I won't deny that RTK was a ridiculously long journey, but it helped me accomplish what I yearned for - the ability to focus on learning words without having to worry about kanji. I can't picture myself trying to read something as challenging as native material without knowing them. Because it's already very challenging even if you do know them. Having to take extra time to focus not only on the meaning/reading of a word, but also on new kanji and primitives/radicals would be a pain. These are things that prevent you from reading. But if you're willing to get them out of the way in advance, you lift part of that burden. In other words, it's a way to make the rest of the process more enjoyable.
Another great thing is that I have mental hooks for new kanji that I may not have learned. Learning kanji at this point is fairly quick, because they generally rely on primitives you've already seen. More often than not, all they do is rearrange primitives you already know, sometimes with a few small changes based on a primitive that you already know.
Another great thing is that I have mental hooks for new kanji that I may not have learned. Learning kanji at this point is fairly quick, because they generally rely on primitives you've already seen. More often than not, all they do is rearrange primitives you already know, sometimes with a few small changes based on a primitive that you already know.