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> memorizing the character for "man" by associating it with a picture of a man is not efficient for learning more than the most basic characters. You're dead r
by gregdetre 15y ago
> memorizing the character for "man" by associating it with a picture of a man is not efficient for learning more than the most basic characters.
You're dead right - most Chinese characters are combinatorial, so it would be crazy to try and come up with an image for each. We combine a number of different techniques, including weaving the components into stories. See e.g. the first mem for 'meat' here:
http://www.memrise.com/item/14684/meat/ http://www.memrise.com/item/14684/meat/
I don't know if this gets to the heart of your concern... I'm just trying to highlight that the simple animation from 'man' to an image of a man is just one of the approaches we employ.
Thanks for taking a look.
- karamazov 15y agoOne of the great things about Heisig's approach is that the student makes their own images and stories for each character. Something that I invent is much more likely to stick with me than something I see online; and once you get used to it, the strategy only takes a few minutes, probably on par with the amount of time it would take to read through that page. That page presents a lot of information, and most of it isn't ideal for memorizing the character. It's nice to see images and etymologies while you're looking at the character, and they might even allow you to recognize it when you see it later, but it's especially difficult to recall the exact form of the character later from information such as this. I would suggest you take a look at one of Heisig's books if you're interested in chinese characters specifically. It's a very well thought out system, and he spends some time explaining its specific advantages in the beginning of volume 1 of Remembering the Kanji.