This is basically a thread where those working through James Heisig's Remembering Hanzi series can request stories for characters they get particularly stuck on. These can be requests either for others' stories or for members to create them.

There have been a number of times where I'll hit a character and just be stuck for ages trying to find a memorable image to associate with the keyword, and sometimes it'll be a similar keyword problem as well.

So, if you're really stuck, post it in here and maybe we can help you!

Khatz's list isn't great when it comes to stories. I tried using them on mine and a few of them don't stick very well

Rather than waiting for requests, I thought I would be a little proactive.

I did book 1 of "Remember the Hanzi" in about 3 months (although still revising until book 2 comes out). Along the way, there were certain hanzi, or *types* of hanzi, where I had difficulty with the stories. So I've written a couple of blog posts about the methods I used to do this. Given that the posts are filled with actual stories that I use, I thought it would fit well with this thread:

General tips & tricks of constructing stories:
http://mandarinsegments.blogspot.com/200...tions.html

Stories for abstract characters:
http://mandarinsegments.blogspot.com/200...inese.html

Wow, not much action in this thread... Remembering Hanzi must be easy
Anyway, I'd like to ask for stories for 雜 (RTH, frame 1498), please!

I'm not at 1498 yet, but have plenty of other characters already where I'd like to have some more input. Let's start with one of the radicals, 忄. "State of mind" never worked for me and all my stories having to deal with 忄 are no good. What picture do you use for 忄?

diephysiker Wrote:I'm not at 1498 yet, but have plenty of other characters already where I'd like to have some more input. Let's start with one of the radicals, 忄. "State of mind" never worked for me and all my stories having to deal with 忄 are no good. What picture do you use for 忄?

I didn't use this one myself (it just came to me), but if you're ok with dirty images, it may work for you. Take a look at the shape. Doesn't it look like a long thing hanging down with two "drops" attached?

That's where most men's hearts are anyway, right?

I believe a popular image for that primitive is Data from Star Trek.

It looks like RtK shares many primitives with RtH, so it might be useful for you to check out some RtK stories on this website when you run into trouble. Other useful ones include spiderman for 糸 and Mr T for 人 primitive when it appears as its altered form on the left.

also some kanji are better to be memorized. Basic ones, because it will make you're life so much easier for making up more stories for the harder characters. I remeber i memorized the initial 100 kanji basic ones. And the rest the stories where easy to remeber.

Thanks for the input, guys!
I like the sexual image, gna stick with that one, I remember those pretty well Thanks@bflatnine!

@blackmacros: Yeah, I did some story mining within the RtK stories, but sometimes they don't work for me for whatever reason.

@ta12121: I did this, too and you are right, it makes things easier later with more difficult characters.

I'm gna request more soon, maybe we can get this thread a bit more active while waiting for the official review site.

I had one pretty visual for 忄, although ended up not using it that much.

So, the "standing heart"... you know the hospital IV stands? (Something like this or this) Imagine one of those, where instead of a bag with liquid there's a living heart, that pumps blood to the attached patient through the IV lines. Here you go: "heart on a stand".

Standing heart, that's another cool image

Ok, so here is another request: 竟. I never found a story that I could easily remember for that one. I had a standard story somewhere from the web saying that the voice 音 of a person 儿 changes unexpectedly 竟. But that is not a very vivid image and I didn't find a better one yet.

I'd still argue for Wizard of Oz Tin Man image for 忄, since at the end the movie he does wear a heart shaped pendant. As it's a "person" it allows easier images for stories.

Another character: 程.
My story is, "You have to make some bread 禾 for the mouth 口 of the king 王 for his long journey 程." I can't remember this story well, it's too boring. Has anyone a better story for this one?

(禾 - standing grain, I've made bread from grain)

I gna extend this post, maybe somebody comes across a character he/she would be able to share a story for.

屋
My story: "The corpse is left in the room until somebody comes to examine it."

I have difficulty to remember 异 (different, RSH 616, snake skin, two hands).
Do you have some good story to propose here?

I personally used Richard Simmons for 人. Made for some interesting stories...

Xiaoyu, as for 异 I don't use the same primitives as you do. Mine are "baby snake" and "two hands". My story isn't great but for some reason I remember it

"The baby snake hides her face behind its two hands because that person/thing/whatever in front of it looks so scaringly different."

