Zelg wrote:As far as confusing kanji goes, I think the confusion mostly has to do with me just now giving kanji a good look. I can definitely see the differences between kanji but at a quick glance a lot of them can look the same. The past few days while doing my flashcards I've been focusing more on each individual kanji in a word and saying the pronunciaction for each kanji and then repeating the word before I move on to the next flashcard. I'm not having a much easier time seeing the differences.
This is where I find getting a pen and paper and actually
writing the characters is what counts. I tend to write the kana for several words down the side of a page. Then, from memory only, try to write the kanji in the next column. When I've done the column I'll go back and look up the ones I couldn't do, and check the ones I did, against a dictionary/whatever filling in the blanks or correcting as needed.
Then fold the page so the kanji are hidden but the kana is still visible and rinse & repeat until you can do the whole column from memory. It'll end up looking like this (when unfolded again)
ちいさい 小さい 小さい 小さい 小さい 小さい 小さい
おおきい 大きい 大きい 大きい 大きい 大きい 大きい
らいげつ 来月 来月 来月 来月 来月 来月 来月
ごぜん 午前 午前 午前 午前 午前 午前 午前
etc. but with more mistakes/corrections - except for the last column hopefully ;-) Then repeat the same set again the next day again until you can do the whole column correctly.
And I don't do this
anywhere near enough.
(then again I'm learning Japanese for fun not drudgery.)
Zelg wrote:In another thread the kanji 語 was mentioned in an example and I was quickly able to recognize it and put a sound and meaning to it. It seems like a small moment but felt like an enormous accomplishment lol.
It is. Good on you!
Zelg wrote:I've done a little bit of what you suggested with creating a story or word to associate with the kanji. Sometimes I feel it works and sometimes not but if it helps a little then its good, right? 腕 for "arm", I've been able to associate the left part of the kanji as arm and for whatever reason I dont have an issue remembering the rest of the kanji with it and I'm not confusing the left part for arm with other kanji.
You'll find that left part of 腕 in many of the kanji for body parts, particularly internal organs:
肝（きも）liver
腸（ちょう）guts
脳（のう）brain
心臓（しんぞう）heart
Don't worry about the rest of each character for now, just note that they've all got a radical that looks like a squashed 月 (actually I believe it's
not 月 but a
very squashed/simplified 肉（にく）meat ) so if you see a new character that has that radical on the left you can guess it's quite likely to be a body part.
Zelg wrote:A little side question regarding your name, 奈津子。 I've noticed that 子 is an horific suffix used after a name, so I'm curious if your name is Natsuko or Natsu and if it is just Natsu if writing 奈津子さん is appropriate or it なつさん is more commmon?
It's not an honorific suffix (I hope you meant honorific not horrific ;-) as far as I know, it's just part of the name and quite common for girls' names. 子 means 'child' (in this context), for example 秋子（あきこ）、autumn child or 洋子（ようこ）、ocean child. But think of it as one word and don't split it.
