Season 二.二 - Negative tense nouns continued/Radicals 2

So yea... took me more than 'あした' to get back here in the study cubby and finish up this post. I've done some practicing of the negative tense nouns in the interim but not enough. I would really like to change that. If all goes according to plan, I'll be going back to Torrance in September so I would really like to get a lot done between then and now.

So.... back to the matter at hand.

OK. Practice for this section consisted of reading lots of 'It is not _______ sentences, importing said sentences into the Anki sentences deck for further practice and the level 2 radicals as well as importing those radicals into the Anki Radicals deck. I technically got through everything except completing the level 2 radicals and the respective Anki piece last time I was here. There were so many level 2 radicals that I ended up leaving a bit intimidated. Tonight I went over all of them (there are 十五!!) and got them imported into Anki. These are tough considering the level 1 radicals only had 三.

Here are those level 2 radicals and their mnemonics:

• Seven 七

What does this radical look like? Hmm, nothing much. What about if you turn it upside down? Now does it look like a 7 with a line through it? Close enough to help you to remember that this radicals is seven.

• Two 二

One line plus another line equals two lines. This radical represents the number two.

• Person 人

If you were to draw a person with just strokes like you see in kanji, you’d create a stick figure. This is just the legs… but why is it just the legs? This stick figure is a zombie stick figure. It comes at you, and you push it away, but when you do, the whole top half gets torn away. He looks up and says “Hey, I’m a person too, you know.”

• Enter 入

 Be careful, this radical looks a lot like the “person” radical (人). What’s the difference? It has something extra sticking out the top, off to the side. This is a tee-pee with a nice big ENTRANCE in it.

• Power 力

Imagine a guy flexing his arm downward to show off his steroid-pumped arm. It’s huge. It’s so full of power. Imagine a power meter on his arm too with the needle running all the way to the right, filling up the entire power meter. (*Random Brainpick: I don't know if I really follow this one. Looks like the カタカナ for カ to me. In fact, just like it.)

• Sword 刀

If you look at this radical, it looks like the bottom part of a sword – the handle, more specifically. This radical also looks a lot like the power radical, so don’t get confused. It’s missing the little nubbin at the top, because 90% of the power comes from the sword to cut your enemies down (which is why the sword radical is 90% of the POWER radical).

• Cross 十

This radical looks like a cross. Who carries a cross? The Jews do. Imagine a Jewish rabbi carrying a bunch of these crosses around (in case you’re wondering “why all the Jew?” it’s because the word Jew will help you to remember the pronunciation of a kanji later, too).

• Stool 又

This looks just like a fold-out stool, amiright?

• Nine 九

If you look at this radical in just the right way, you’ll notice that it kind of looks like the letters “n” and “i” (the “i” comes from the little flippy-up stroke on the right side). What do the letter’s “n” and “i” start spelling? Why, the word nine.

• Nail 丁

See the barb radical with a head on it? It looks just like a nail. That barb on the end looks painful. Imagine getting that nailed into your arm – imagine how much it would hurt to pull out, too. No, really, imagine it – it will help you to remember this radical so much better.

• Volcano 八

This radical is going to be very similar to some other radicals (人, 入, and another coming later), but the reason this one is a volcano is because of the blown out top. If you’ve seen a blown up volcano, often times the top is flat instead of pointed because it exploded sometime in the past making this a volcano.

• Lid 亠

This looks just like something you’d put on a kettle, right? Even a little handle to make sure you don’t burn yourself. This radical is some kind of lid.

• Fins ハ

Human legs look like this (儿) because we have feet. Animals have feet too. What doesn’t have feet? Fish legs don’t have feet. They’re just little fish fins sticking out, like these fins here.

• Enclosure 勹

This radical encloses a lot of things (or at least tries to enclose things). It’s like a big latchy box that goes around something and then chomps down to enclose it, making this the enclosure.

• Lion L

This L-Shaped Radical is the radical lion, because “L is for Lion.” You’ll have to remember two steps for this one. You’ll see that it’s an “L,” then you have to remember what “L” stands for. I think “Lion” is one of the first things that comes to mind, and it’ll make for interesting mnemonics, which is why this radical is lion.

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This post and the one preceeding it make up the 'Negative Tense Nouns' chapter. On to the next which is 'Before You Begin Your Kanji! Exciting and terrifying all in one!

またね!