Hello All, Long time lurker and studier, first time poster.

I've been taking my time and am approaching 900 of RTK1, but it's taken a while due to the hectic nature of, well, life. As such, my reviewing has been a bit slow and infrequent. Anyway, I'm having trouble remembering certain primitives that seem to be weak in my mind. I consistently fail anything involving "Just-so", because, basically there is little that can be done with such a phrase. About a third of my fails involve that damn "just so" and "mend" primitive.

Does anyone have any hints? Should I substitute it for another meaning perhaps? On a side note, are there any primitives which you consider the "weak ones" of the bunch?

Jim

Hi Jim,

I had trouble with mend and just so as well. Also running. I took a step back and looked at it and I found that with me, I just felt uncomfortable with the characters themselves. I took a step away from the Heisig method, and brute forced through it, by using repetition and remembering the individual Kanji that way. I also made sure not to let it get me down that I had trouble with that specific bunch. I would review, fail the spefic Kanji, write them out and use a story. If I failed one 3 or 4 times it didn't matter. Eventually it will stick. Just keep making progress.

Hopefully someone has a better idea as a primative, but brute force worked for me. I also had a little difficulty with the Climax/Wall/Infant primative set, but found it easier than the whole mend section. I am up to about 1100 so I still have a number of primatives to encounter I am sure.

Good luck!

I think, as evidenced by this thread, the key to resolving confusing or weak primitives is to come up with a more specific image for them that makes sense for you. I also had quite a bit of trouble with "just so", until I started associating it with obsessive/compulsiveness. 堤(dike) then became a project to pile up soil to protect a town, overseen by an OCD foreman that won't leave anyone alone. In retrospect, Monk (from the TV show) might have been a good image. I also occasionally went back to "spending all day working on something" as an idea for "just so". The beauty of the primitives is that you can really have them stand for whatever you want (even several things if necessary), as long as you're careful to check that your image isn't already taken later on in the book. The stories on this site are a good source of ideas, since for the most part the checking the book has already been done for you.

I would be careful with just "brute forcing it". If there's a primitive that's giving you trouble, chances are you will encounter it again, and you will get more mileage out of having fixed the image back when you first used it.

It seems when there's a kanji or primitive I can't grasp and I just use plain repetition, I forget it easily later... so I need to come up with a story or meaning for the primitive that works for me, even if it's different from heisig or other sources. Also, looking up other systems' mnemonics and meanings for kanji, etc helps too.

I picture a little old lady with a snobby accent next to a hardworking tailor spending all day and all night trying to satisfy her whimsical taste. Every time he thinks he's done, she shakes her head and gives him frustratingly vague hints on what he needs to do to make it "just so."

yukamina Wrote:I would be careful with just "brute forcing it". If there's a primitive that's giving you trouble, chances are you will encounter it again, and you will get more mileage out of having fixed the image back when you first used it.

I absolutely agree with this. If you can get good images and stories it is a far stronger way to go. In my case with the Just So primative, I now use it as Just So., but it took me repetition to get there. The reason for me was the primative for mending was still weak in my mind, and I had to get the primative for mending down also through repetition. Now just thinking of just so brings the kanji image to mind and I can use it and mending well in stories. They key for me was not to get dicouraged. There are many tools for learning Kanji, and we all learn differently. The Heisig method has allowed me to learn more Kanji more quickly than I ever thought possible, however, after using the method for a certain amount of time, and becoming familiar with it, everyone needs to find what works best for them.

Since I live in Japan, I see the Kanji all the time, so there is a certain amount of repetition going on anyway, and I actively look for the Kanji and try to recall the meanings every chance I get. This too is against what Heisig says regarding only studying from the Keyword to the Kanji, but it also works very well for me, especially when you find humourour Kanji combinations. For example I went into the toilet at a local pub and was reading the Kanji from the toilet seat and saw 脱臭. Undress Stinky!!?! It was obvious it was for the deodorizer, but there is no way I will ever forget that combination now!

Cheers!

For just so I picture a fabulous gaylord working all day pruning/trimming/mending some Japanese style trees (not sure of their name) to get them looking just so darling!

The kanji for mending seems to be an footprint or sock that is not quite right, so one can imagine mending the footprint (sock) in order to get it correct.