Remembering kanjis with the (not so voluntary? xD) help of our dear Jrockers
Just got back from work, passed that bakery that has the best chocolate cross-saints [yes, I do write them like this, from time to time] in the whole town... I think there's only one of its kind, in Munich at least. The store itself looks a bit like a doll house... It's lovely. Not only the croissants are good, they got sooo many yummy pastries, cakes and whatnot, they're all just damn worth the money (you can practically taste that it's made with love x3 I believe about everything they do is hand-produced/-made.) ... Especially on a day of work like this.
Maah anyway... I was about to recline in my seat and munch away, but that would have been a slight waste of time [just a slight one], however I remembered that incident I had with uhm, Jrockers, and my mind, or even better [or should I say 'worse'..?], a combination of these two.
What is it I'm actually talking about...?
So. *takes bite of chocolate cross-saint and smirks at how she's reminded of Satsuki out of innocent voice nooo reason at all* Ummmah... [I'm slightly distracted by the taste of the chocolate filling... mmmmmh... *spaces out* okay, my conscious part of mind is back.] This is all about the Heisig method of memorizing kanjis. I've mentioned that I started on his book here, where I also gave a couple of examples of his method. Practically it works this way:
He gives you the kanji, one keyword to it, breaks the kanji up into its radicals and primitives which all hold a special meaning that you acquire throughout the course one after the other, and then gives you a (often quite crazy) story to remember it. Later in the book, once you're used to how the system works, it's going to be yourself making up the story. The weirder this story is going to be, the easier it will be to remember.
When you start on this book, and work with it every day, it's very much possible to have memorized all of the first 2042 kanjis you're supposed to know in 4-6 weeks. Without forgetting them once you know them. Without having to write them umpeen times on a sheet of paper.
No jokes, it works. ^_^
The more of a vivid imagination you got, the easier it will be.
Well, ask me whether I'm blessed (cursed? ^ ^" well I don't care, I love it) with a vivid imagination or not...
.
.
.
Ah, there you go. → Trouble ahead
Vivid Imagination strikes Part I
Well, the good thing is: It all happened when I was still moving around in the first part of the book, in which he tells the story, so there was not much I could change about it... and yet, it happened. The first Jrocker [2nd was マオ in 宣] finding his way into a kanji was Satsuki. Don't ask me what he's got to do with 桂 and Ivy wrapped around the ankles of his feet, but I definitely do see that (and more) once I'm presented with this kanji, or its meaning, respectively. ... heck... did I just say "ivy"?... I meant the plant. But now I ... saw... somethingone... totally else o_O"
Omy, I better get to the story itself XD~
So, the whole thing struck when I was presented with the kanji 兆, it's keywords being portent. It's a pictograph of the back of a turtle, and since when it - used as a radical - is going to be tagged with the meaning turtle, we quickly make up a little story that connects portent/evil omen with a turtle. I'll spare you with boring details in this case.
Okay, so far everything clear.
Next kanji: 桃 Momo, the peach tree. Now we have to make up a story that connects portent with a tree, since that is the meaning of the radical to the left of the portent.
Well, already there I started to not totally walk Mr Heisig's way. For ever since I got to know the word 'momo', I knew that it could mean both 'peach' and 'thigh'... and well, Uruha-person that I am, I found it rather funny to say, or simply think "I like Japanese momos... %DD" So, my little story went more like
"Once I start seeing thighs hanging from peach tree instead of the actual fruit, it's a very bad omen, since I'm prone to losing myself totally within the world of ... Japanese... momos"
Alright so far. *cough*
Next one was 眺 - keyword was stare. So to the left you have the radical for eye, and to the right the portent again. That's where I suddenly went lost.
For some reason, the word stare conjured an immediate image of mikaru's direct stare, the feelings his eyes can give me when he's looking at me, and I guess it's not that hard to understand how I easily had a connection of his (evil) stare and the kanji.
Well, from that moment on, the kanji 兆 itself started to mean 'mikaru' to me....
Which is okay, as long as I don't lose sight of the actual meanings and keywords, ne. So I just connected mikaru with a turtle... imagining him to always have a little turtle pet on his shoulder, carrying it around, rocking out on lives with it... *squee* [See, that's what I mean - the image is so weird, I'll never forget it XDDD] Well, and then suddenly also the peach tree had him there, his face hovering in a dark purple and black cloud of mist shaped a bit like 兆, being a portent in itself, making me dizzy as I just try to forget Japanese thighs while trying to pluck the actual fruit from the tree, and not get caught in licking the branches...
