Kanji Amnesia: Why I Remember the Meaning But Not the Writing
2025-08-15
The author mastered kanji by first learning their meanings and writing, then pronunciation. Years later, he can't handwrite most kanji. This 'Kanji Amnesia' is common in Japan and China. He explores the brain's separate processes for reading and writing, and his aphantasia (lack of mental imagery) adds to the mystery. Cognitive science suggests this stems from the brain's use of both verbatim and gist memory traces. Reading involves recognizing the gist, while writing activates motor memory of strokes – two distinct skills.
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