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Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - Printable Version

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Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - Shmurk - 2008-01-10

Hi, I'm new here and I'd like to tell you my story as a japanese language learner. I dedicate this thread to all the "noobs like me" who sometimes lack the willpower to study japanese every day.

I began to "study" japanese 12 years ago when I found a japanese language method in a garage sale (for $1, who would refuse such a book?) I quickly dropped my study as I was young (15) and quickly bored of those 1945 official kanjis to learn.
5 years ago I bought a grammar book and a kanji book to begin again, but dropped one more time as I had to study computer sciences at the university...

During those five years of doing nothing, I tried some spanish, italian, german, greek, or polish, but deep down inside I knew that I always wanted to master those annoying kanjis and the japanese language (that I knew almost nothing of except some words heard in subtitled animes on TV).

And then two days ago I stumbled upon this web page All Japanese All The Time by mistake and learned about the RTK method. There was a link to the "Reviewing the kanji" web site and I loved it. I quickly bought the book and registered here to start from scratch, once again, my study of the japanese language.

I decided that, this time, I would learn japanese seriously, every day, and master this beautiful language!!!!! (and I mean it this time, that explains those extra exclamation points).

I already did the first two lessons (34 kanji) and one lesson every day seems a good pace to me.

I also found a freeware (for Mac, Windows and Linux) that helped me doing independant reviews during the second day, it can be useful when your network connection is down: Kanji Gym Light

So here I am, with my 34 kanjis, more motivated than ever! I'd like to thank all of you for the forum, the web site, and the motivation that this community gave me!

Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow I'll do the third lesson (which I already read once just for the fun of it) and hope I'll be able to keep the pace without failing.

Thank you all, and keep up the good work!

ps : this message may seem strange to you but if it can help someone somewhere on the internet, well, it's worth it Big Grin

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - CharleyGarrett - 2008-01-10

Welcome to the RvTK site, and the RTK method, and the wonderful world of the Japanese language! I started out with the "lesson a day" pace. That's great for as long as it lasted, but eventually, it got to be a bit much. I just want to encourage you not to completely fold if that happens to you too. Just slow down to adding fewer kanji a day, and keep moving. Now, when I say "keep moving", I'd recommend that you always review the expired kanji, and then re-learn the failed kanji (if any) before moving on to more new kanji. It's just that they can pile up on you, if you're not careful, and then that can become a stumbling block as well. Don't stumble!!!

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - meolox - 2008-01-10

You've got me all nostalgic I was so excited when I first found this website because I realized learning thousands of Kanji was possible, I'm still motivated I hope luck finds you and you complete the book.

Don't give up this time you'll regret it so much.

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - nac_est - 2008-01-10

That sounds like good motivation!
Uh, let's see... a good advice I can think of is to just keep on going, whatever happens.
Sometimes you may feel like taking a break for one or five days, but that usually does you more harm than good. Just slow down, but don't stop. If you do that, you'll be exterminating armies of characters like a Julius Caesar in kanji Gaul.

Also, when you are down on morale, come and read this forum and khatzumoto's blog. They work miracles. Tongue

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - Shmurk - 2008-01-14

Well... 5 days, 5 lessons, 94 kanjis!

I still have the motivation and my brain is tingling.
Thank you very much for your answers, this forum is a real boon.

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - vosmiura - 2008-01-14

Well... the issue with a lesson a day is that later on some of the lessons are quite long, some over 100 kanji. So when you get to those longer lessons, just go for studying for example 20 kanji per day. That's about what you're averaging now 94/5 days, and that's pretty good. I went at about that pace through most of the book to the end. Good luck!

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - Shmurk - 2008-01-14

Thank you for the clarification.

The 5th lesson has 24 kanjis and I was able to learn it without real difficulties that's why I decided I would do "1 lesson a day" as long as this lesson has less than 30 kanjis. If there is more than 30 kanjis in a lesson (lessons 8 and 10 comes to mind), I will split such a lesson in a reasonnable way.

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - Rachael - 2008-01-16

Hi, Shmurk! I'm new here too.

I'm a major in foreign language, and have studied Japanese for six years, since I was 16. The class I'm currently taking is centered on "Remembering the Kanji" and I already love this novel approach to learning kanji!

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - wrightak - 2008-01-16

Rachael Wrote:The class I'm currently taking is centered on "Remembering the Kanji" and I already love this novel approach to learning kanji!
Do you mean that you're taking a class where the main text book you're using is Remebering the Kanji? If so, you may have to inform Mr. Heisig so he can edit the preface in his book. What nationality is the teacher?

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - Rachael - 2008-01-18

wrightak Wrote:Do you mean that you're taking a class where the main text book you're using is Remebering the Kanji? If so, you may have to inform Mr. Heisig so he can edit the preface in his book. What nationality is the teacher?
He's American. Why?

