Suggestion: Use "core" as a mnemonic for こう in some kanji

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こう is one of the most common on’yomi in Japanese. A quick check of a joyo kanji list suggests it is the most common joyo on’yomi reading, with 60 kanji in total (beating out しょう at 57 and し at 49).

Currently, WaniKani uses “Kouichi” as a reading mnemonic for quite a lot of these kanji. Sometimes, this works well; こう is used as a reading for quite a few kanji involving authority figures, which works well if you look up (仰) to Kouichi as WaniKani’s emperor (皇). Besides, we like (好) Kouichi, and wish him happiness (幸). We’re glad he constructed (工) this school (校), and will be sure to renew (更) our subscriptions (購読) until we’ve become adept (巧) and burnt all our turtle shells (甲).

However, filial piety (孝) aside, it can be a bit confusing (慌) to constantly (恒) with such a broad (広) mix (交) of characteristics. A lot of the time, they make sense after (後) the fact, but actually going (行) from hither to yonder (向) is a much taller (高) order; like going towards a harbor (港) without a light (光) to navigate (航).

I think (考) that perhaps some こう readings could be more effectively (効) remembered using “core” as a mnemonic, particularly when the meaning involves some sort of descent (降). I’ve drafted (稿) up a few examples, which I will here make public (公):

孔 (cavity)

Meaning (mostly unchanged):

You see a child with an umbrella in front of you. Suddenly, they fall straight down into a cavity in the road. It’s a big hole!

You run over to where the child fell. Staring into the cavity, you see the child using their umbrella as a parachute. Perhaps they’ll reach the bottom of the cavity unharmed?

Reading

Unfortunately, this cavity leads all the way down to the core (こう). Umbrella or no, that kid is doomed.

*Picture the child with their umbrella, slowly drifting down the cavity. It takes hours, but they still hold on for dear life,

坑 (pぴt)

Meaning (unchanged):

In the dirt, you find a lid under the table. You lift it to reveal a deep pit. Why is there a hole under your table?

You pull away the lid and crawl inside. There is a ladder that takes you deep into the pit.

Reading:

This pit goes all the way down to the core (こう).

候 (climate)

Meaning (unchanged)

A leader with a stick, a hook, and an arrow is able to change the climate and weather. Not just the type of climate that causes sunny and rainy days though, the political climate too, because they’re a political candidate too.

Reading

The candidate wants to save the climate by freezing the Earth’s core (こう). It’s his core policy proposal.

Who is this candidate? Why, none other than emperor こうichi! Kouichi cares about the climate so much, he decided to run for public office!

降 descend

Meaning (unchanged):

Inside the building is the Winter Cow. You need to see it, so you go inside. It is deep down in there, and you’ll have to descend to reach it.

Focus on descending the stairs. There are many signs that say “To Winter Cow: descend” with an arrow pointing down. “I guess I’ll have to descend,” you say.

Reading:

The stairs go on and on. “How far must I descend!?” you yell. “To the core (こう)!” a voice responds. “You must descend to the core!”

肯 agreement

Meaning (unchanged):

We must stop the moon. That, at least, we can come to an agreement on.

There are a group of people pointing at pictures of the moon coming closer to earth. They are the world’s leaders, and although they don’t get along normally, this new attack from the moon has united them in agreement: we must stop the moon.

Reading:

You agree that the best way to stop the moon is to blow up its core (こう). You’ve all seen Armageddon, so you all agree that it will work.

Emperor Kouichi hums the tune to I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing as he signs the agreement.

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I feel like “core” could only be a phonetic approximation of こう in some dialects of English, no? In particular I’m not sure it works with most American English accents.

Keep in mind that I’m not a native English speaker, so I could be completely off, but I’ve sampled this:

https://forvo.com/search/core/

American accents generally sound like “kowr” to me, not a long “ko”.

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Yeah core and こう are nothing alike to my American ears. What came to mind quickly for me as sounding alike is “CO” (as in the abbreviation for the state of Colorado), “Co” (the atomic symbol for Cobalt), and “& Co.” (shortened from “and Company” in many business names) All of these require a bit of field/place specific knowledge though and therefore wouldn’t be the best for everyone. こういち is an obtuse mnemonic for こう for sure but there’s not a whole lot in English that fits it!

