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掲示板 Forums - Remembering Adjectives is Hard T~T

Top > 日本語を勉強しましょう / Let's study Japanese! > Anything About Japanese

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ケイリー💜(結莉)
Level: 489

Hey everyone, I have come to the forum to share some woes, and ask for some advice. I'm working on vocabulary building and have a lot of adjectives in my Renshuu circulation right now, but I just can't seem to make any progress with remembering them, no matter how regularly I do my reviews. That they almost all end with the same い sound just jumbles them up in my head. I don't have this problem with nouns or even verbs so much because there's enough differences, but adjective man..... T.T

Anyone have any advice or tricks that worked for them with building and actually remembering vocabulary, in particular one that have similar sounds or patterns to them?

3
4 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 301

If you don't get much of a response here, definitely consider asking in the Discord as well (under Community) - there's a much more active subset of renshuu learners there who regularly discuss stuff like this :)

1
4 years ago
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ケイリー💜(結莉)
Level: 489
マイコー は 12月 23日, 12:04に

If you don't get much of a response here, definitely consider asking in the Discord as well (under Community) - there's a much more active subset of renshuu learners there who regularly discuss stuff like this :)

と言いました。


Thank you. ^^

I probably will do that as you say if this gets no traction in a day or two, but because I don't really have discord or ever use it (I'm not a fan of the massive chat room format) I figured I'd try here first. ^^;


0
4 years ago
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Anonymous123
Level: 1450

What works best for me (your results may vary) is learning the kanji (meaning + readings) associated with the adjective. Because most い adjectives are just:

the kanji's kunyomi pronunciation + (い or しい )

e.g 古い = ふる + い = ふるい

The bonus to this approach is:

- even if you forget the kunyomi, you'll still know what the adjective means when you see it. e.g. if you know 古 means old, you know that 古い is the adjective for old, even if you forget how to say it

- many verbs are just the kunyomi + the ku,ru,su,etc. ending, so it makes it easier to learn those too


5
4 years ago
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ポールおじちゃん
Level: 1623

In the beginning, your brain doesn't know which parts of the language matter and which parts it should ignore. Remember that we learn language by imitating other people, so listen and repeat as much as possible.

If you find that you are hung up on the final i, try changing it to something else like ku. This may mean skipping ahead and learning new forms before they are introduced in your textbook, but it will break the bad association that your brain has formed.

2
4 years ago
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TSEのサマンサ
Level: 58

You might want to try taking this out of virtual and into real life. Assign the adjectives to things you use everyday (on a post-it). Like, 厚い（あつい） is thick and the book I'm reading is pretty thick so I'll stick it to the spine.

If you need to interact with it or the physicality to remember the word, this really works well.

1
4 years ago
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ケイリー💜(結莉)
Level: 489

So sorry I haven't replied until just now, the holidays are such a crazy time I'm just getting my feet back under me. ^^;
Thank you so much everyone for your lovely suggestions. I think they're going to help a lot.

@Anonymous123 I have actually already been doing what you suggested a little. I'm only on WaniKani level 2 in Kanji so I don't know much but when I encounter a word of almost any kind that I do know the Kanji for I find it a lot easier to translate the meaning. Doesn't help a ton with remembering the actual pronunciation of the word because remembering Onyomi and kunyomi, and when to use which, is still tough for me, but it is a good step forward and a big leap for my goal of being able to read Japanese media.

@ポールおじちゃん Thank you so much for this suggestion. Funny enough the formal course I'm doing is the Human Japanese program and they start you on polite "ます" form verbs and I have a lot easier time remembering them for some reason. So I've been taking your suggestion and looking at the conjugation options here on Renshuu with my problem words in particular and either picking out the stem or making note of a polite form and it does seem to help with remembering it better. ありがとうございます🙏

@TSEのサマンサ This is a fantastic suggestion, and would be great for my vocab retention all around. Thank you! Might be a little difficult at first with a 2 year old in the house, she'll think the notes are hers to take, but I'll just have to get creative and find a more toddler proof way to label is all. It's the never ending battle of wits between child and parent. XD

2
4 years ago
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Anonymous123
Level: 1450
けーり は 01月 5日, 12:16に

Onyomi and kunyomi, and when to use which, is still tough for me

と言いました。

The general rule, which works 99%+ of the time is:

  • If the word is "kanji + some hiragana after it" then use kunyomi e.g. 読みます (read), we use the kunyomi reading よ to get よみます. This applies to most verbs and adjectives.
  • If it is a single kanji use kunyomi e.g. 犬 (dog) = kunyomi いぬ
  • If it is two or more kanji together then use onyomi e.g.読者 (reader) = onyomi どく + onyomi しゃ = どくしゃ
  • Japanese names use kunyomi e.g. 山口 (Yamaguchi) = kunyomi やま + kunyomi くち (that becomes ぐち) = やまぐち

Most of the 1%exceptions tend to be:

  • words that get treated like compound words e.g.子犬(puppy) =子(child) +犬(dog) = kunyomi こ+ kunyomi いぬ = こいぬ

The other 0.1% you just end up memorizing.