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - Chadokoro_K - 2008-01-18

Rachael Wrote:
wrightak Wrote:Do you mean that you're taking a class where the main text book you're using is Remebering the Kanji? If so, you may have to inform Mr. Heisig so he can edit the preface in his book. What nationality is the teacher?
He's American. Why?
Hi Rachel!

As most people use "Remembering the Kanji" for self-study and Heisig himself wrote that the book and method are probably not suited to classroom study, I for one am interested in how your instructor is using the book, how he has structured the class, what the learning goals of the class are? etc. etc. (Is it a writing kanji class, is it a Japanese class that covers spoken Japanese as well as reading writing? etc. etc)

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - ivoSF - 2008-01-18

in a class im sure people are sharing stories a lot like this site, perhaps we can call this site a virtual classroom Wink

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - billyclyde - 2008-01-18

(The nationality matters because most Japanese Japanese teachers rely on methods by which they learned, that is, rote.) I would also like to know how it goes in the class, Rachell-- what's the syllabus look like?

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - Rachael - 2008-01-19

Chadokoro_K Wrote:Hi Rachel!

As most people use "Remembering the Kanji" for self-study and Heisig himself wrote that the book and method are probably not suited to classroom study, I for one am interested in how your instructor is using the book, how he has structured the class, what the learning goals of the class are? etc. etc. (Is it a writing kanji class, is it a Japanese class that covers spoken Japanese as well as reading writing? etc. etc)
We each have our own group, and each group is responsible for thinking up stories for a certain amount of kanji. The class has just started, but each group is going to share their stories with everyone else. Also, we have to read the book and join this site. Smile

I am so excited about learning more kanji through this new method!

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - ファブリス - 2008-01-19

Rachael Wrote:Also, we have to read the book and join this site.
That's great Rachael! So I guess you will be working through in the order of the book.

I had an experience once brainstorming stories with another person, through a chat program, and it worked quite well. In fact at times it worked so well that after thinking up a story I remembered it there and then, so it didn't even feel like I was trying to remember something Tongue

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - nac_est - 2008-01-19

Rachael Wrote:We each have our own group, and each group is responsible for thinking up stories for a certain amount of kanji. The class has just started, but each group is going to share their stories with everyone else. Also, we have to read the book and join this site. Smile

I am so excited about learning more kanji through this new method!
That sound awesome! If you can keep a fast pace with the kanji, I think it's a really good method. A group can produce some really memorable stories, I'm sure.

EDIT: ugly english

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - billyclyde - 2008-01-19

Welcome then to you and all your classmates, Rachel! But this probably means your teacher is lurking out there, somewhere.

Show yourself! Then we can pick your brain. Smile

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - wrightak - 2008-01-19

Rachael Wrote:
wrightak Wrote:Do you mean that you're taking a class where the main text book you're using is Remebering the Kanji? If so, you may have to inform Mr. Heisig so he can edit the preface in his book. What nationality is the teacher?
He's American. Why?
Sorry, asking the teacher's nationality wasn't the right question. I guess the question should have been, "Is the teacher's first language Japanese?". I'm very interested in the teacher's point of view. Did he learn all of the kanji using Heisig's method or did he come across it later on? This is the first instance that I've heard of where Heisig's book is used as a text book in a class room so it's very interesting.

All of the Japanese teachers that I've encountered have been native speakers and I can't imagine any of them being able to incorporate the Heisig method into their class. I'm very interested in developing the method further and part of that is trying to get the Japanese teaching community to use it. Or if not use the method directly, then adapt it, develop it and try to take kanji learning forward.

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - wrightak - 2008-01-19

ファブリス Wrote:I had an experience once brainstorming stories with another person, through a chat program, and it worked quite well. In fact at times it worked so well that after thinking up a story I remembered it there and then, so it didn't even feel like I was trying to remember something Tongue
I think that this is one example of an area that can be improved a lot. Remembering the Kanji is a very self-study oriented book. However as this fantastic site has demonstrated, collaborating on stories and ideas can be hugely beneficial. Assuming that students do their homework (i.e. they do some solitary study as a compliment), I think a classroom environment could work really well and I'm interested to hear how Rachael's class goes.

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - ファブリス - 2008-01-19

Agree. It's also a good idea from the teacher to create groups within the class. He probably already figured out that you can't ask too many people to agree on story elements. Small groups will work better, especially if the students made up the groups themselves so they shared interests and personalities.

Shmurk: The Definite Official Biography - Rachael - 2008-01-20

ファブリス Wrote:That's great Rachael! So I guess you will be working through in the order of the book.

I had an experience once brainstorming stories with another person, through a chat program, and it worked quite well. In fact at times it worked so well that after thinking up a story I remembered it there and then, so it didn't even feel like I was trying to remember something Tongue
I find even reading the stories on here are helping. I like to read even the easy ones because some of them really make me laugh.

I'm in a group of pretty likable people and we're sharing ideas with each other. It's good, too, because I'm really terrible at writing stories like these.