I recommend using the KanjiStrokeOrder font. The differences between similar kanji are usually much clearer in handwriting. Plus your won't learn to write like a printer and you can immediately check if you remembered the stroke order correctly.

Font download: http://sites.google.com/site/nihilistorguk/

Katsuo Wrote:

lanval Wrote:is there any good alternative to that taskmaster primitive

Heisig wrote "conjure up the memory of some taskmaster (or taskmistress) whom you will 'never forget'".

So think of someone (real or imagined) who personifies this word for you. For example a strict schoolteacher from your past. Or one of the suggestions in the posts above. Personally, I use a circus ringmaster and have the first stroke as his whip.

Ditto. Taskmaster became one of my easiest primitives to work into a story because I associated it with the meanest teacher I ever had - a high school vocal teacher who would kick chairs, swear at us, and throw things if we were out of tune.

I had no problems at all distinguishing it from similar primitives because of his angry, cross-eyed, red-veined face with spittle frothing on his lips.

Since taskmaster always seems to appear on the extreme right of a kanji, I used Hitler. It works pretty well, although there are some awkward moments. For example, the kanji for politics consists of Hitler and correct...

@harhol: LOL

I choose just teacher as the primitive meaning, and usually try to think of my martial arts instructors.

mafried Wrote:@harhol: LOL

I choose just teacher as the primitive meaning, and usually try to think of my martial arts instructors.

Be very careful when you change primitives/keywords/anything. You never know when there might be a primitive called 'teacher', or something like that. Heisig generally named things obscurely to avoid confusion, and I think it's best to stick with his primitives. Although I've been making my own stories up since 200 or so, I've never changed the meaning of a primitive.

Heisig may recommend that, but the collective experience of users on this site is clearly that new primitive meanings should be adopted as often as is helpful.

I've changed a few primitives. Not many, but some that just don't stick in my consciousness. But before I do so, I check the index, including Volume III index to ensure there will be no conflicts.

onafarm Wrote:I've changed a few primitives. Not many, but some that just don't stick in my consciousness. But before I do so, I check the index, including Volume III index to ensure there will be no conflicts.

+1

Changing is okay. But it should not be casually done -- never simply because you can come up with a quick story for one or two new kanji. You have to make sure you're not creating a bigger problem for yourself down the road than the one you are attempting to solve with a renaming.

having just puzzled through this i note a few differences

walking legs:
3 strokes
final diagonal stroke is slightly curved
Final diagonal crosses first stroke, vs touching
final diagonal is higher on first stroke

Taskmaster:
4 strokes
third stroke is usually "pushed in" , vs on the outside
final stroke touches, but does not cross first stroke
Final stroke touches the bottom of the first stroke