Uhm. Well. Vivid imagination, no?
Sooo... mikaru had snuck his way into a couple of kanjis already. I can't wait to finding more kanjis with the primitive 'mikaru'... xDDD I actually just looked for some *cough* just because. And what do you think ... how much fun I just had finding 佻 - a human figure next to... 'mikaru aka portent'... and its meaning being frivolity....
That's not hard to imagine a~t all! Hahahaha...
*cough* Well, anyway. So much about mikarusama.
The next kanji was 犬 - the dog. Mr Heisig gives it the connotation of a small dog (because the primitive meaning for a St.Bernhard already had been attached to a different primitive, so as to not confuse the two, this one has become →), a Chihuahua.
Well... for everyone who knows a tiny bit about Ruki's love for dogs, especially Chihuahuas... yeah. Of course, suddenly that image of a Chihuahua was very vividly linked to ルキ. So far, he hadn't had much to do with the kanji itself, yet when I got to the next kanji...
状, keyword status quo. It depicts a (very short version of) the turtle on the left, and the Chihuahua on the right. So Mr Heisig wrote that little plot about how a turtle fell in love with a Chihuahua [I started bursting already there], and of course their families didn't like the idea of their children intermarrying. The two of them upset the status quo with their love for each other.
Hmmmmmm and suddenly it was not hard at all to turn this kanji I would have found boring in most cases into a sparkling story about mikaru's turtle falling in love with one of ルキ's Chihuahuas... and neither mikaru nor ルキ liked the idea of their pets together very much, as the two men don't really like each other that much so... I saw their endless evil stares and grumbles while the turtle and Chihuahua steal away as their 'parents' fight XDDDD~
Darn, could you ever have imagined that studying kanji could me that much fun? Mah, I always loved studying them, writing them, but heck, this is so great hehe~~~
credits?
So yeah, you know where to find me in about half an hour. In the library of course, alternately staring into some huge, blue book and staring off into the distance, with a (hopefully) blissful smile playing around my lips.
Ah yeah, the Asian guy hasn't been there anymore. Guess his exams are over. Same with Flausch, that blond guy I happened to be the neighbour of twice before, and Patrick. [I guess that makes the rest, non-examers, some sort of elite? *laughs*]
じゃねね。
ららバイ〜
...
兆 （笑）...佻 (爆)
Maah anyway... I was about to recline in my seat and munch away, but that would have been a slight waste of time [just a slight one], however I remembered that incident I had with uhm, Jrockers, and my mind, or even better [or should I say 'worse'..?], a combination of these two.
What is it I'm actually talking about...?
So. *takes bite of chocolate cross-saint and smirks at how she's reminded of Satsuki out of innocent voice nooo reason at all* Ummmah... [I'm slightly distracted by the taste of the chocolate filling... mmmmmh... *spaces out* okay, my conscious part of mind is back.] This is all about the Heisig method of memorizing kanjis. I've mentioned that I started on his book here, where I also gave a couple of examples of his method. Practically it works this way:
He gives you the kanji, one keyword to it, breaks the kanji up into its radicals and primitives which all hold a special meaning that you acquire throughout the course one after the other, and then gives you a (often quite crazy) story to remember it. Later in the book, once you're used to how the system works, it's going to be yourself making up the story. The weirder this story is going to be, the easier it will be to remember.
When you start on this book, and work with it every day, it's very much possible to have memorized all of the first 2042 kanjis you're supposed to know in 4-6 weeks. Without forgetting them once you know them. Without having to write them umpeen times on a sheet of paper.
No jokes, it works. ^_^
The more of a vivid imagination you got, the easier it will be.
Well, ask me whether I'm blessed (cursed? ^ ^" well I don't care, I love it) with a vivid imagination or not...
.
.
.
Ah, there you go. → Trouble ahead
Vivid Imagination strikes Part I
Well, the good thing is: It all happened when I was still moving around in the first part of the book, in which he tells the story, so there was not much I could change about it... and yet, it happened. The first Jrocker [2nd was マオ in 宣] finding his way into a kanji was Satsuki. Don't ask me what he's got to do with 桂 and Ivy wrapped around the ankles of his feet, but I definitely do see that (and more) once I'm presented with this kanji, or its meaning, respectively. ... heck... did I just say "ivy"?... I meant the plant. But now I ... saw... somethingone... totally else o_O"
Omy, I better get to the story itself XD~
So, the whole thing struck when I was presented with the kanji 兆, it's keywords being portent. It's a pictograph of the back of a turtle, and since when it - used as a radical - is going to be tagged with the meaning turtle, we quickly make up a little story that connects portent/evil omen with a turtle. I'll spare you with boring details in this case.
