Anyone out there that does not use mnemonics to memorize? Personally, I rarely use mnemonics.
I generally associate kanji as a picture with reading and meaning of it.
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If I can figure out the meaning just by the shape of the kanji (with 木 as an example) then I don’t bother. Otherwise, I tend to use the mnemonic, or at least make an effort to keep it in the back of my mind if I’m struggling when reviews come around. Although making sure you remember all the seperate radicals that make up a kanji is equally helpful.
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I started out not using mnemonics because I knew a fair few kanji when I started. They progressively become more useful in the early stages of learning new stuff. I’ve generally forgotten the mnemonic by the time I’ve got things gurued
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I don’t use the mnemonics. I think I’ve said before on the forums that I’m aphantasic - I can’t/don’t visualise. Instead, I learn by … linking concepts, I guess?
If you ask me to picture a beach, with a sunset, I have no picture in my head, but I do have a linked sense of concept-clouds. It’s the words/concepts I imagine, rather than the pictures. I’m really good at recalling and combining smells and flavours in my mind, but I don’t have anything for images.
Since I read english by linking the shape of a word to it’s concept, it’s a similar process to link concept with kanji shape, rather than using a mnemonic. It made some of the more unusual combinations a bit strange at first, but then the combinations themselves also become a concept. It’s also really helped with identifying the phonetic components, and several grammatical aspects.
Sometimes I do use the mnemonics and sometimes not, it depends. For some kanjis I’m like you and associate them with a picture. Other times I learn them because they have a pronunciation that sounds funny in Italian, for example ‘woman’ in japanese sounds almost like ‘woman’ in Italian (without a letter)
I start with the mnemonic and then at some point I forget it and my subconscious just give me the proper answer. It’s pretty cool.
What I have also noticed is that if I see the kanji in a different font I’m completely lost…
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I totally relate to font confusion. I get totally lost on different fonts.
I guess we have some sort of photographic memory and then…
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