Tips for Memorizing?

[adv]

What are some tips for memorizing Kanji? Or memorizing in general? I have a lot of trouble retaining facts. I've been taking Japanese for three semesters and I sometimes can't even remember certain katakana. Thanks.

[gedatsu]

Well when I want to learn an new kanji (specifically its various readings) I create sentences using each reading. It takes time, but puts it in context and makes it much easier to remember.

If you have trouble remembering the strokes, the only way I've found that really works is repetition (this is where writing out sentences helps). Some people suggest relating it to an object, but I've never found that very useful.

I've never found a 'quick fix' way to learn kanji...

[Scrivener]

Kanji are made up of just a few elements. There are only about 20 different strokes that are ever used to write, to start with. Then there are the radicals, which each have their own meaning. Then some kanji have other kanji inside them.

So I'd say first off, learn the strokes that are used from a calligraphy book (there's like a vertical stroke that leans to the left, a vertical stroke that leans to the right, etc., I can't remember the names of the strokes).

Then learn the radicals and what each one means (like the one called "grass crown" that's in just about all the characters for plants). You don't need to learn every single radical by rote memorization. But when you come across a character, make sure you know what the radical is and what it means. Take a bit of a look at other characters with the same radical in the dictionary, and look for any similarities in their meaning.

Then get one of those books that gives you a kanji on each page and about 100 little boxes to practice it. Put on the stereo and practice writing, and when you do, THINK about the elements in each kanji and where you may have seen them before.

You don't actually need to learn how to write (who writes with a pen these days??) but it's helpful to put in some kinetic memory as well as visual memory. It makes you think about their structure more.

On top of that, find something you really want to read, and use a kanji dictionary to look up the characters you don't know. That will also make you think about the structure of the characters.

Make up your own little memonic devices to help you classify the elements further.

The trick is that when you look at a kanji, bits of it will mean something to you, even if you don't know the whole thing. It's all about classification into categories, and about making things mean something to you in some way.

[David Hallgren]

Read through this PDF http://www.ic.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/miscPublications/pdf/RK4/RK4-00.pdf
Take your time, maybe 2 weeks or so, and really put in the effort in memorizing the stories.
If you found that the method works for you, as it does for me any many others, buy the book. This book really is either perfect or useless depending on whether or not the method works for you, that's why it's so great with a preview PDF.

Sorry about the short post but I'm in a bit of hurry :sorry:

[Keiichi]

I took a skim though that and it looks pretty interesting. :) When I have time, I'll read though it.
The way I do it now is, as mentioned, by repitition. For those learning in classes, you're pretty much stuck to having to write them, which doesn't sound fun, but useful in the long run. I think that the reading David provided talks about it, representing each kanji with an image of what the kanji means. That was how I was taught the kana a few years ago and found picture notations very useful. I still try to invent my own for kanji. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Just use your imagination. :p

Keiichi

:blush:

[Scrivener]

When I lived in Japan I knew people who had been through two volumes of that "Remembering the Kanji", and when you asked them what some sign or advertisement said, they would say "well the first character means X or sometimes Y, and the second character means A or sometimes B", and they had no clue how to actually say the words written on the sign. Therefore they couldn't "leverage" any of their conversational Japanese to help with their reading practice. They might be looking at an okonomiyaki restaurant and say "the first character means like and the second character means cook" and even though they KNEW what okonomiyaki was they didn't know the sign said okonomiyaki. Or like there are two words for bookstore, honya and shoten, right? They knew it was a bookstore, they knew the first character meant book and the second character meant shop, but they didn't know if they should pronounce it honya or shoten. That's a massive disadvantage with those books.

[Glenn]

I wouldn't say so much that that's a disadvantage as those people didn't understand that learning kanji can help to learn vocabulary. It seems pretty obvious to me that just knowing what kanji mean and how they are read aren't going to help you know every single word you come across (of the ones that are kanji words). If you think about it, this would be the same thing as thinking that knowing Latin and Greek would mean that you know 60-70% of the words in English. There is a history of the evolution of the meaning of words that can't always be found in just looking at their components. This should be obvious from looking at words like 取っ手.

On top of that, find something you really want to read, and use a kanji dictionary to look up the characters you don't know. That will also make you think about the structure of the characters.

That's all well and good, but there is a problem when it's every word or every other word that you don't know and have to look up. That can just be downright discouraging, even if you are interested in the subject matter. This is why taking classes can be helpful, because you're more likely to come across reading materials that are more appropriate for your level, and therefore less discouraging. Of course the disadvantage there is that it may not always be interesting...

