One of the most common strategies that learners employ when memorizing new scripts are visual association strategies. Visual association strategies are strategies in which the kanji being learned is associated with its physical form. As outlined in the previous section (see p. 28 on schema), the mind is constantly looking for ways to integrate new knowledge with existing knowledge of the world around us. It looks to make connections between new and known information. The previous chapter also touched on the fact that visual links are a powerful way in which people can memorize new information into one's schema. In O'Malley and Chamot's (1990) work, for example, the use of imagery was an effective way for learners to integrate new information such as vocabulary into a learner's memory stores. Such work is supported by cognitive psychology, which also shows that strong memory links can be achieved through use of visual imagery (e.g. see Anderson, 2005; Matlin, 2005). Thus, to make connections between the appearance of a new letter with our understanding of other scripts, images and known concepts not only seems logical, but also extremely effective in terms of storing them into our memories.

The first script that most learners of Japanese encounter is hiragana. This script is often taught early in Japanese curricula, because it is viewed as an important, but relatively simple, script. Knowledge of hiragana (an extremely accurate symbol-to-sound script) allows learners to read and write entirely in Japanese in just 46 discrete symbols. A second script of katakana, usually quickly follows in the curriculum, as this script quickly allows students access to the some 10% of Japanese vocabulary that are borrowed from foreign languages, especially from English.