Favourite mnemonics

bababardwan
 March 02, 2011 at 08:21 AM posted in General Discussion

This may have been discussed before, but I couldn't find a thread on it, so it may at least be worth revisiting if it has been discussed. What are your favourite mnemonics for Chinese vocab?

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xiao_liang
 March 22, 2011 at 12:00 PM

I'm always mixing up the meaning of 一定 (yi1 ding4 - must) and 已经 (yi3 jing1 - already) because they sound kind of similar. Can anyone think of a mnemonic to help me separate them?

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bababardwan
 March 22, 2011 at 12:37 PM

touche

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xiao_liang
 March 22, 2011 at 12:35 PM

Yea, I was thinking something similar. You MUST strike the bell! Otherwise the Jingoists have ALREADY won!

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bababardwan
 March 22, 2011 at 12:08 PM

Despite my post, I guess with the vast majority of vocab I don't bother with mnemonics as they just sink in so I don't have one for this, but since you've asked, perhaps you could think about the "ding" being emphasized as you hit a bell or something. yi DING ..surely

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bweedin
 March 09, 2011 at 06:00 AM

關於 mnemonics. . . To remember how to say a word, sometimes.  To remember how to write a character, always!

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joschka
 March 09, 2011 at 03:16 AM

What you are doing is precisely what memory experts have been recommending for many years. In fact, the more outrageous the image, the better it works. 

So enjoy your method and congratulate yourself on having discovered it for yourself.

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bababardwan
 March 08, 2011 at 01:49 AM

jiǎn..to subtract....just take jiā [to add] and add an n for negative on the end of that

[the tones are kinda opposite too ]

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xiao_liang
 March 07, 2011 at 09:40 AM

I was thinking about this recently - the way I remember chinese words is a bit odd, and I wondered if anyone else did it the same way. Basically, I think of an english word that it sounds a little bit like, then form a mental picture of those words and try to tie them to the chinese. 

For example - 办公室 - office. bàngōngshì. So I picture "banging a gong" in my office. 

Or 电梯 - elevator, diàntī, which to me sounds a little like "TNT", so I imagine getting in an elevator, and then it explodes. 

 

... am I weird? Whenever Ken used to talk about mnemonics, it was all about the tones, and I always thought "man, I can't even remember the sounds, never mind the tones..."

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bababardwan
 March 07, 2011 at 09:46 AM

"am I weird?"。。当然咯, but that's why we love you. NO, but seriously, I love these mnemonics. I reckon it's a great method...and you've created vivid memorable and apt pictures there. I think the thing about mnemonics is they're there to get you started till the vocab sticks and you no longer need them, but you can always fall back on them if you go rusty or what not. Thanks heaps for sharing them mate, and if you have any others, keep 'em coming. :)