How did I miss that?

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I thought I was the only one having issues remembering when to use one or the other. Thank you (and your husband) for the clarification!

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Bless you OP, this is my first post because your thread showed up in my WaniKani community summary email and just happened to be exactly the info I needed. I feel so much stronger for my next encounter with 月. Thank you!

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His responses are so simple and direct. I can totally remember that!

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I’m really glad that this post has been helpful to so many people!

My husband is too. He said he only told it to me as a general rule to help me out and he didn’t imagine so many other people would find it useful too. He’s really happy about it though. :slight_smile:

I’ll be sure to share any other nuggets of wisdom he shares with me in the future. It’s sometimes useful to get his prospective on things like this. :slight_smile:

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From either European mythology or Yin Yang Chinese philosophy, many think of “moon” having a female connotation (along with “sun” for male). I think the reverse may exist but it is less common; sounds like in your WaniKani world it’s the latter :first_quarter_moon_with_face::sun_with_face::man_shrugging::woman_shrugging::smile:.

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that’s really helpful, this is also one i get wrong a lot due to the がつ and げ, i was relying on memory and guessing!

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I’m having exactly this problem, thank you thank you !

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I usually use the mental image of a japanese guy for じん and an european guy for にん。 It seems to work for me

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You are a lifesaver! I’ve been struggling with this kanji for quite some time. Thank you! I’m eternally in your debt :slight_smile:

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I was having the exact same problem! I realized by myself a few days ago. Tired of being driven crazy by all the mistakes, I opened all of the vocabs that I had learned one next to the other and then A-ha… with the exception, that’s asking for a number. I read your post thinking you might have another tip :smiley: But I’m happy to know that’s how Japanese people learn too!

I’ve been thinking about this as I do my lessons the last few days. While it may not actually be a language mechanic, it makes it a lot easier for me to remember it, partially because I can make jokey mnemonics about it. Resident being にん is like “I can kick you out whenever I want” and exceptions can be jokes too, like maniac being じん

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In the higher levels and words outside of WK it doesn’t work that way, though, which is what Leebo has been trying to say. It might sound correct at the start, but it isn’t, so it’s best not to internalise a ‘rule’ like this.

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This is me also. Thank you OP!

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I love that there is academic research on にん vs じん and it’s still not entirely decisive.

I thought it was just me who was confused by that. :smiley:

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What part were you seeing as indecisive?

There are rules for why each reading is used, it’s just that most of the time the thing that determines the rule is invisible to us as just learners and users of the language (the time period the word was imported).

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