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+--- Thread: Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? (/thread-13299.html)
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - cantohamster - 2012-05-02
I've been studying RTH1 for 2.5 weeks now (up to 400 characters!), and now I've noticed that in RTH2 Heisig suggests going through both books at the same time, if you're so inclined. Is anyone else thinking about this?
There is something elegant about learning 'everything' at once, and maybe it'd reinforce your memory better, too. But psychologically it might be more exciting to learn the most common 1000 first (it seems like RTH1 covers most of the characters in my Teach Yourself Cantonese book).
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - chamcham - 2012-05-02
RTK1 is the most important and should be your top priority.
RTK2 is not as useful. You can do just fine without it.
RTK3 you can do whenever you want after finishing RTK1, but there's no need to hurry.
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - cantohamster - 2012-05-02
Noo, I'm not talking about RTK, I'm talking about RTH (Hanzi, not Kanji). Completely different story. ;P
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - chamcham - 2012-05-02
Oops, sorry about that.... :-(
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - ファブリス - 2012-05-02
I don't have the RTH books. I'm guessing Heisig meant that you could advance in both volumes at the same time in order to learn all kanji based off the same primitives at once? Wouldn't that be a bit cumbersome to keep track of?
Based on the building blocks approach that Heisig used in RTK, I suspect that the most frequent characters are not in fact all in Volume 1. However I doubt there is much gain to be had by going through the hassle of synchronizing your progress in two books.
In case you're using this website to review (RevTH) ideally you'd have a character list for both volumes that would be organized by primitives or frequency, and then you can add them in Manage > Custom Selection fairly easily.
TLDR: Unless someone can confirm there is a significant amount of common characters found in volume 2, I'd stick to one volume at a time. Focus on a very specific goal: complete RTH1.
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - Nagareboshi - 2012-05-02
I quickly read the intro of the book, and he actually warns about it. In his own words:
That said, the student should know that certain overlaps in the books would only cause confusion if the two versions are studied simultaneously. If your aim is to achieve fluency in writing both systems (traditional and simplified sic.), then it is preferable to begin with traditional. If you are sure you will be content with recognizing the traditional and writing the simplified, then begin with the latter.
What he is talking about is learning the traditional and simplified Hanzi in parallel, Vol.1 traditional Vol.1 simplified, Vol.2 traditional - Vol.2 simplified, and not Vol.1 and Vol.2 traditional or simplified.
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - aphasiac - 2012-05-02
Each chapter in RTH2 uses the primitives and hanzi introduced in the same numbered chapter in RTH1. So no need to keep track; just finish RTH1 chapter 1, then RTH2 chapter 1, then both chapter 2's and so on.
RTH1 is definitely NOT enough to be able to read chinese; there are some very common characters missing that are in the second book. If you can handle it, I'd say definitely try both at once...if it turns out to be too tough, drop the second book.
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - cantohamster - 2012-05-03
@chamcham: Haha no problem! :]
@Nagareboshi: Yes, Heisig does say that in the first book (I assume you have the first edition, which I also have). But in RTH2 (and probably in revised RTH1?), he says that he aligns each chapter of RTH2 with the same chapter of RTH1, so you could go through them like aphasiac mentioned.
I just ordered RTH2 yesterday! It'll take some time to get to me because I'm outside the US right now but yeah, I'll definitely give it a go once it gets here in ~3 weeks. While picking out my avatar (= mouse) I noticed I wouldn't be able to read/write "hamster" in chinese without RTH2...
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - bflatnine - 2012-05-03
Quote:While picking out my avatar (= mouse) I noticed I wouldn't be able to read/write "hamster" in chinese without RTH2...Why not? 倉 and 鼠 are both in RTH1, and hamster is 倉鼠.
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - cantohamster - 2012-05-03
鼠 is frame 2917, isn't it? That would be the second book: http://hanzi.koohii.com/study/kanji/%E9%BC%A0
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - bflatnine - 2012-05-03
Ha, good call. I was looking at an RTK spreadsheet and didn't notice. Didn't notice the frame number there either. I'll crawl back into my hole now.
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - cantohamster - 2012-05-03
LOL! Don't worry, I'm just in a hole studying Heisig anyway ;D
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - cantohamster - 2012-05-30
Sigh, it took until now (week 7) for my copy of RTH2 to arrive, and now I'm already past frame 1050. At this point I think it'll be more motivating to me to just finish the first book and then go through the second, but for anyone who might look at this thread in the future, I'd definitely go for doing both books at once if you can because I think it'd reinforce memory better. aphasiac is definitely right that that are tons of common characters missing that are in Book 2 as well.
Heisig Hanzi 1 & 2 at the same time? - Nagareboshi - 2012-05-30
cantohamster Wrote:@chamcham: Haha no problem! :]Sorry for the late reply! It was indeed the first edition. I got it and some other books from my neighbour who studied Chinese at university. She didn't need them anymore, and because she thought I was learning Chinese too, Japanese actually, she offered and i took them. Chinese is also interesting language, and sometime I will surely learn it, but right now Japanese is my number 1.
@Nagareboshi: Yes, Heisig does say that in the first book (I assume you have the first edition, which I also have). But in RTH2 (and probably in revised RTH1?), he says that he aligns each chapter of RTH2 with the same chapter of RTH1, so you could go through them like aphasiac mentioned.
