So here's Maud Younger playing her flute in front of the space station. But why? Does this even make sense? Let me explain. First, the flute: It is a representation of the shape of the character 一. Doesn't it look like a flute? At least when you try to exalt your imagination? So, whenever 一 appears in other characters, it will be referenced by as a flute in the mnemonic's story. That way, when you recall the picture in your mind and you see a flute, you'll know that there's 一 involved.
Now, for the setting. There's a pretty clever break up of pinyin syllables into chuncks to which then can be assigned mnemonics on this blog. Following this system of pinyin decomposition, "yi1" starts with "y" as in Maud Younger, the American activist. For now it's enough to mention that because there is an "i" in "yi1" the mnemonic uses a women, and because there's nothing more after "i" the location is the space station, and because it's the fourth tone it's in the space station's bathroom. You can read more about this system on the Gorodish index page.
Now all this wouldn't be needed for such a simple character as this one; this is just a preparation for more complex characters.
一 |
|
y |
Y is for Maud Younger add a painting | |
Ø1 |
"Ø1" is happening in front of the space station. add a painting | |
一
yi1
言
yan2
为
wei2
重
zhong4 | each word carries weight / a promise must be kept (idiom) | |
一
yi1
语
yu3
不
bu4
发
fa1 | to not say a word (idiom) | |
一
yi1
语
yu3
中
zhong4
的
di4 | to hit the mark with a comment (idiom) / to say sth spot on | |
天
tian1
人
ren2
合
he2
一
yi1 | oneness of heaven and humanity / the theory that man is an integral part of nature | |
天
tian1
各
ge4
一
yi1
方
fang1 | (of relatives or friends) to live far apart from each other | |
一
yi1
语
yu3
破
po4
的
di4 | see 一語中的|一语中的[yi1 yu3 zhong4 di4] |