[David Hallgren]

I recently bought a book named Breaking into Japanese Literature. It seems to be a great way to start reading Japanese. It contains seven short stories, and each spread is devided into three parts. One with the Japanese text, on with a quite litteral translation into english, and a running dictionary which contains almost every word in the text in the order as they appear.
It states that it manages to cover 50% of the jouyou kanji. I've only read the first story yet but have learned lots of new words and they seem to stick much better than vocabulary that I haven't seen in context. Another great addition is that one can download all the stories as Mp3 from the authors page, http://www.speaking-japanese.com/literature.html

Has anyone else used this book and what do you think about it?

[adv]

Thanks for the replies. I looked through that pdf and it was quite helpful. I generally don't buy language books (aside from what I need for class) but maybe I should reconsider.

[Emoni]

Go hardcore and tattoo all Joyo kanji on your body!!! :)

[BlaqJap]

Write down over and over and over and.... well you get the point. It helps me but I know it doesn't help everyone else. Never forget about it! Even if you wrote it a hundred times one day and you have memorized it, still take the time to write some each day so it's fresh in your mind. Good Luck!

[Glenn]

I recently bought a book named Breaking into Japanese Literature. It seems to be a great way to start reading Japanese. It contains seven short stories, and each spread is devided into three parts. One with the Japanese text, on with a quite litteral translation into english, and a running dictionary which contains almost every word in the text in the order as they appear.
It states that it manages to cover 50% of the jouyou kanji. I've only read the first story yet but have learned lots of new words and they seem to stick much better than vocabulary that I haven't seen in context. Another great addition is that one can download all the stories as Mp3 from the authors page, http://www.speaking-japanese.com/literature.html

Has anyone else used this book and what do you think about it?

I've read through most of the stories and I like the book. The stories are good and hold one's (well, at least my) interest. One of the things to keep in mind when reading it, though, is that the two authors whose works are included in the book wrote back before the orthography reforms, so they represent the older conventions. I haven't made it to read along with the online readings yet, but I really like that they added that feature to the book. Overall I would say that it's worth the money.

[boojitsu]

simple answer...
FLASH CARDS

if you are devoted to learning... u won't mind doing flashcards for japanese everyday so you can at least recognize kanji, katakana, and words you're learning. im starting it now (i just ended hs and i don't have japanese here in college so i am self teaching until i can find a japanese class somewhere)

-boo

[Hojikun]

Where could I buy a full version of this book ?

It only extends as far as part one...some of the mental/image associations are a bit wierd but make you think enough to make your own...only wish it included KUN and ON pronunciation. Ive put of starting studying kanji for a year and found this book a real good entry

found it on amazon...didnt realise it was a properly published work :p

[Kamisama]

draw all of the kanji you know, day after day after day. and once you know one by heart do it once a week. You should break the kanji you learn into time periods. remember there are 2000+. 2000/365 = 5 a day. But this is so harsh since japanese can take up to 6 years to learn. So i would tell you to learn 2 a day and learn how to relate them to sentences. Watashi for example. Use the kanji instead of kata/hira.
If you learn kanji and learn to put them into sentences, you can learn two japanese sentences a day. Leading up to perhaps 730+ phrases with effort in a year. Those are good numbers dude.


P.S.
I like Emoni's idea also.

[nhk9]

There is a book called "kanzen masuta- kanji" especially made for those taking the jlpt tests and wanting to learn kanji fast. There are two books, and each book can be completed in a designated 56-day course. The first book covers about the first 1000 kanjis in Japanese, and the second one covers the harder ones, about 750 of them. By the end of both books, one should've no problem with the kanjis in the jlpt level 1, at least that's what they claim... I have used the first book, and it's quite useful, and I recommend it to anybody. Look for the name in amazon.co.jp

[Glenn]

...only wish it included KUN and ON pronunciation.

That's what book two is for. The method is explained in the intro to the first book. It's basically taking the learning in steps. First, you learn how to write the kanji and one keyword meaning for each. Then, you learn the readings for them and some compounds that use them. There is also a third book, which teaches an additional 958 kanji (taking you to a total of 3000), and it's divided into the writing/meaning part and the reading part, just like the first two books.

[okaeri_man]

i find learning words that contain the kanji helpful myself. that and repetition, whether it's reading it or writing it, helps it stick.