Hello.
I noticed that I struggle with Dumbledore and Gandalf mnemonics. Both men are the elderly magic guys with long beards in pointy hats so therefore when I see them in my imagination I confuse them way too often.
Do you have any idea how to make them way more “unique”?
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Welcome!
One thing I’ve tried to do in some cases - and I unfortunately haven’t been terribly consistent about it - is to try to involve the “staff” of Gandalf or the “wand” of Dumbledore when I wrote the mnemonic. That may be something you can think of and add as a note for yourself to help make them a bit more distinct!
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Ive had this same problem. It helps to imagine dumbledore with his glasses and not pointy hat, as pictured below.
Some time has passed and I still have problem with these.
Dumbledore seems to be the most problematic in here. He is not just similar to the Gandalf, but in some matters also to Harry Potter (both using wands and using the same magic)
I am not sure if that would be possible, but I would suggest changing [du-] sound mnemonic to a different one, more memorable. I believe that Dumbo would be a nice fit. An elephant that flies on its huge ears is a very original character and it is fairly easy to make mnemonics using it’s characteristics (elephant, heavy, posseses trunk, flies around). Very memorable and impossible to confuse with any other character.
The [du-] sound is applied to just 38 characters so changing mnemonics would not be a hard task. I already have in mind some nice ones.
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Thanks for the suggestion! Dumbo does seem like a great fit. This may be something we consider doing way down the line after we get a bit more progress on the word part of the curriculum. However, we will need to think of a way to allow users to continue to use Dumbledore if they want to, which adds quite a bit of complexity on our end. (When we do minor changes to the componentization of characters, we often get feedback along this line of people wishing the old mnemonics could remain.)
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I just want to report that I’m now also finding myself occasionally having this issue, unfortunately
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You may want to take a look at WaniKani’s overhaul back in 2018 where they changed a metric ton of mnemonics. For example, 扌was changed from “Nailbat” to “Fingers”. It may give you some ideas for how to implement the change. But you probably already know about this!
WaniKani Content Overhaul - Announcements - WaniKani Community
Update on the Old Mnemonics - Announcements - WaniKani Community
To old-timers, what were the old references used in mnemonics? - WaniKani - WaniKani Community
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How about those two? It would probably be beneficial to remove the fireworks and the moth from Gandalf as it could be confused with the Phoenix
Here is a list of other characters that clash (grouped and with my chat gpt descriptions).
Any tips on differentiating them are welcome!
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The reason why the mnemonics do work so well is not the appearance of the characters but what the characters do. It is because people better remember the dynamic actions rater than sole appearance.
Each character should have some exclusive actions, something that is typical to them and impossible to confuse with other character.
Zeus have god powers and uses lightningbolts
Jimmy Neutron does impossible science stuff
Yoshi lays eggs
Timmy Turner makes crazy wishes which are granted
Robin Hood steals
Bart Simpson does mischief
Ned Flanders does religious stuff
Mario jumps and throws fireballs
etc
The most problematic are the mnemonics where the characters are not able to do any of their iconic stuff. Some characters also do not have much “charisma” and their activities are just boring and easy to confuse with others.
Dumbledore is the most notable example.
But another one that often confuse between each other are Zelda and Link. They are also very similar characters, they do practically the same stuff, they are the same universe, which is a problem because Link absolutely cannot accompany Zelda
Can’t relate to mixing up link and zelda at all. Appearance is key for me.
When there is a Gandalf i usually add something with elves, hobbits and “you shell not pass!” to the story and with Dumbledore is Harry Potter, wands and magic spells
I wanted to do that too, but if I add hobbits or elves to Gandalf then it gets confusing with Legolas and Frodo mnemonics.
Meanwhile adding Harry Potter to Dumbledore is a bad idea either because Harry Potter is mnemonic on its own.
But I agree that adding supporting characters to the mnemonics helps a lot. For example it is way easier to remember Shrek when you add Donkey and Fiona to the ogre. Hulk works the best with other Avengers and Tom cat absolutely requires Jerry.
This is why the best mnemonics are from separate universes that don’t interfere.