1
4 years ago
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Li~
Level: 114

Hello guys, i just want to tell you how to memorizing,its super easy, I have studied a lot in books and podcast how to memorize from people who memorize a lot of numbers, names, etc and this are the keys, I hope it can help*(^O^)*

-First: absurd, we remember things that are absurd because it capts our attention. if you want to remember a word just ask yourself: what does it sound like? And then you can associate it making an absurd story

For example: 言う(いう) What does it sounds like? sounds like you, so you can imagine a story when you cant talk/ say something and your favourite YOUtuber come to your home and you're so excited, you just want to say to him/her a lot but you can talk!

-loci method

A lot of time ago, humans needed to remember important places like where to feed, where was their home, where to hunt and its one of the most powerful keys to memorize something

Example: imagine a place that you know so well, then you can imagine key points of what you want to remember, if i want to remember an い adjective i can use something that starts by い or sound like an い and put it in that place: Im in the kitchen and i see a 犬 いぬ with a black HAT preparing food and the kitchen its so hot 熱い (atsui sounds like hat and sui maybe like sushi?) and suddenly flying sushis come to your mouth

And a tip! I recomend you to learn first how to talk, better than writing because this is how childrens learn their native language and its the easiest way

I'm sorry for the english mistakes, i'm doing my best to explain you in a different language ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡


3
3 years ago
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ケイリー💜(結莉)
Level: 489
Li~ は 01月 14日, 7:39に

Hello guys, i just want to tell you how to memorizing,its super easy, I have studied a lot in books and podcast how to memorize from people who memorize a lot of numbers, names, etc and this are the keys, I hope it can help*(^O^)*

-First: absurd, we remember things that are absurd because it capts our attention. if you want to remember a word just ask yourself: what does it sound like? And then you can associate it making an absurd story

For example: 言う(いう) What does it sounds like? sounds like you, so you can imagine a story when you cant talk/ say something and your favourite YOUtuber come to your home and you're so excited, you just want to say to him/her a lot but you can talk!

-loci method

A lot of time ago, humans needed to remember important places like where to feed, where was their home, where to hunt and its one of the most powerful keys to memorize something

Example: imagine a place that you know so well, then you can imagine key points of what you want to remember, if i want to remember an い adjective i can use something that starts by い or sound like an い and put it in that place: Im in the kitchen and i see a 犬 いぬ with a black HAT preparing food and the kitchen its so hot 熱い (atsui sounds like hat and sui maybe like sushi?) and suddenly flying sushis come to your mouth

And a tip! I recomend you to learn first how to talk, better than writing because this is how childrens learn their native language and its the easiest way

I'm sorry for the english mistakes, i'm doing my best to explain you in a different language ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

と言いました。


Thank you so much. Funny enough the program I'm using to learn Kanji (WaniKani) uses the absurdity method and it does work well. Maybe I just have to try and apply that to vocabulary words. I have never heard of the Ioci method. Thanks for sharing that with me too.

Thank you too for trying to use English for me. I was able to understand you just fine. ^w^



1
3 years ago
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Li~
Level: 114
ケーリ💜 は 01月 15日, 8:25に
Li~ は 01月 14日, 7:39に

Hello guys, i just want to tell you how to memorizing,its super easy, I have studied a lot in books and podcast how to memorize from people who memorize a lot of numbers, names, etc and this are the keys, I hope it can help*(^O^)*

-First: absurd, we remember things that are absurd because it capts our attention. if you want to remember a word just ask yourself: what does it sound like? And then you can associate it making an absurd story

For example: 言う(いう) What does it sounds like? sounds like you, so you can imagine a story when you cant talk/ say something and your favourite YOUtuber come to your home and you're so excited, you just want to say to him/her a lot but you can talk!

-loci method

A lot of time ago, humans needed to remember important places like where to feed, where was their home, where to hunt and its one of the most powerful keys to memorize something

Example: imagine a place that you know so well, then you can imagine key points of what you want to remember, if i want to remember an い adjective i can use something that starts by い or sound like an い and put it in that place: Im in the kitchen and i see a 犬 いぬ with a black HAT preparing food and the kitchen its so hot 熱い (atsui sounds like hat and sui maybe like sushi?) and suddenly flying sushis come to your mouth

And a tip! I recomend you to learn first how to talk, better than writing because this is how childrens learn their native language and its the easiest way

I'm sorry for the english mistakes, i'm doing my best to explain you in a different language ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

と言いました。

Thank you so much. Funny enough the program I'm using to learn Kanji (WaniKani) uses the absurdity method and it does work well. Maybe I just have to try and apply that to vocabulary words. I have never heard of the Ioci method. Thanks for sharing that with me too.

