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Memorizing Kunyomi - kfmfe04 - 2008-12-14
Here are some examples of UGLY memory tricks that I have used to memorize Kunyomi.
欺く あざむく to deceive
story: sounds like 朝寒く - I'm deceiving myself that mornings are cold
尊い とうとい respectable
story: sounds like 弟 - my respectable brother 尊い弟
鍛える きたえる to train, to discipline
story: sounds like 北 - I have to go North to train
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How do you memorize kunyomi?
Memorizing Kunyomi - Nuriko - 2008-12-14
I find myself doing a lot of stuff like that subconsciously, with onyomi readings too~ Also, if a Japanese word is somehow similar to an English word, that'll do as well. Especially something like 「台風」- typhoon. Can anyone tell me if this is truly just a coincidence? XD
Sometimes if I use Japanese word associations like you do, I end up thinking the word is supposed to have the kanji used in the word that sounds like it. For the example 鍛える, I might accidentally trick myself into thinking 北 belongs somewhere in there. Of course, not within weeks of learning but, but more like months. I'd probably take the 北 association too far. Well... maybe not for this example. Maybe if it were an onyomi with kanji that seem to have nothing to do with the meaning.
Memorizing Kunyomi - snispilbor - 2008-12-14
Here's one. 侮辱 makes me think 不じょく "bad joke" (not a real Japanese word of course)
EDIT: Err, I just realized, that may or may not be actually be kunyomi... the topic should be changed to readings in general
Nuriko: Isn't the English word "typhoon" taken from Japanese? Always thought it was.
Memorizing Kunyomi - Nuriko - 2008-12-14
snispilbor,
I did the exact same thing with 侮辱！ Pretty easy thing to do I guess, the 不 thing comes pretty naturally with 「ぶ」and same goes for 「じょく」。
I just looked up typhoon at dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/typhoon
It's origins come from Chinese, which means there are indeed ties to Japanese. Thanks for pointing that out!
I just thought of another one. 「平たくに言えば」/ 「ひらたくに言えば」"To put it simply".
The ひら in 手のひら/palm comes to mind. It seems kinda far fetched, but it vaguely comes out as "I'll just use whatever's in my palm to explain" ---> in other words, in very few words. I said it was far fetched XD
Memorizing Kunyomi - kfmfe04 - 2008-12-14
It would be nice if we had a list of kunyomi vocabulary and could post stories for each one (like the way we do for Heisig) - I think that would help us share ways to memorize readings...
For example, this one just came up:
快い こころよい (no joke!!!) meaning pleasant, agreeable
story: obviously 心良い fits the meaning and the reading
Sometimes, the stories are really obvious, but usually they are not so easy.
Noriko, thanks for your 手のひら for 平 - I can use that one!
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This one is harder:
茂る しげる overgrown
story: ひげがしげる an overgrown beard - not an exact match, but at least it rhymes
Memorizing Kunyomi - Katsuo - 2008-12-14
暁 "daybreak" あかつき.
Look out your window at daybreak and see a cat ski by.
Memorizing Kunyomi - furrykef - 2008-12-14
Katsuo Wrote:暁 "daybreak" あかつき.Actually, that one has a pretty good mnemonic built into the word itself: 赤 is あか, meaning red, and 月 is つき, meaning moon, so all you have to do is imagine a red moon during daybreak -- a pretty vivid image itself. Why on earth they don't just spell it 赤月 to begin with is beyond me...
Look out your window at daybreak and see a cat ski by.
- Kef
Memorizing Kunyomi - shakkun - 2008-12-14
According to 大辞林 it was originally 明か時 (【暁】〔「明(ア)か時(トキ)」の転〕). I guess there were a lot of words like that in Japanese that were given their own kanji later. Another one is 鶏 which gets its own kanji even though it's just 庭鳥. 快い is probably another example.
捧げる - sounds like a contraction of 差し上げる
麓 - 婦元 all the females of a village originate at the foot of a mountain
怠ける - 生＋蹴る neglecting to cook dinner and just kicking it on to the table raw?
崇める - 上がる and 褒める put together
That's all I can think of. I just realised apart from 怠ける those are all less common words. I guess because those ones are easier to forget.
Memorizing Kunyomi - Tobberoth - 2008-12-14
I don't use mnemonics for words, though I have at times thought about maybe making some mnemonic to remember which kanji to use when you write a word, at least when I find it hard to remember.
Memorizing Kunyomi - furrykef - 2008-12-14
shakkun Wrote:According to 大辞林 it was originally 明か時 (【暁】〔「明(ア)か時(トキ)」の転〕). I guess there were a lot of words like that in Japanese that were given their own kanji later. Another one is 鶏 which gets its own kanji even though it's just 庭鳥. 快い is probably another example.Another one is 湖 (みずうみ), which obviously "should" be 水海.
- Kef
Memorizing Kunyomi - kfmfe04 - 2008-12-14
Here are some more:
源 みなもと source, origin
story: 皆本さん I look for the source, and surprisingly, find Mr. Minamoto
織物 おりもの fabric, textile
story: 折物・おりもの The piece of fabric was too big so I had to FOLD it
盛り さかり the bloom, the height of
story: 坂・さか At the height of the Sakura seasons, I was standing on a 坂 watching the petals fall
暦 こよみ almanac, calendar
story: 小読み my almanac is TINY - it fits on the tip of my finger
鎖 くさり chain
story: a necklace around my neck made of alternating 草 くさ and 薬 くすり
滞る とどこおる to get stuck in traffic (this one is hard)
story: you are trying to reach (届く とどく) somewhere but the traffic is slow as 氷 こおり
酌み交わす くみかわす to drink in a group
story: 組 くみ is a group: if you drink together 交わす かわす is an exchange
扱う あつかう to handle
story: handle hot 熱い・あつい things with care
傍ら かたわら beside, nearby
story: guy named わら was the person 方・かた beside me 8~( bad one...
志す こころざす to intend
story: I intend to pierce my heart 心刺す
惨めな みじめな miserable
story: Les Miserables - Les Miz sounds like みじ
Memorizing Kunyomi - Katsuo - 2008-12-14
kfmfe04 Wrote:How do you memorize kunyomi?I expect most people are familiar with the method in RTK2. But for anyone who isn't, here's a quick overview:
a) Choose one thing to associate with each kana based on a meaning, e.g. let か = mosquito, わ = wheel, etc. These are your building blocks.
b) To learn longer kun readings, make stories by combining those building blocks. E.g. for leather 革 the kun reading is かわ. So to remember "leather = かわ" you need to make a story relating "leather" to "mosquito & wheel" much as in RTK1.
Heisig doesn't recommend doing this systematically for all kun readings. Rather just use it when you're having trouble getting a particular word to stick.
RTK2's system uses Japanese words only as the building blocks. Here, on the other hand, is a list of mainly English mnemonics that someone made.
Memorizing Kunyomi - kfmfe04 - 2008-12-14
Katsuo, thanks for sharing that with us.
I have RTK2, but never bothered to read through it.
That list of English mnemonics looks interesting; I'll use it when I get stuck.
By the way, what have you been doing personally to learn kunyomi?
Do you use these English mnemonics?