To remember the reading せい we use “Hard Gay,” because he likes to say “SEI SEI SEI!” Of course, if you don’t know who this Japanese comedian is, you should check him out (literally or figuratively, whatever you want to do is your own business). Just google him, you’ll see. As you’re correcting these test answers, someone grabs your pencil and throws your desk to the side. And then they start humping your leg. It’s Hard Gay (せい). He tells you that the test you are grading is the shogun’s (しょう)! You can’t give the shogun a bad grade, he’ll have you executed!
…I don’t even know where to start…this is horrible on every level…
May I suggest:
"When you STOP ( 止 ) at the right spot on the GROUND ( 一 ), you are CORRECT ( 正 ). A good SHOW for all.
Short, easy to remember and doesn’t change the radicals.
It’s only a few strokes anyway and easy to memorize - this one, I’d not bother using a mnemonic for. 正しい、正義、正社員 are all very common, so is 正直、正体 - now you have all 3 readings you’ll come across again and again over the course of time.
Also try out kanjidamage for reading mnemonics. It’s a wonderful resource to check, and there’s even a script that puts it’s mnemonics in WK.
Well, to be fair, i also complained when i was a beginner, and i was also told almost 30 levels ago the same thing.
But then again, even with an overhaul you’ll get different opinions on the matter
I did exactly what you’re doing @OpusTheFowl, that is, make my own mnemonics. There’ll be times when you’ll notice that some of this weird mnemonics they use somehow stick better, but it makes no harm using your own.
You’ll get used to it, there are not that many weird ones like this one.
It’s the first time Hard Gay is mentioned, he needs some explanation
For some reason WK tried to put several readings in one mnemonic, that happens rarely.
WK tries to put vivid stories to make the mnemonics more memorable. It seems Kanjidamage goes for short sentences you should remember word by word. At least say and show are not particularly memorable. (せい is always Hard Gay related, しょう is the shogun, so the mnemonics can turn out non-impressive/convoluted, but it’s a great idea to be consistent there.)
I’m not a fan of cultural references at all. Some are fads that come and go by quickly, I may have never heard of it, it might be from a source I found completely unappealing, or it might be only really known in certain circles or areas.
I never got all the “Friends” or “The Office” references really, since I never watched the shows (and don’t plan to). I do understand intellectually where it comes from (like “mullet”), but under these circumstances, the mnemonic just doesn’t have the same impact on me. I don’t find them memorable because they’re hilarious, I can’t laugh when I see them.
Cultural references just don’t do it for me, and I don’t want to be pushed to look up and watch something like “hard gay”, whether I might enjoy it or not.
I agree it’s overly verbose, but this one is particularly long because it’s trying to introduce two new characters and two important readings. It’s sort of a weird case because they usually don’t emphasise two readings as much, and in later levels they already have the recurring cast set up, and by then you’re expected to have formed some associations with them.
Hard Gay and the shogun are gonna keep showing up, although not always as colourfully.
(I don’t like Hard Gay as a character, but he’s certainly an effective mnemonic, I guess. Especially if you look him up, which you might have to do once or twice. omukai definitely has a point.)
Yours would probably be ineffective for many WK users who rely on the visualisation aspect of the WK mnemonics, because it’s hard to form a vivid image out of it. Also, many of them are intentionally silly or absurd to prompt an imaginative/emotional response that promotes memory formation. I’m not saying you have to like it, agree with it, or find it acceptable - I’m warning that it’s just gonna keep happening, especially with some of the radicals. Some of them I can’t remotely visualise either, I just shrug and make up my own in that case. I use the majority so I’m happy.
So, yeah, they could edit that story to be more concise, but it would still be long and have a lot of elements. I just focused on the Hard Gay bit at first and later the shogun. It helps it’s a very common kanji and you see both readings a lot.
However, having formed the mnemonic yourself is going to be better than using WK’s if the mnemonic is any good. Different strokes for different folks.
I never even noticed that there are references for this is WK Charlie Sheen never really resonated with me either.
But at least WK tries to provide some mnemonics as a starter instead of putting “As everyone knows, doing your own mnemonics is best” with an empty text box below.
[Not just some mnemonics, maybe also interesting and consistent ]
My little brain needs simple and straight to the point with a logical link between as many parts as possible. For me, kanji recognition is not that hard as I’m a visual learner but take a paragraph to describe a character and I’m lost. Spelling is a nightmare…in any language…
Oh I don’t know if these 2 shows I mentioned are being referenced here… I found them elsewhere at different times and couldn’t appreciate them (I couldn’t even understand them, like someone made some comment about a “Rachel” and a “Monica” and had to explain to me where it’s from).
I know Charlie Sheen, but I’d probably reject the mnemonic. I prefer logical, short, easy to remember mnemonics like the OP posted, or the kanjidamage reading mnemonic I posted. Those stick best for me.
The longer a mnemonic gets, the more complex, the less likely it is to memorize it, and memorizing mnemonics isn’t what we’re trying to do anyway - they’re meant to provide a quick and easy memory aid, not it’s very own mental workout
I’m not really using most of the mnemonics myself, but Hard Gay and the shogun are definitely the better ones.
WK tries to go for crazy stories, and the main point is that the readings are actors in that stories. I think that (in principle) that should give you the most memorable results with a good path to remember the readings. If it’s too generic you have a good chance to mess it up (did I show or say that it’s correct? ==> there isn’t really a chance to recover from that if you don’t full remember the mnemonic).
I don’t like that everything has to be crazy in WK, when everything is crazy it doesn’t stand out anymore. And for the readings you can save most of the work with phonetic components, especially in the later half of WK you could just skip over most mnemonics.
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