Okay, so far everything clear.
Next kanji: 桃 Momo, the peach tree. Now we have to make up a story that connects portent with a tree, since that is the meaning of the radical to the left of the portent.
Well, already there I started to not totally walk Mr Heisig's way. For ever since I got to know the word 'momo', I knew that it could mean both 'peach' and 'thigh'... and well, Uruha-person that I am, I found it rather funny to say, or simply think "I like Japanese momos... %DD" So, my little story went more like
"Once I start seeing thighs hanging from peach tree instead of the actual fruit, it's a very bad omen, since I'm prone to losing myself totally within the world of ... Japanese... momos"
Alright so far. *cough*
Next one was 眺 - keyword was stare. So to the left you have the radical for eye, and to the right the portent again. That's where I suddenly went lost.
For some reason, the word stare conjured an immediate image of mikaru's direct stare, the feelings his eyes can give me when he's looking at me, and I guess it's not that hard to understand how I easily had a connection of his (evil) stare and the kanji.
Well, from that moment on, the kanji 兆 itself started to mean 'mikaru' to me....
Which is okay, as long as I don't lose sight of the actual meanings and keywords, ne. So I just connected mikaru with a turtle... imagining him to always have a little turtle pet on his shoulder, carrying it around, rocking out on lives with it... *squee* [See, that's what I mean - the image is so weird, I'll never forget it XDDD] Well, and then suddenly also the peach tree had him there, his face hovering in a dark purple and black cloud of mist shaped a bit like 兆, being a portent in itself, making me dizzy as I just try to forget Japanese thighs while trying to pluck the actual fruit from the tree, and not get caught in licking the branches...
Uhm. Well. Vivid imagination, no?
Sooo... mikaru had snuck his way into a couple of kanjis already. I can't wait to finding more kanjis with the primitive 'mikaru'... xDDD I actually just looked for some *cough* just because. And what do you think ... how much fun I just had finding 佻 - a human figure next to... 'mikaru aka portent'... and its meaning being frivolity....
That's not hard to imagine a~t all! Hahahaha...
*cough* Well, anyway. So much about mikarusama.
The next kanji was 犬 - the dog. Mr Heisig gives it the connotation of a small dog (because the primitive meaning for a St.Bernhard already had been attached to a different primitive, so as to not confuse the two, this one has become →), a Chihuahua.
Well... for everyone who knows a tiny bit about Ruki's love for dogs, especially Chihuahuas... yeah. Of course, suddenly that image of a Chihuahua was very vividly linked to ルキ. So far, he hadn't had much to do with the kanji itself, yet when I got to the next kanji...
状, keyword status quo. It depicts a (very short version of) the turtle on the left, and the Chihuahua on the right. So Mr Heisig wrote that little plot about how a turtle fell in love with a Chihuahua [I started bursting already there], and of course their families didn't like the idea of their children intermarrying. The two of them upset the status quo with their love for each other.
Hmmmmmm and suddenly it was not hard at all to turn this kanji I would have found boring in most cases into a sparkling story about mikaru's turtle falling in love with one of ルキ's Chihuahuas... and neither mikaru nor ルキ liked the idea of their pets together very much, as the two men don't really like each other that much so... I saw their endless evil stares and grumbles while the turtle and Chihuahua steal away as their 'parents' fight XDDDD~
Darn, could you ever have imagined that studying kanji could me that much fun? Mah, I always loved studying them, writing them, but heck, this is so great hehe~~~
credits?
So yeah, you know where to find me in about half an hour. In the library of course, alternately staring into some huge, blue book and staring off into the distance, with a (hopefully) blissful smile playing around my lips.
Ah yeah, the Asian guy hasn't been there anymore. Guess his exams are over. Same with Flausch, that blond guy I happened to be the neighbour of twice before, and Patrick. [I guess that makes the rest, non-examers, some sort of elite? *laughs*]
じゃねね。
ららバイ〜
...
兆 （笑）...佻 (爆)