Hanzi mnemonic site/wiki

[reallych1932]

I'm looking for a site that explains hanzi , offers mnemonics preferably with pictures. Where people can contribute there own mnemonics

I've seen this one but it doesn't seem that great http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/hanzimem/

also a german site

http://taeglich.chinesisch-trainer.de/index.php?alle=2

What I would really like is a site a bit like these and a bit like the Alison Matthews and Heisig books with a dash of Pengs'fun with Chinese Characters' but not just for beginners

Anyone know something like this

[reallych1932]

I'm looking for somegthing based on mnemonics

imaginative stories images to aid memorization

[MPenguin]

I'm also looking for something.

I'm using Heisig's Remembering the Traditional Hanzi and so far, everything is great. However, in the latter chapters, mnemonics aren't given, only primitive words.

I'm looking for a site where people share their mnemonic stories using these primitive words in order to make the latter chapters of Heisig easier and more efficient (rather than having to create my own mnemonic story for every character).

[OneEye]

MPenguin, for now there's this site for Remembering the Kanji. They are planning to add a Chinese section to the site, but for now it's just Japanese (although they recently added a Chinese section to the forum). But since there's a pretty decent amount of overlap, it's still helpful.

[Janne]

I'm thinking of developing a site for this purpose, since I've also been looking for one without finding anything suiting. I'm right now at hanzi 1060 in the Heisig book myself. Have been waiting the last months for the "Reviewing the hanzi" site to be launched but nothing seems to happen.

How would the interest be for such a site? In my opinion the most important part is to be able to share and rate stories among users, plus a user forum. That would come a long way, and could be deployed in a couple of weeks time. It would be focused on readers of Heisigs book.

Since I'm using Anki as SRS (plus Skritter for writing training) I imagine using some kind of syncing against your personal anki database to keep track of progress. No need to develop a seperate SRS at the site, since Anki is so good.

Opinions? Suggestions?

[Master Rakoczi]

Sounds good. Are you working on it yet?

One suggestion: It would be nice if it also supported other story based memory books. Besides Heisig there's only one other I know of, and that's the Matthews book (Learning Chinese Characters). Matthews' method uses similar keyword stories plus two words added for pronunciation and tone, so it should be easy to implement.

Sometimes creating the stories is quite wearing, and it would be nice to get inspiration reading other peoples stories.

[Janne]

Well, the response hasn't been tremendous, either here, at the Reviewing the Kanji forum or in the Anki forum. Also, the founder of Reviewing the Kanji has replied that his Reviewing the Hanzi site will be online in the coming months, and since that's where "the people" already are, I think it's better to support that site.

What I have done is developing a small plugin for Anki called RTH-review which links to the RTK site in a sidewindow and looks up the current character there. When the RTH site is launched, this will make it easy to study and rewiew with Anki and the RTH-site together.

[chalimac]

I would recommend etymologies over mnemonics... For the same effort you learn something with historical value.

Good sources of historical etymologies in English are:

http://www.chineseetymology.org/

The Composition of Common Chinese Characters

http://www.amazon.cn/mn/detailApp/ref=sr_1_1?_encoding=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256838118&asin=B0011FBXWM&sr=8-1

China: Empire of Living Symbols

http://www.amazon.com/China-Empire-Symbols-Cecilia-Lindqvist/dp/0306816091/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256838180&sr=8-1-spell

[renzhe]

Correct etymologies, as long as they are known, are more instructive than made-up mnemonics. More valuable too.

This doesn't mean that they are as good as a memory aid, though. A mnemonic is picked to be really easy to remember, that's why people use them. Etymology is not necessarily easy to remember.

[OneEye]

Correct etymologies, as long as they are known, are more instructive than made-up mnemonics. More valuable too.

This doesn't mean that they are as good as a memory aid, though. A mnemonic is picked to be really easy to remember, that's why people use them. Etymology is not necessarily easy to remember.

This.

Not all etymologies are helpful for remembering characters. Some aren't anywhere near being helpful. If I'm studying etymology seriously, then they are (and I will eventually), but for just remembering the characters they're not (always).

I don't really understand why some people are so opposed to using a method that is easy, is well-researched and documented to be an effective way of learning, and works very well for a large number of people. Why is using etymologies (which, to the newbie, are just as arbitrary as any mnemonic) inherently so much better than using mnemonics, especially if the student has no need to know etymologies?

[abcdefg]

Why is using etymologies (which, to the newbie, are just as arbitrary as any mnemonic) inherently so much better than using mnemonics, especially if the student has no need to know etymologies?

Because understanding the etymology of words you're learning now can help you learn new words later. Recognizing componnent parts of a new word can sometimes give clues to its meaning or pronunciation.

[OneEye]

Because understanding the etymology of words you're learning now can help you learn new words later. Recognizing componnent parts of a new word can sometimes give clues to its meaning or pronunciation.

And what does this have to do with etymology vs. mnemonics?

I recognize component parts, but I don't look up the etymology of the character. I make a mnemonic to remember the components. Knowing components does not mean you can't use mnemonics, and vice versa. Likewise, using the components to help you remember a character does not mean you're necessarily learning the etymology of the character.

So I'm not really following you. I never said anything about not learning the components of the character. In fact, this is at the core of most mnemonic-based methods of learning characters.

EDIT: And to rephrase the question: Why do people recommend using etymologies if mnemonics work better for that particular student? If something works better for me, who is anyone else to say that I'm doing it "wrong?" Why is it "wrong" if it's better?

[Hedge]

Relax OneEye, no one said made-up mnemonics is "wrong"..

As Renzhe stated, etymologies may be more instructive because of the history contained within them, but not necessarily good memory aids. What you use is up to you (I don't use correct etymologies because time saved and ease of memorizing made-up mnemonics is more important to me).

And I believe the OP was looking for mnemonic sources, not a discussion of etymology vs. made-up mnemonics.

EDIT: The RevTK link that OneEye posted has as he stated a lot of overlap with Remembering the Hanzi. If you are studying simplified characters, you have to in many cases first convert the character you are looking for to traditional before you search for it.

[OneEye]

Relax OneEye, no one said made-up mnemonics is "wrong"..

I've seen that said plenty of times on this board. Perhaps not explicitly in this thread, but it has been said. And it usually comes across with a slight upturning of the nose, which I find ridiculous because we're all learners. I just don't understand how some people can pretend they know what's best when something else is working very well for others and is widely known to be a sound approach to learning in general.

[Don_Horhe]

When I had to learn 脑 2 years ago I told myself that it was a container 凵 made of meat 月 with 文 inside.

[chalimac]

When I had to learn 脑 2 years ago I told myself that it was a container 凵 made of meat 月 with 文 inside.

Not far removed from the etymology: 月 (flesh) + 囟 (pictograph of the boneless opening in baby's skull)