jordan3311
Member
From: ohio
Registered: 2010-08-09
Posts: 201
i am around the 440 range in RTK. I am finding it hard to remember some of the harder kanji do you guys think that it is important to write down the kanji story do u think that would help? Has anyone every tried it this? Thank you for the help in advance
Asriel
Member
From: 東京
Registered: 2008-02-26
Posts: 1343
When I went through, I wrote all the stories down in my notebook. One by one. I've got a notebook somewhere with 2042+ little stories written in it. Yep, it's crazy.
But it also helped me remember the kanji. I'm not sure what it was -- maybe because it took time to write it, I concentrated on it, and visualized more? I'm not sure, but it definitely helped me.
You're supposed to look at the word, and then remember the story, which should lead you to the kanji. Eventually you'll see word->kanji, but it might start out with word->story->kanji. But you shouldn't get in a habit of marking a card "correct" if you remembered the kanji JUST from the story.
If you went word*forgot, look at story*-> kanji, i'd mark it incorrect.
If it were just word->story->kanji, inside your head, then you're doing fine.
I never wrote stories down, I just made sure to really think about the story in an involved way, usually while writing out the kanji. During the site's or Anki's SRS flashcards reviews, try to use the keyword to trigger the story in your mind (one thing I found helpful was writing or rewriting stories so that the keyword is the first word/concept of the story). The story is part of the 'target information' for flashcards with this method, so you don't want to look at the story or the kanji during reviews. Fail the card if you can't recall the story or the kanji, and restudy the story later, making adjustments or using a different story if you think it would help improve recall. I'd even say that unless you can remember the kanji instantly, then if you can remember the kanji but not the story, you should fail it and restudy it.
Last edited by nest0r (2011 January 18, 9:29 pm)
chamcham
Member
Registered: 2005-11-11
Posts: 1444
jordan3311 wrote:
Another reason i brought this up because it is getting hard for me to remember the kanji without the story For example I see the word relax i cant remember the kanji but if i look at the story i can remember the kanji. Is this bad?
Here's how I deal with this:
When you see the keyword, think about the first thing that comes to your
mind. And then make a story about it.
Next time, when you see the keyword again, the same thing will pop in your mind,
you'll remember the story and then be able to write the kanji.
EratiK
Member
From: Paris
Registered: 2010-07-15
Posts: 874
To reply to your original post, it depends if you've already noticed that you have a "writting" memory. If you have, then writting all the stories down will really be beneficial.
About the first 440, it wouldn't hurt to write down at least one trigger word to the story (it's a sort of keyword of the story, so until I learned the kanji, I had two keywords as a bridgde: the "real" keyword and the story keyword), but it would be okay if you'd only focus on the ones you're having trouble with, and detail these ones.
TheCuriosity
New member
From: Toronto Canada
Registered: 2010-11-30
Posts: 8
jordan3311 wrote:
since I am going to try to write down the stories do you think i should go back and write stories for all 44o kanji or just write the ones that I am having trouble with.
IMO, for the ones you already confidently know, to me this would seem like a lot of unnecessary work that will bog you down rather than move you forward. If I was in your shoes, I would start writing them down as I learned the new ones now from this point on, but for the ones that I've previously learned, I wouldn't write down the story until I came across a previously learned one that I am still having difficulties with; a case by case basis.
the 'keyword to the keyword' mentions from chamcham and EratiK are great ideas IMO. For a few I've had difficulties remembering the story (and too lazy to draw), I found just changing the story to fit in with the first word that pops into my mind made it all that much easier to remember.
