Hello,

Sometimes, the english keyword associated with the kanji confuses me. For example, theres the kanji for seduce, temp, stimulate and aroused.

I tend get mixed up and interchange the kanji. Any suggestion on this one?

Some of the keywords are incredibly similar, and for good reason, many of the kanji have incredibly similar meanings. As a result, similar, yet different, keywords had to be picked.

Improving your knowledge of the keyword (although this is basically only really useful with trees and flowers) would help, or you could try changing the keyword with woelpad's script, but that's probably not a very good idea.

But the best thing would be to further diversify your stories so that they are tied to that specific keyword, or at least more so to that keyword than the similar leech (like seduce and tempt). If you're really having trouble, try using a different sense of the word or perhaps a pun.

I had trouble with this too. Usually I didn't even realize there was a problem until the review came up and I swiftly and confidently drew the wrong kanji.... It's hard to predict what keywords you might mix up and I think it varies from person to person. Everytime in the book that Heisig added cautions about other keywords I had to sit back and try to figure out why anyone would confuse those two since they are so obviously different! Things I found helpful...

1- When making your stories really focus on the particular meaning that keyword holds for you - focus on the situations and phrases that immediately pop into your head when you hear it. I got confused between dainty(1363) and delicate(889). To differentiate I now think of 'daintily mincing across the floor' and 'delicately floating'. Since for me I never 'delicately mince' or 'daintily float' and my stories lead off from there I have separated the two sucessfully. For aroused I think of 'aroused to fury' and 'stimulate into motion' Can't help with seduce and tempt - I've never confused the two for whatever reason possibly because I associate seduce with people and tempt always involves a concrete item you are tempted with.

2- Add an intermediary phrase. When ever I hear the word 'commence' I immediately think 'let the games commence!' and my story is of the goddess athena standing on a greek pedistal to commence the olympics in ancient greece. This works well since I never say 'let the games start!' I also have used songs the same way. (Jump Around by House of Pain for 'jump')

3- If you are confusing a few, start a list in a notebook for a couple weeks and then sit down and work them out all at once. I had trouble with elude, persue, and chase - all involve running away or after somthing down a road. I resorted to alliteration - Bugs bunny ELudes ELmer Fudd, you Persue Pigs, Chase a Conductor.

Hope this helps you. Good luck!

I've been tempted into eating a slice of chocolate cake, but have I ever been seduced into a slice? Can a chocolate cake seduce? I'd say not. Seducing seems more of an overt action, whereas something can be tempting by mere virture of it being.

They are similar words, yes, but they each have connotations which make them distinct from each other. My suggestion is to find a sentance where you'd use one, but the other would seem odd.

As others have said, take advantage of mental associations with certain words.

I also like to make puns and invent names to help me remember. I was having trouble with "technique" until I came up with this story:
芸　- A magician, the Amazing Niquie, has a technique to turn flowers into rising clouds with a wave of his hands.

For entice, I made this story, based on some annoying afternoon TV commercials:
誘 - Words in a pamphlet entice people to go to the DeVry Enticement School, with promises that they will excel in life.

Look up the kanji using a DS Lite and Genius Dictionary Software, look at all the words that use the kanji. Come up with the story based on that.

[ファブリス]

Look up the definitions of the english keywords in a good dictionary and try to understand what is it that makes each word different, rather than the meaning they have in common. The origins of the word (latin roots) can be helpful to differentiate the keywords, so use a complete dictionary (they are several good ones online). Then base your story on that difference.

Like fragileshards says, try to find some expression that uses the word, it will usually exemply the particular flavor of the word.

Use play on words and mental associations as plan B because if the story does not involve the original meaning of the keyword, your kanji to meaning recall will be more difficult.

Those four English words carry slightly different nuances:

*Seducing* someone is usually done through sexual appeal, and forcing them to do something they normally wouldn't do.

But you can *tempt* someone into a forbidden pleasure---not necessarily sexual---that they already want. (Tempt the dieter into eating a cheesecake. Tempt the delinquent into spraying graffiti.)

*Stimulating* someone can mean to give them the strength and courage to do something positive, especially when they're down in the dumps. Again, not necessarily sexual.

*Aroused* carries the connotation of waking something dormant: usually excitement, but also anger.

RTK1 is actually a pretty good way of brushing up on some English vocabulary Be sure you have a good English dictionary nearby.

I use dictionary.com as it sometimes explains the nuances of different words as well as provide examples. I always look at the kanji meaning i.e. seduce before looking at its primitives and wait for an image to pop into my head. Then i look at the primitives and try to tie them in with that image. When it comes to reviewing the first image that came to my mind initially pops into my head again with the primitives as well.

While were on the subject of confusing words can anyone tell me the difference if any between the two kanji

surname
family name

and what tactics you used to seperate the two.

thanks

yvanc Wrote:Hello,
Sometimes, the english keyword associated with the kanji confuses me. For example, theres the kanji for seduce, temp, stimulate and aroused.
I tend get mixed up and interchange the kanji. Any suggestion on this one?

I just posted this on another thread:

leosmith Wrote:

Chadokoro_K Wrote:Has anyone else tweaked keywords this way

I've done something like this with non-RTK1 kanji, but I use keyword = meaning(unique primitive).

In your case, I'd use the keywords
for seduce = tempt(dagger)
for tempt = tempt(license)
Stimulate and aroused are very different, so these wouldn't confuse me. But there are many others that I wish I would have done this with when I went thru RTK1.

The ones that got me are marriage/marry into and accumulate/amass.

We just need to make more specific stories for the ones that trip us up.

akrodha Wrote:RTK1 is actually a pretty good way of brushing up on some English vocabulary Be sure you have a good English dictionary nearby.

Agreed, I thought my English was pretty good for a non-native, but halfway through this book my vocabulary has increased quite a bit. (the hard part is actually remembering their exact meaning and using them in daily life)

Some of them may be archaic, but many are useful to me.
Now I just gotta stop procrastinating and get the last 800 of book 1 out of the way.