Japanese mnemonic system

[100PercentWeasel]

Hello,

Okay. I don't know if this is has been done before and I haven't thought it all the way through but I would like to come up with a mnemonic system for remembering Japanese words. Instead of creating a new mnemonic for each individual word why not create an initial 26 mnemonics for the 26 syllables of the japanese language and then other mnemonics for common compounds?

Does anyone know of a system like this that already exists or see any possible flaws in using this type of system?

I'm thinking it'd be pretty useful to go with the initial 26 and then use the 5 a, i, u, e, o in conjunction to make a total of 130 mnemonics for this system.

[richvh]

26 syllables? How did you arrive at that figure? It's 46 if you count only unmodified kana, and well over 100 if you count all the voiced, half-voiced and compound kana.

[keatonatron]

Does anyone know of a system like this that already exists or see any possible flaws in using this type of system?

Mnemonics will work fine for remembering how to write the characters, but using the same mnemonics for every new word? I don't see how that could possibly work.

ねむい : ね, nest. む, moon. い, romanized as I. When I am in my nest and the moon is out, I am sleepy.

Okay, that works pretty well.

むね : む, moon. ね, nest. Um... The moon in my nest is a breast? Not very easy to remember...