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Many, even most of the mnemonics, Kōichi and others, don’t EXACTLY match the sounds to my ears. Doesn’t matter! A mnemonic is there to point you more or less in the right direction…toward the word that you are on the verge of forgetting but have been exposed to.

To my (still American despite decades in Germany) ears, “core” comes fairly close to こう, dropping the R of course. While not as long as おう, the O sound in “core” is definitely longer than the O in “& Co.” etc. And the R in “core” is easier to ignore/drop than the consonants that come after the O in words like “Coke” that have similar “almost long” Os. Words like “cooperate” won’t work because the glottal stop between the two Os would confuse.

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Well, I mean, since こういち quite literally is the sound こう, it had better match.

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Right. “Kōichi” is the ONLY mnemonic that matches exactly, providing you know how to pronounce こういち. All the rest are approximate, like “core” would be.

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Probably true, in which case it’s probably better to keep it as a personal mnemonic rather than making it the default.

That’s my thinking as well. To my not-native-but-lived-in-Connecticut-for-a-few-years-as-a-kid ears, “core” doesn’t sound exactly like こう, but it’s the only valid single-character on’yomi that fits, so it gets me on the right track.

Of course, こうichi is closer, I that doesn’t really help unless you remember that the boy/candidate/person-chained-to-a-table-at-the-bottom-of-a-pit is name こうichi, which isn’t usually obvious. Why can’t it be Ms. Chou running as a candidate? And how do we remember that the 子 in 孔 is named こうichi, but the one in 孤 is just a こ?

In essence, it is (in my opinion) shortening the leap between the story and reading mnemonic by quite a lot, in exchange for a larger jump from the reading mnemonic to the actual spelling.

Radicals ---> Story -----> こうichi -> こう

Radicals ---> Story ---> core --> こう

I guess the question is: Do people generally agree that second arrow shrinks by enough to make up for the elongation of the third arrow?

If so, there might be a case for updating the standard mnemonic.
If not, then you can think of this as my recommendation to people who – like me – struggle with the standard mnemonic.

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My visual imagination is not particularly vivid, but I actually kinda like the character mnemonics, こういち, Mrs. ちょう, big tall じょう, little じょ-Anne, the しょうぐん, Genghis かん, がんdhi, げんじ…

Truth be told, I even like mini きょうと and regular きょうと

usually it’s very nice when I can think “oh, one of my cast of characters is popping up!” because then that’s the on’yomi totally sorted.

I wonder if this is visible in my statistics too… like, do I do worse at sheep and kayaks and centaurs and little kids and mowing the lawn? maybe I should try to make my recurring kayak and sheep something special…

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I think I might have a similar issue, but with the opposite effect :slight_smile:

I tend to think schematically, so in my head, Kouichi and Ms. Chou are both just “person”.

Rather, I need an event of some sort that allows me to chart the story as a whole, and the Earth’s core is quite a good choice in that case.

I think that’s also why Emperor Kouichi works for me, but just regular Kouichi doesn’t. Escalating an issue to the emperor is a dramatic event, but I can’t remember the difference between “You run into Kouichi” and “You run into Ms. Chou”.

(I also tend to replace Ms. Chou, for example when I follow the path to the summit and the geoduck informs me that I am the Chosen One.)

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oooo interesting. I don’t have a perfect visual image for Kouichi or Mrs Chou, but I do have their characterization. Mrs. Chou is angry, threatening, powerful and mysterious, while Kouichi is goofy, quite random and funny. It is true that sometimes I just remember “oh there’s a person”, but if I think about how the kanji enhance my understanding of the characters, it tends to help me distinguish them further!

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That story was incredible and those mnemonics are awesome!

I agree with the people on team こういち; I always enjoy seeing こう and thinking, “What’s こういち doing this time?” If core works better for you, you can definitely make your own mnemonic to help you remember. That’s a great feature of Wanikani: if their examples aren’t sticking, you can make your own that works for you!
Also, as an American, as others have said, core definitely doesn’t sound like こう in American accents.