Level 31 均整 Symmetry I get, it makes sense.
But Level 38 対称 Symmetry has me stumped. The explanation provided is “If you versus (compare) the title of these two things, you’ll notice that they’re the same as each other. They have symmetry.” No matter how many times I read it I end up thinking.. What??
If someone could explain it to me or share a better explanation I would be really grateful.
it’s just a mnemonic, if it’s not working for you then make your own up
It’s one of those words that’s hard to guess from the kanji. From what I can tell it derives from a secondary meaning of the character in Chinese:
to match; to fit
稱心如意／称心如意 ― chènxīnrúyì ― satisfactory
相稱／相称 ― xiàngchèn ― to match each other
balanced; suitable
Regarding the mnemonic I think they mean something like this: You have title A = “otto”, you have title B = “otto.” Hence,
otto vs. otto
I.e., the above statement looks symmetric.
My guess at least.
Thanks for taking the time. Day after day reading, deciphering, creating mnemonics means sometimes my brain goes blank. This one just made zero sense. After I posted this I asked AI and it gave an almost identical interpretation to yours.
The wanikani mnemonic could be clearer though I guess this is just one of those words. I mean if say you have book A titled ‘Fishing is Fun’ and book B titled ‘Fun Fishing‘ and compared them (versus) would you really say that the titles exhibited SYMMETRY? I wouldn’t. They’re just similar. Even if the titles were the same the word SYMMETRY doesn’t spring to mind.
Anyway thanks again for your help. I came up with a new mnemonic that should work for me in case anyone is interested:
(It’s Max Verstappen VERSUS (対) Lando Norris for the F1 Driver’s TITLE (称) in 2025 - showing almost perfect SYMMETRY with 2024.)
Not true but close enough and makes SENSE to me.
I agree that if they go with that mnemonic maybe they should’ve given examples of titles where words are spelled in reverse (e.g., war vs. raw, evil vs. live), which would somehow highlight symmetry if you look at them.
Glad you’ve found another mnemonic that works for you! I also almost always use my own.
Happy leveling 