5 golden rings (Japanese)
Use imagery. Repeat the word a few times to yourself while imagining the associated image ... the funnier the easier it will be to remember. Of course, your image will relate to the word and its meaning.
For instance in Japanese the word "go" means 5. I imagine "gold ring "(as in 5 golden rings, 4 callings birds, 3 French hens ...) so I will remember that "go" is associated with "5" and "go" is the first two letters of the word "gold". This sure comes in handy with the tricky words!
Sent by: Carol
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The method Carol suggested is called the keyword method.
Well, a comment from a native speaker may help.
4 is "yon" if you are counting down (6, 5, 4, 3), and is "yon" or "shi" if you are counting up (1, 2, 3, 4).
It doesn't really matter though. We love anyone who is learning our language!
Please note that the word given for 4 in this case (it's shi) shouldn't be used because there is another word (kanji) with the possible pronounciation of shi meaning dead(!)
Since there are different ways to "say" Japanese words because they have the on-yomi and kun-yomi these kind of incidents might happen.
Anyhow try to use the for 4 yon.
Btw the 4 being spelled as dead is a cause for Japanese to belive it gives you bad luck. Therefore they often don't have a 4th floor in hotels or row in planes and I've heard very little stuff is sold as a "four-pack".
4 yoghurts xD
Very obvious but Ich ne san ... Ichy Knee Sam. And that's how they are pronounced too.
As a small child, I was bilingual but I always had a little rhyme for my Japanese numbers. Ichi, ne, (itchy knee) san, she,
(sun she) go, rocu (just memorize those) nana hatchi (pantomime a banana, then sneeze) there is nothing for 9 but for ju, (10) (not me, but-u).
I never understod how people could remember all the different sounds they associated with Japanese words. Isn't this just doubling the amount to remember?
I find the best way to learn a group of words is to make a list and try to use them in real life situations whenever you can.
It's really challenging to memorise words that do not have any connection with the alphabet. Carol is suggesting quite a good method to do so especially learning difficult language like Japanese.
I'll try some of the words...
Ichy will be one (ichi),
2 needles is 2 (NE-edle),
3 sunday is 3 (SAN-dei)...
Anyone has an idea for 4?
It is very hard for some of us to memorize things (words!) out of context. The image supplies the context and it is a very effective strategy. Oh, to be able to simply memorize!!!
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© MMIX
1=itchy
2=knee
3=sam
4=see
5=go
6=loku
7=nana
8=hachi (sneeze)
9=cure
10=ju
Visualised this:
Man:Itchy knee sam see go loku/
Girl:nana hachi (sneeze) cure ju
Thought it works for me when combine all your method. thank you guys!
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