remembering mnemonics

[queshaw]

I'll just repost my question after the data loss.

When you don't remember a character right away, and you are using a mnemonic device, do you think it's best for practice to wait until you do remember it, even though it might take a couple of minutes to remember, or is it better to look up what your mnemonic device was right away and revisualize the mnemonic?

Also, I can recognize all the hirigana and katakana right away, or I could last time I checked, but what I can't do is the reverse: immediately remember which kana goes with a given syllable. For this site, along with flash cards it might be good to have the opposite, show syllables in english that you match up with kana.

[Tegan]

I think it's better to wait and remember it. I find that if I'm quizzing myself on Kanji, if I wait until I remember it, it's much more firmly in my mind afterwards.

[kanadajin]

Yeah, i agree with Tegan..

[Corybobory]

I don't use mnemonics, but there is one I remember from my first Japanese class back in high school to remember the ordering of the japananese syllabary: All Kids Say That No Homework Makes You Really Wierd, Nevermind...

So ridiculous that I can't forget it. I've tried!

[Christian_]

Queshaw wrote:
It's best for practice to wait until you do remember it, even though it might take a couple of minutes to remember.

That is a very important tool to help with creating long term memory. I study Kanji almost entirely using that method. I watched a few videos and read about memory and most people say that a long with studying in short frequent intervals instead of long single intervals that can help you remember things. If you want you can do some reading about memory on http://wikipedia.org about it.