Some suggestions:

竟: Agree it's made up of 音+儿. My story is of someone sitting relaxed, and when they hear an unexpected sound, they suddenly jump up and run away (sound+legs).

异: snakeskin + two hands. I am at a market, and there is a stall selling snakeskins - and I've draped a red one over my left hand, and a blue one over my right hand - and I'm looking at how different they are, and especially different from what the snake used to look like.

程: As the king travels along his journey, his people are on the side of the road, putting long-grain rice into his mouth as an offering ... and he accepts it to be gracious, but he's really choking on all that rice stuffed into his mouth!

PS. I love the idea of using a heart on an IV drop for 忄. I think I will go back and re-do some of those stories, because I know for a fact that is one primitive I've struggled most with imagining. It's a character I've spoken about here before.

Anyone got a story for 表 meaning surface and made up of grow up and scarf?

And 標, mark made up of tree and ticket.

表: I picture a guy who is wearing a small scarf, which starts to (magically) widen until it completely covers his face. At this stage, I can only see the *surface* of his facial features - where his nose sticks out, his eyes are inset, etc.

GregSegments, great, thanks for the suggestions! I hadn't checked for a while, after just finishing my master degree I'm now busy with my new project, PhD in mechanical engineering. That makes me very slow learning characters, but I always do my reviews! Every now and again I stumble upon some old characters where my mnemonic has failed me either because it turned out to be not a very good one or because I never actually found a very good one in the first place.

Some more requests...

伪 - My person is "Mao", it made for some good stories, but not here. Other part is "to act".

将 - I don't like the meaning picked by Heisig here (general). I'd rather learn it as "in future" but couldn't think of a good story for this one yet. If anyone has made a "in future" story, let me know

施 - banner + scorpion = to conduct

Anyone got a decent story for "relatives" - 親 - made up of pepper plant and see.

ChristopherB Wrote:Anyone got a decent story for "relatives" - 親 - made up of pepper plant and see.

That one was fairly easy for me. My grandparents used to put hot peppers on their doors so their dogs wouldn't jump up and scratch the paint off the doors. So "See the pepper plants on my relatives' door? Just stay away if you don't want to be in pain!"

Edit: Yes, I realize how ridiculous it is. We always give them grief about it.

ChristopherB Wrote:Anyone got a decent story for "relatives" - 親 - made up of pepper plant and see.

The one from this site is awesome. Instead of pepperplant, think of it as "standing on a tree". Relatives stand on a tree looking out for you.

diephysiker Wrote:Some more requests...
伪 - My person is "Mao", it made for some good stories, but not here. Other part is "to act".

伪 : Mao + act = bogus
(I also use Mao as primitive for "person")
Mao making a nationalist speech: "this is a bogus act!!!" (he's talking about some law ("act") of a foreign country, supposed to ease commercial discussions with China. The law will never be applied. These acts of treachery are common. )

Thanks for the responses, guys! That's a huge help.

One character I repeatedly get tripped up on is 察 "scrutinize" made up of house and offer sacrifice. Any one got a good story for that?

diephysiker Wrote:将 - I don't like the meaning picked by Heisig here (general). I'd rather learn it as "in future" but couldn't think of a good story for this one yet. If anyone has made a "in future" story, let me know

施 - banner + scorpion = to conduct

What's wrong with the meaning "General"? It might be a good idea to learn it as that, because the other meaning "future" you'll see so often, it'll be easy to remember. It might be more difficult to remember its other meaning "general", so a story for that would probably be better. In which case, I imagine a GENERAL getting infuriated with a soldier trying to argue with him, that he grabs him and glues him (a part of his body) to a bunker bed.

I suppose for that story, you could combine the two meanings and add in the idea of the soldier's punishment by the General serving as a warning for what will happen IN FUTURE to anyone else who attempts to speak against him.

For the other, Heisig gives the keyword execute, as in "to carry out". Assuming conduct is along those lines, I imagine a massive banner being raised above the city. One it reaches full height, that signals an army of massive robot scorpions - ie. EXECUTES a rampage mission - to begin wrecking havoc on the city.