(2016-06-05, 4:14 pm)CureDolly Wrote: Some people seem to have strong opinions about the way they do things. Sometimes it seems like "Everyone else is an idiot. Blue IS the best color".
Personally I didn't use RTK and I do think it is better to learn kanji along with words rather than as abstractions with often-counter-productive keywords.
But I certainly wouldn't say I am down on the Heisig method or on Heisig-sensei himself (who has been a respected professor in a prestigious Japanese institution and certainly is proficient in Japanese - the things people write without bothering to check!)
If I have expressed some negativity about the Heisig method it is not because I think it doesn't work or that no one ought to do it. It is more that there is a strong current (possibly the dominant one in self-learning at the moment) that says you have to start by learning all the kanji in the abstract, as Heisig-sensei did and recommends.
I don't think that would work for me, or would be the best method for me. I don't doubt that it is the best method for some people. But I do like to get it out there that it isn't compulsory and it isn't the best method for everyone.
Tae Kim-sensei, by the way is opposed not only to the Heisig method but even to Anki. He believes in learning vocabulary organically by massive input. I also believe that to be the best way, but find pragmatic use of Anki to be an acceptable shortcut/compromise.
However, different approaches suit different people, and yelling "Blue IS the best color" doesn't achieve much (I don't accuse Tae Kim-sensei of doing that, by the way).
Besides which everyone really knows that the best color is pink（⌒▽⌒）
This is the difference between a legitimate criticism and a hasty, summary one. CureDolly san gives argumentation to what he thinks, while that blog post is biased and disrespectful.
I don't find Ken's writing witty at all. It requires way more than this to be witty, at least to me. It reminds me of Katzumoto's "yo mama" jokes, but at least with Katzumoto it is clear he is never serious and he is self-ironic. Ken takes himself too seriously, it SEEMS (maybe it's not, this is just my impression) he doesn't ever dubt of himself like he is always right.
About RtK, I think it has many fallacies but so is every method.