Thank you too for trying to use English for me. I was able to understand you just fine. ^w^

Ooh awesome ! I didn't knwe that program, looks interesting. There's a lot of techniques to learn so if you want to know just ask for it, I don't have any problem to share it with you (⌒▽⌒)

と言いました。

1
3 years ago
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mysticfive
Level: 2025

Along the same lines that some other users have mentioned, but associating the vocabulary words with a word or a phrase in English that helps make sense of the word in your brain can help! For example, when I was first learning Japanese (oh good lord that was over 20 years ago now, I'm old...), I remember learning the word むずかしい and struggling to remember it until I came up with the phrase "the difficult cow's mother belongs in a zoo" because むずかしい means 'difficult,' む and しい I associated with the word 'cow' (because in English, cows say 'moo,' and the Japanese word for 'cow' is うし so similar to しい, then 'belongs in a zoo' because of the character ず, and 'mother' in Japanese is おかあさん, so か. It's a very ridiculous, long-winded explanation for a relatively simple word, but I still remember the phrase 20 years later so it definitely worked! Another, simpler example was learning the verb つかう・つかいます (to use) - I remembered it as 'use the sky,' because つかい sounded like 'sky'. So finding little mnemonics for yourself in that way can help, in addition to the other great suggestions in there, too!

3
3 years ago
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ケイリー💜(結莉)
Level: 489
mysticfive は 01月 18日, 1:57に

Along the same lines that some other users have mentioned, but associating the vocabulary words with a word or a phrase in English that helps make sense of the word in your brain can help! For example, when I was first learning Japanese (oh good lord that was over 20 years ago now, I'm old...), I remember learning the word むずかしい and struggling to remember it until I came up with the phrase "the difficult cow's mother belongs in a zoo" because むずかしい means 'difficult,' む and しい I associated with the word 'cow' (because in English, cows say 'moo,' and the Japanese word for 'cow' is うし so similar to しい, then 'belongs in a zoo' because of the character ず, and 'mother' in Japanese is おかあさん, so か. It's a very ridiculous, long-winded explanation for a relatively simple word, but I still remember the phrase 20 years later so it definitely worked! Another, simpler example was learning the verb つかう・つかいます (to use) - I remembered it as 'use the sky,' because つかい sounded like 'sky'. So finding little mnemonics for yourself in that way can help, in addition to the other great suggestions in there, too!

と言いました。

This is very helpful indeed! Funny enough むずかしい is one of the trouble words for me, your phonetic association story is a great idea and I love the one you came up with. And if stuck with you for so long that definitely is a good mnemonic indeed. It looks like it could be a neat way to reinforce vocab you have less trouble with too if you work that into your mnemonic story.
ありがとうございます。^🙏^

0
3 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 301

We will be adding a way to allow vocab mnemonics soon! :)

2
3 years ago
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ケイリー💜(結莉)
Level: 489
マイコー は 01月 18日, 6:36に

We will be adding a way to allow vocab mnemonics soon! :)

と言いました。

Oh very coo!! I look forward to using it when it's out. Thanks so much for all you do, マイコー. どうもありがとうございます。 ^w^

0
3 years ago
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ヂアモレ
Level: 29

I have a question about kanji, so I'm gonna put it here. Should I have some sort of order to memorizing the kanji, or just write them down as I come across them?

1
3 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 301

You should probably have a kanji schedule on your dashboard. If not, I'd go to the "manage your schedules" link (just below the schedules) and see if you have one waiting for you in there. There should be a good schedule for you to follow :)

3
3 years ago
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ケイリー💜(結莉)
Level: 489
Kirishima Eijiro は 02月 9日, 8:49に

I have a question about kanji, so I'm gonna put it here. Should I have some sort of order to memorizing the kanji, or just write them down as I come across them?

と言いました。

I'd say that kind of all depends on your learning style. If you're the type of person who can get away with just writing them down and memorizing from there then definitely do that and all the more power to you. That's a skill I don't have so I am going through WaniKani for my Kanji. It starts out with simpler ones and works heavily on mnemonics. Thankfully Renshuu has a mastery schedule already built for it, and it gets me learning the character readings that WK doesn't teach you at first.

Definitely should take マイコー's advice though and get a kanji schedule into your rotation. You can always pick a basic one and add too it too if you want to, or switch which one you're doing if you find the one you picked isn't jiving with your learning style.

1
3 years ago
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ヂアモレ
Level: 29

Thnx. Is WaniKani on Android? If not, any recommendations?

0
3 years ago
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Anonymous123
Level: 1450

I personally prefer studying Kanji here, rather than at WaniKani (which I have also tried). Why?

-WaniKani charges a fee after the first few free levels

-Renshuu offers the same functionality for studying Kanji, plus way more

-If you study the Kanji on Renshuu, it uses that info when you study vocab, grammar, and sentences e.g. affects whether the kanji is shown with furigana (the reading) on top or not

Your results may vary

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3 years ago
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