The meanings do overlap. I've sometimes confused them too. A few ideas to straighten them out:

1) For rEMOrse, note it contains EMOtion.

2) "Repent" is often used in a religious context, so maybe make a story where someone goes to church (or wherever) to repent their sins, but every time immediately commits another one.

3) For "regret", note that Heisig now calls it "resentment". If you use the silver medal idea, then maybe looking at your silver medal you feel great resentment to the person who won the gold because you consider yourself to have been the best.

(I leave it up to you how to work state of mind into the stories. Personally I usually replace that primitive with Sigmund Freud)

Very very good! Thank you both, Katsuo and ファブリス!
I think I'll do this:
1) For repent I'll use the religious nuance of the word, and I'll keep in mind that can be imposed on you from the outside;
2) For remorse, I'll do what ファブリス said, and emphasize the fact that it's an inner feeling. I'll also use the similarity with "morsel" or, better yet, the Italian word "morso" for bite (which is obviously related to the French one). Actually I had thought of this trick before, but it alone wasn't enough to stick.
3) I'll use resentment instead of regret. To tell the truth, the book I have has the resentment keyword, but on this site the old one is displayed first, so I tend to concentrate on 'regret'. But never mind.

Thanks to your help I may have solved my biggest kanji problem

Last edited by nac_est (2008 February 10, 9:56 am)