Kind of off topic bu I've found a training method I've been toying with for internalising Kanji shapes has been working out the number of strokes of a character without writing it( this includes writing it in the air or on your palm ) I sort of visualize the writing in my head it kind of takes place on a black background with red lines.

I ussually try it with the bigger Kanji as well such as:

響
機
艦

I find it has helped me to produce shapes faster without such heavy reliance on the stories( I still use them anyway though )

Thunk Wrote:Hey - are the intrepretations of Kanji and Hanzi the same? Considering kanji was drafted into Japanese culture over 1000 years ago, I would assume there would be a great deal of variance. But I don't think there is. Am I right?

Some times it's identical, sometimes it's completely different. In general though, the basic concept is the same. For example, 好 is "to like" in Japanese, in Chinese it's "good". While those are used differently because of that, it's quite easy to realize how the concept is shared.

Same with 書 - in Japanese it's "to write", in Cantonese it's "book". (Apparently...)

These two meanings are also apparent in words such as 読書 (reading books) and 好い which is a sort of nuanced way of saying something is good.

I just found a download for a portion of Heisig's Hanzi books. I clicked on them, and the keywords are mostly the same for the same symbols in kanji. You're right. If it's off, it's barely off. That's a relief.

http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publ...zi%201.htm

My boys have been watching me do this, and their best friend has been going to Chinese classes every Saturday for years, now, so they want to start learning, too. I think I'll get the traditional hanzi book, and start it with them this summer, for a project.

I used to think that Chinese symbols were archaic, pointless, excessive, and over-complicated... But now, seeing how they unite dozens and dozens of different languages and dialects together, I think it's pure genius. Whether you speak Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, English, etc, the symbols mean the same thing universally. It's beautiful.