Chinese characters you'll actually remember
Every Chinese character becomes one ridiculous comic scene in a memory palace. The person is the sound, the place is the tone, the objects are the parts it's written with. Remember the scene, and the character comes with it — pronunciation, meaning and all.
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- Don Quixote = the sound “d”
- the elevator's roof = “e”, neutral tone
- white flag = 白
- silver spoon = 勺
One scene carries the whole character
The Marilyn Method, invented by Serge Gorodish in 2012. Here is how the scene above encodes everything about 的.
The sound is a person in a place
的 is pronounced “de”. Every syllable splits in two: the initial “d” is always Don Quixote, the final “e” is always the elevator. The tone picks the spot — neutral tone puts him on the roof. 111 people and places cover every syllable in Mandarin.
The parts are objects in the scene
Characters are built from smaller pieces. 的 is written 白 (white) beside 勺 (a spoon) — so all Don Quixote can do is wave a white flag, and his last weapon is a silver spoon. See the objects, and you can write the character.
The scene sticks. Reviews keep it
A knight surrendering with a spoon on an elevator roof is absurd — and absurd is what brains keep. Spaced-repetition reviews bring the scene back right before you'd forget it, until you don't need it any more.
Yes, it's ridiculous. That's exactly why it works. Read the full method
Learn your first character right now
Pick a target and we build the route to it: the sounds it is made of, the characters hidden inside it, then the character itself. Each step is one scene to read and one button to press. No account, no email — your progress is saved as you go.
I; me; my
to love; to be fond of; to like / affection / to be inclined (to do sth); to tend to (happen)
you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您[nin2])
Your first three characters spell a sentence: 我爱你 — “I love you.” Prefer to look around first? Every mnemonic and comic on the site is open to read — start with the comics.
Your target becomes a route
Every character is built out of sounds and smaller characters, so that is the order you learn it in: the sounds first, then each piece it is written with, then the character itself — sealed with a recall quiz a few steps later, when it tests your memory rather than the last thing you read.
You keep everything you pick up on the way: for 我 that is eight characters and fourteen pronunciation keys. The keys are the same in every character that shares those sounds, which is why your second target is shorter than your first, and your tenth much shorter again.
That is the real route to 我 — about thirty steps in all. Two sounds in, at step three, you already have a whole character: 丿.
- done
- you are here
- ahead
It doesn't stop at one character
Reviews that know how characters work
Spaced repetition that understands structure: forget a word, and the characters and sounds it is built from come back for review with it.
3,200 characters and 770 comics
A mnemonic story for more than 3,200 characters, and a growing library of drawn scenes. All of it is readable without an account.
Sentences from real films
Characters come back inside real subtitled sentences rather than on their own, so you meet them the way they are actually used.
Build your own palace
Don't like Don Quixote? Write your own mnemonics with your own cast, generate comic art for them, and export the lot to Anki.
Learning is free
Pick targets, walk the routes, take the quizzes and review for as long as you like. Every mnemonic story and every comic on the site is open to read. No account, no trial clock, no card.
Creating is €14.99 a month
Write your own mnemonics with your own cast, generate comic art for them, build your own decks and courses, export everything to Anki. Sign up for free and learn 20 characters, and we unlock a taste of the creator tools on the house.
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