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?

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.

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.

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

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

[Katsuo]

暁 "daybreak" あかつき.

Look out your window at daybreak and see a cat ski by.

Katsuo Wrote:暁 "daybreak" あかつき.

Look out your window at daybreak and see a cat ski by.

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...

- Kef

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.

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.

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

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

[Katsuo]

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.

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?