Hi guys!
I realise there are quite a few threads on here that discuss RtK2 methodologies, but I really wanted one *just about how people who followed Heisig's method for book 2 as well* did it. I'm really, really NOT interested in the "movie method", "kanji chain" or any of those, so please don't clog this thread with stuff about those things. RtK1 worked so well for me, that I'm willing to trust Heisig and go with him for book 2 as well. What I'm not really keen on is brute force memorisation. It most definitely did not work for me, and my Kanji throughout university was hopeless. It still was, until I found Heisig.

So I have a few questions:

1. What techniques did you use to remember the onyomis and kunyomis? Did you make new stories? What kind of mnemonics did you use?

2. Did you make an anki deck? what did you put on your cards? how many frames did you get through a day? I work full time, so I don't always have a lot of time to devote to studying.

3. Did you use the Heisig flashcard set you can get online?

Basically, I've read the intro to the book, and the intros to the different sections, but nothing is really leaping out at me as to the method. For book 1, it was pretty straight-forward, just use imaginative stories to remember the writing. Book 2 doesn't really seem to have anything so obvious like that to go by, so if you guys found anything in there that I've missed (not including the kunyomi chapter, because that looks reasonably straight forward... though it'll be a while before I get to it I think)...

Anyway, any help related to using the *actual* book and Heisig's RtK2 method would be awesome, thank you!

Since you didn't explain why you don't like the movie method and kanji chain approaches, I doubt that I can offer an approach that will appeal to you. Instead, I'll present a three-phase approach for learning the pure groups from RTK2, so maybe you can come up with your own variations or ideas and find something that works for you.

1. Auditory/Semantic: Learn each word and meaning using kana only.
2. Differentiation: Learn each word adding in the target kanji only, and kana for the rest of the word.
3. (Clustering): Bind the words into a group using a sentence or story to harness your imaginative memory.

Example pure group with binding sentence:
嬢、譲歩、土壌、醸造

たとえ譲歩してもこの土壌で育ったブドウから醸造したお嬢さんのワインは一級品とは言えません。

If you have difficulty with step 1, try the method described here:
http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/etp24/...mnemonics/

Hi, thank you for your reply!

Well, one of the reasons why I'm not keen on Kanji Chains or Movie method or etc, is because I feel like RTK2 (the book)'s approach of learning onyomis through compounds (thus increasing your vocab and reinforcing other onyomis at the same time) seems very efficient to me. KC and MM seem like learning onyomis in isolation, or learning all the kanji with a particular onyomi at the same time, which seems like a waste of effort, for me personally. My vocab is weak, so I'd like to improve that, and RTK2 the book looks great for that.

I'm not keen on sentence mining for several reasons. First, it looks like trying to learn too much for me. For example, several new words in one sentence, then the possibility of unknown grammar, and then finally, it look like it would introduce many different readings at the same time. The RTK1 approach was really fast because it didn't make you try to do too many things at once. Just a kanji, imagine a story composed of the pimitives, write it once, then bam! Learnt!.

Anyway, I hope that cleared a few things up. Basically, the RTK1 method of learning was completely laid out in the book, but RTK2 doesn't really exactly explain a nice efficient way of learning like that, so I kinda wanted to hear from people who had used it as to what they'd done with it.

At any rate, thank you for your reply!

I used RTK2 to build my vocabulary. In addition to the compound offered in the book, I searched for one or two or even three more common compounds to throw into my daily flash card routine. So yes, for me it was a great way to learn the readings and build vocabulary. However, it wasn't much help for kunyomi. Once I finished the onyomi in RTK2, I began to read. And now, as I read, I add kunyomi readings as well as hiragana and katakana words into my flash card routine. As they say, YMMV, but it works well for me.

gibosi Wrote:I used RTK2 to build my vocabulary. In addition to the compound offered in the book, I searched for one or two or even three more common compounds to throw into my daily flash card routine. So yes, for me it was a great way to learn the readings and build vocabulary. However, it wasn't much help for kunyomi. Once I finished the onyomi in RTK2, I began to read. And now, as I read, I add kunyomi readings as well as hiragana and katakana words into my flash card routine. As they say, YMMV, but it works well for me.

Did you use mnemonics to remember the onyomis?

ktcgx Wrote:Did you use mnemonics to remember the onyomis?

Usually not. For the most part, the compound was enough. But once in awhile, when a reading just wasn't sticking, I would use a mnemonic.

gibosi Wrote:

ktcgx Wrote:Did you use mnemonics to remember the onyomis?

Usually not. For the most part, the compound was enough. But once in awhile, when a reading just wasn't sticking, I would use a mnemonic.

Thanks!

Out of curiosity, gibosi, if you're still around, how long did it take you to get through the onyomis in the book, and about how many cards did you do per day? Thanks!^^

That was some years ago, so I do not remember.... However, I do know that I didn't zip through this material quickly. Working full time plus family responsibilities, I simply couldn't devote that much time to my Japanese studies. So it may well have taken me 6 or more months to work my way through RTK2.

gibosi Wrote:That was some years ago, so I do not remember.... However, I do know that I didn't zip through this material quickly. Working full time plus family responsibilities, I simply couldn't devote that much time to my Japanese studies. So it may well have taken me 6 or more months to work my way through RTK2.

Ok, thank you!^^ I also work, so I know what you mean about not having much time to devote to learning.