Specifically ones that talk about major bodily harm like getting stabbed through the head or toes getting cut off. I’m probably the only one on here who has a problem with these kind of things but they make me feel kind of sick. Once I see it involves something like that I can’t even read it all the way through. This wasn’t a request to change anything but more of just giving you something to think about because there might be other people sensitive to these kinds of mental images. Sorry to be a bother but thanks for listening.
EDIT: I would like to add that its more so the ones that are about your own body being harmed.
That’s kind of good though. The stronger our emotional response to the mnemonic, the better it should stick.
I hope this does not come across as rude, but how do you watch/read the news? Or watch anything above a G-rating? I get that we all have different squick-factors, but a certain amount of desensitization is healthy.
That’s a little different. I don’t have to ingrain that into my memory. I don’t have to imagine the situation happening to me clearly in my mind. Although sometimes gory images from movies and TV do stick around in my head a little longer than I’d like.
Remember that the WK mnemonics are only there so you don’t need to make up your own mnemonic for every new item you encounter. You don’t have to use them, so if you’re not comfortable with imagining something bad happening to you, you can always make up your own mnemonics instead.
I assume you do this if you’re level 4, but always remember you can make your own mnemonic and write it in the notes of the kanji’s/vocab’s/radical’s page. (The mnemonic for the kanji “hang” is especially grim, though it involves you doing something violent to others, so… yeah. May wanna get in the habit of that if you haven’t already.)
One doesn’t like mnemonics with violence, another one doesn’t like mnemonics with sexual innuendos, another one doesn’t like mnemonics with gross stuff, another one doesn’t like mnemonics with words like “midget”, another one doesn’t like mnemonics that deal with religion…
Nowadays everything offends somebody. If Wanikani team decided to cater to every whim, they wouldn’t stop remaking every mnemonic all the time.
Indeed, I often use my own mnemonics. My native language is french, so sometimes there are obvious mnemonics relating to that so I don’t even bother reading the mnemonic if I found a good one already!
I would also encourage you not to read the mnemonics that make you inconfortable and come up with your own in these cases.
Agreed. The mnenomics work well because they are “shocking”. Heck, Kanjidamage is way way worse. They specifically make everything shocking so it sticks in your head.
There’s no need to be offended or feel bad about fictive stuff happening in a language learning app. I see no need for anything to change as anyone should get the reasoning behind it.
Exactly, sometimes the English mnemonic is a bit of a stretch but there is a really obvious one in your native language. In that case I would naturally go for the obvious one.
I actually never read WK mnemonics. I always make my own first. If I don’t have enough imagination to do so for a certain item, I’ll read the WK one just to see how they approached it.
The violent mnemonic for red (赤) helped me a ton with remembering the meaning because colors can be very abstract concepts without an object to apply it to. I can totally understand why some would be turned off by this though, it’s not for everyone.
I read a lot about how to memorize stuff better and a lot sources state:
“The more ridiculous, sexual, violent, absurd, funny and surreal you make your images, the more outstandingly memorable they will be.”
Sadly violence is one of the interesting topics for the average human.
How many movies are violent…
Personally, I simply don’t remember the violent ones. They’re not unique enough. The ones that have stuck with me the most are the weird ones, with proper stories to them (as opposed to just “you got hurt”). For example, the alcohol-delivering cobra who writes haikus? I could never forget him.
One of my absolute favourites so far Also the devil having to return his water slide and getting so frustrated with the cashier that he turns her into a hen was a gem ^^
Though I find some of them really disturbing, they do stick with me because they are so violent. And I kinda like the imagination and effort they put into making those violent mnemonics. Look at 交. It literally tells you to imagine mixing your dad in a kettle and then putting a lid on, and that his last words are “I’m not your father! Your father is… こういち!” What’s more shocking than realizing that Kōichi is your dad?
Also the devil having to return his water slide and getting so frustrated with the cashier that he turns her into a hen was a gem ^^
you poor soul…