Should I reference japanese vocab back to chinese or english?

[ayanora]

Hello, I'm just beginning to study simple vocabulary in hiragana, and I was wondering, should I write the definitions of the vocabulary down in chinese or english?
If I'm equally fluent in both languages, would Chinese definitions be easier to remember since it's closer to Japanese? Or does it not matter what language I use?:?


Please help! ><

 

[nahadef]

The pronunciation of kanji is based on Chinese, so it may be easier to remember if you do it in Chinese.

 

[nice gaijin]

As far as vocabulary is concerned, Chinese is much closer to Japanese than English, and that will be become glaringly evident when you get into kanji. How's your hanzi?

You should try to think in "native" terms, so you aren't filtering Japanese through another language you know. Chinese is close enough that it'll be easier to "get" the concept, build the association and move on, instead of focusing on (and getting tripped up by) translated meanings