kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5176 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 169 of 1702 17 December 2011 at 3:57am | IP Logged |
I'm at kanji #300 of Heisig right now. I'm currently reading ahead, and will be adding the new lessons into the deck. I spent a good 2 hours or so of studying kanji "due" in my deck today already. I had fallen behind a little the past couple of days so I had about 200ish to do. It didn't go so bad although it got a little boring at the end.
I'm thinking I'll basically add 200 kanji per weekend and none new during the week. This is a lot although I'd like to actually touch on all 2000 or so kanji if I could by the end of January - I am going to attend an actual Japanese class then. There's no way the class will expect me to know very many kanji but still, I'll be learning new words I'm sure and I'd love to just learn the kanji behind the words as I learned the new vocabulary. That's generally recommended from what I read but if I haven't studied a particular kanji already so that I can individually identify it and draw it more or less then there's no way. Maybe with one letter kanji like kuruma (car) but anything more complicated with multiple kanji I'd have to be able to spell it out to myself in my head and if I don't have a name to associate with each kanji that's quite a task. Stuff needs to be broken down.
So I'd like to get through 2000 kanji before this course thing starts but I don't see how. 200 kanji per week is already really hard. I might just do it anyway though. Even if I am a bit shaky at most kanji the primitives that are used in each kanji stick a lot easier and if I've even just read through Heisig's book without learning everything already it would be helpful. But obviously my intention is to learn it hence the flashcard deck I'm doing.
Maybe I'll add 400 kanji this weekend heh. Oh man that's a lot. Good thing I have no life.
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5974 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 170 of 1702 17 December 2011 at 9:32am | IP Logged |
Your class will not cover words with 2000 kanji. As with vocabulary the broad principle that the 20% most common kanji appear 80% of the time is pretty much correct. Which is why I think trying to get through a whole heisig set is a bit misguided, unless you love memory games or really enjoy the process for some other reason.
The problem with heisig is he only prioritises according to his mnemonic system so you deal with some pretty unusual kanji early on but have to wait until later for some really common ones. I understand that some good people on the internet have developed a heisig based system which only covers the most common kanji. I've not followed it up because heisig is not for me but if you're drowning under reviews for no good reason you might want to look into it.
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kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5176 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 171 of 1702 17 December 2011 at 5:28pm | IP Logged |
This is true that he uses some kanji early on that I don't think I've seen before. But I like the way he gives easy primitives and builds on them. The class I'm taking isn't going to technically teach much kanji at all but it will be giving vocabulary and the vocab will include kanji that they won't test on - I'd like to be able to take that new vocab and quickly learn it. Also, outside the class if I try to read something in Japanese they can use any old kanji they want. I'd love the confidence of having the 2000 kanji that Japanese are expected to know under my belt. Previously learning said kanji seemed impossible just writing them over and over etc. But with this system it really does seem possible.
That said I'm quite curious about a new system similar to heisig that attempts to teach kanji in an order based on frequency of use and plan to look into it. Thanks.
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kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5176 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 172 of 1702 18 December 2011 at 3:09am | IP Logged |
Well I'm not switching systems now I've spent too much time on this one I'm committed. Today I spent most of the afternoon reading/studying kanji. I am now up to #520.
I see kanji constantly in my head. Mind wandering, I start thinking of the silly little stories made to help remember kanji and said kanji appear in my mind's eye. Was scanning the kanji on this cell phone in an anime I was watching and recognized "haven" (from this afternoon). I didn't see the rest of the word. It didn't stay very long. I wonder what the actual word was.
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fortheo Senior Member United States Joined 5028 days ago 187 posts - 222 votes Studies: French
| Message 173 of 1702 18 December 2011 at 8:01am | IP Logged |
You did 220 kanji in the past two days?! That is really impressive!
I have been working my way through RTK too ( very slowly ), and the most i have done a day is around 50 haha.
Heisigs method is a test of will, but I am certain it pays off. When I come across kanji in native material that I have already seen, it has been extremely easy to attach the pronunciation to it.
Just keep up the studying and I am sure you will get to where you want to be!
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kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5176 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 174 of 1702 18 December 2011 at 11:23pm | IP Logged |
fortheo wrote:
You did 220 kanji in the past two days?! That is really impressive!
I have been working my way through RTK too ( very slowly ), and the most i have done a day is around 50
haha.
Heisigs method is a test of will, but I am certain it pays off. When I come across kanji in native material that I
have already seen, it has been extremely easy to attach the pronunciation to it.
Just keep up the studying and I am sure you will get to where you want to be!
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Yes it's a lot. I did "do" about 220 kanji this weekend. The plan is to review those kanji over the course of
this week and actually learn them. I'm finding them much easier than regular vocabulary but then I never
tried to come up with stories to remember regular words. Just pure concentration and repetition.
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kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5176 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 175 of 1702 18 December 2011 at 11:28pm | IP Logged |
I was just thinking. RTK is read the kanji right? I've tried it and found it very frustrating. I might try it out again
after I get through heisig. I recall it's more learning vocabulary (with kanji) rather than just the kanji letters
themselves which is very different.
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5974 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 176 of 1702 19 December 2011 at 12:00am | IP Logged |
I thought that RTK usually refers to Heisig's Remembering the Kanji. The read the kanji website tries to teach kanji words through drilling the words in sentences. It has a nice interface but its not for me either.
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