今日は一月十八日です。KYOU WA ICHIGATSU JUUHACHINICHI DESU. (Today is the 18th of January).

That might not be the most interesting sentence but it is the theme of this week’s blog: new habits.

This year, prompted by a student request and a chat with a Japanese friend, I now start lessons with the date.

There are many advantages in this. The kanji in dates are quite simple. By writing these kanji regularly, students soon gain confidence.

The repetition of it also helps with remembering the more awkward days of the month eg the 7th 七日　NANOKA.

But how do you remember odd-sounding words like NANOKA?

That’s the story another new habit: mnemonics. I have always found mnemonics to be useful with students, but recently I have paid more attention to associating new sounds with a sound or word students already know.

The benefits of association really struck me in a group class last year. I had introduced the word ゆうびんきょく　YUU-BIN-KYOKU （Post Office）and I was wondering how to make it more memorable.

One student piped up and said it sounded like You’ve Been Framed. Everybody laughed, and the word stuck. All the students in the class remembered YUU-BIN-KYOKU throughout the rest of the course and beyond.

Playing with the Japanese sounds in your head likes this can be very creative, fun and a very effective memory tool.

My English friend, Tom who lives in Ibaraki, Japan many years started a blog called Muzuhashi – ムズハシ .

The word MUZUHASHI combines the word for difficult むずかしい MUZUKASHII with the word for chopsticks はし HASHI, the use of which for every meal is certainly a challenge.

Even though MUZUHASHI is not strictly speaking a Japanese word, this creative name has stuck with me ever since I first heard it.

I have added a few examples below I have used recently.

いち　ICHI (1) - as in, my skin is itchy

に　NI (2) - as in my knee. Put them 1 and 2 together and you have an itchy knee.

なのか　NANOKA the 7th day of the month is so quick it’s over in a NANO-second.

ここのつ　KOKONOTSU (9) and KOKONOKA (9th of the month) - Students often say this sounds like coconuts.

にぎやか　NIGIYAKA (Lively) - I have always associated this with Nicaragua, a pretty lively place I am sure.

しずか　SHIZUKA (quiet) - You have to make the SHHH (quiet!) sound to say this word.

やさしい　YASASHII (kind/gentle) - the Japanese word for vegetables is YASAI. Vegetables are kind and gentle to our bodies.

The last one is an example of a mnemonic that makes use of a Japanese word students may already know. This is ideal for reinforcing the sounds.

As ridiculous as they might seem, mnemonics are useful because they focus attention on the exact sound of the words encouraging students think about the sound of the word in some way rather than just write it down and forget about it.

And I still haven’t heard students confuse the actual word with the mnenomic.

No-one has yet said ユウビンフレームドに行きたいです YUUBINFUREEMUDO NI IKITAI DESU. (I want to go the You’ve Been Framed).

Do you have any mnemonics for Japanese words that help you remember?