I used to try to make more concise and logical mnemonics like you, but in my experience the shorter, simpler, and more logical the mnemonic the faster it flies out of my brain. It was the elaborate and nonsensical constructions like the example you gave in OP that helped me the most when I was at your level. In fact, I specifically remember that exact mnemonic being particularly useful. Hard Gay got me through some hard times.
The entire point of mnemonics is that they make use of the fact that the brain can sometimes remember larger amounts of data more easily than smaller amounts. I’m not a neurobiologist but my understanding of the literature is that if the data is constructed in such a way that it engages the narrative/emotional processing areas and causes the brain to form a larger network of neural connections, it will stay in memory longer and be more readily recalled.
I do think they should limit the references to memes and pop culture since it dates the content and makes it less accessible in general.
In the end, I think it’s exposure and more raw neuronal connections that will do the trick. 今日、今頃、今年 pop everywhere and all the time, I’ll use one or more of them at least once every day and see and hear it probably multiple times. I remembered 青 as せい because I know that “blue” also means “fresh” and that blue and green are overlapping in Japanese, as in 青葉 and 青信号, so connecting it with 青春 made things fall in place like a neatly organized puzzle with colored pieces.
Mnemonics only have to last me as long as it takes to encounter the kanji in another word I know, and then it’s mine.
Talk about brains. I sometimes sit there with a blank stare, trying to reboot, because I can’t remember the damn meaning of a kanji I’ve used a thousand times myself. Or I see a kanji I just learned on WK elsewhere and it looks like something completely alien to me, as if I’d never encountered it before. Looking it up and seeing what it is makes me go “WTF I can’t even”.
That’s part of my strategy…to make really annoying complaint posts here for characters I have trouble with both to drive them deep into my head and also to drive Leebo nuts
Hi,
I like your idea of having a “shorter version of mnemonics”. It gives an alternative to folks who prefer quick and to the point. Also it means more choice on how to learn something which is always good.
I do think WK did here exactly what they say their product does. They make you read a story so that your brain remembers the key points/words only, they add color to it, make it visual + it feels like a conversation with WK. In a way they are training your brain in WK method.
This is the key point - if you read all of the background on Wanikani and the mnemonics they really emphasise that we are hard-wired to remember stuff better in story format (i.e. we were passing down knowledge via stories long before writing).
I don’t like Charlie Sheen, and didn’t find Hard Gay super funny, but it doesn’t really matter. I didn’t want to spend the time to make my own mnemonics (at least for those ones) and they work (especially the more stories each character takes on). An an Australian I don’t get all the references, but I’m happy to look it up and if I don’t think it resonates just make up something else.
Sometimes short mnemonics work, but I don’t think they stick as well when you haven’t seen something for months and you’re just staring blankly at the screen juggling 3 radicals in your head
Training some so far unused muscles always hurts in the beginning. Same for your brain, it costs a ton of energy to convince it to swallow some of this shit But if it works, great. If not, just trust in the SRS to show you the same things until you remember them just from repeated exposure.
You have a good point there. I think WK (and other resources) are too dogmatic in their approach. In WK everything must a crazy story, everything must be a story of its radicals, … It’s like the saying where you only have a hammer and suddenly everything starts looking like nails KKLC is more flexible, it sometimes does mnemonics, sometimes etymology, sometimes linking several kanji together in a story, …
If you like the short sentences it’s a good idea for you look kanji up in kanjidamage.com. It uses different radicals, but the ones for readings should be fine.
As for me, “short and to the point” mnemonics don’t stick at all. I’ve tried them a lot of times, and they are always useless. It’s actually easier to remember kanji readings and meanings without mnemonics than to remember “short and logical” mnemonics.
The only kind of mnemonics that works for me is when it is a long, crazy, imaginative story, I’m really glad WK uses those and not some short sentences.
Hey, every kanji should have its discussion topic just like this one where people share they knowledge about that specific kanji, give mnemonics and that sort of stuff
I mean, this thread cemented this kanji so good in my memory
It’d be great to see the history as well - because who can be bothered searching the blog. After resetting I’ve noticed quite a few mnemonics have changed - it’d be interesting to see how!
I used to think the Hard Gay mnemonic was way too odd and specific, but over the course of the past 30 levels or so, whenever I read “Hard Gay” somewhere in the mnemonic section I instantly knew “Okay, it’s せい, got it” and moved on without even reading the entire thing.
There are other mnemonics that don’t work really work for me (i.e. the “so-so” one for そ because that is just so unmemorable), but then I hope that the vocab for that kanji will stick.
To save you the trouble, I watched a couple of hours of Hard Gay when I was at level 2. Basically, Hard Gay is a muscle bound clown wearing skimpy black leather hotpants, with lots of exposed muscly flesh. His gimmick is the archetype leather man who performs pranks on an unsuspecting public. He has a really nice body. When he was a guest on a TV show, the male actors were swooning over his body. He’s great at clowning around with kids and adults. Once I saw a kid with his head caught between Hard Gay’s legs in a playground and the audience roared with laughter. As an Australian, there is no way this TV show would be broadcast in my country. Homophobia and paedophilia are not topics for comedy here.
