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+--- Thread: Learning to PRONOUNCE (/thread-186.html)
Learning to PRONOUNCE - Psychia - 2006-09-24
This site is great for kanjia nd their meaning, but where do we go to learn how to say/pronounce these kanji in the order this site presents them?
Learning to PRONOUNCE - Pangolin - 2006-09-24
That's a good question, because although there is a lot of discussion going on about where to go after RTK1, it's all a bit diffuse and difficult to pull together from the site as it stands right now.
Just to recap, the basis of Heisig's method is "divide and conquer": first study how to write and remember the 2000 odd kanji in common use by reference to a single keyword in English, and having got those down, THEN tackle the task of associating them with the spoken language of Japanese. So the "readings" of the kanji - the ways in which they are spoken in Japanese - are dealt with in the 2nd volume, "RTK2", and the study of this second stage is currently covered only at a developmental level at this site, which as it stands only deals with volume one in any comprehensive way.
The order that kanji are presented in RTK1 is relevant only to learning how to write and remember them (with association by the keyword in English), and the task of mastering the Japanese readings must take a different approach. There is plenty of discussion on this next, and I think most people would agree, far more challenging, stage in the "RTK Vol.2 & 3" section of this forum, hopefully browsing through some of the topics there might help to answer your question a bit more thoroughly. (Or you just might end up confused!)
I think most people here are pretty well convinced of the effectiveness of RTK1, but very much less so with RTK2. As a result there is a lot of thought being put into ways of improving it, or even finding better methods, using RTK2 as a starting point. I think the favourite at the moment is the "kanji chain" method, and there is also the "Kanji Town" concept. These are both mentioned in the "RTK Vol.2 & 3" section of the forum.
I think, in conclusion, there is no easy answer to your question! I'll be very interested in (site owner) ファブリス's and the other members' current thoughts on this subject.
Learning to PRONOUNCE - synewave - 2006-09-24
Here's my opinion,
Pangolin Wrote:Just to recap, the basis of Heisig's method is "divide and conquer": first study how to write and remember the 2000 odd kanji in common use by reference to a single keyword in English, and having got those down, THEN tackle the task of associating them with the spoken language of Japanese.I'm in complete agreement with this. My situation was that I came to Heisig relatively late, I think. After living in Japan for 3 years and tackling kanji on and off in the "traditional" way, I can say that from my experience trying to do everything at the same time, writing, meaning, readings is very labour intensive. Also the rate at which I forgot what I had learned was horrible.
I really wish I had known about Heisig sooner. My advice for foreigners really wanting to learn the 常用漢字 would be to go with Heisig. Don't worry about the readings until you've got the writings and "meanings" (quotes due to the debate regarding Heisig's keywords) sorted. Then proceed with the pronunciation side of things.
This site is the bomb for those of us using the Heisig approach. As always 2 thumbs up for that man Fabrice.
Learning to PRONOUNCE - laxxy - 2006-09-25
I think the best way to learn pronunciations is to just learn the compounds the kanji are in.
"Kanji in Context" is probably the best manual of this kind, or at least the best I've seen -- it gives a kanji, then a few compounds, and also examples. It's at least as useful and effective for its' purpose as the RTK-1 itself. It will be more efficient to start on it once you are done with RTK-1 though.
It does not follow the RTK order, but now I do not see it as a deficiency. If you are done with RTK, the order should not matter for you anyway. But I am sure there are other manuals of that type.
Also, I've put kanji readings and some words on the front side of my flashcard software (under the Heisig keyword), this way, even without making any extra concious effort, I recognize the words I already know, and memorize some new ones.