I'm at 1500 words in Core6k and it's alot easier to pick up newer vocab and such than at 1000, though there are times where I write the wrong kanji but am correct with the kana of the kanji when writing them out using Production. More often than not I can remember the correct kanji for each word, though some take 5-10 seconds to remember. There are some cases with words in kana where I leave out the small tsu, or expand/contract sounds when writing them out. I want to get to a point where I can minimize those mistakes.

When reading, I often find I can recognize the words I've reviewed instantly and sound them out faster than if I looked at the furigana above them.

If I remember a word's reading and kanji, I pass it.
If I remember it's kanji, mess up on the sounds, but have a firm mental association with it, it passes, or I hit Hard, depending on how strong it is in my memory.
If I just learned it, remembered it, and miss it anytime up to 5 days later, I Fail it and the cycle begins again.
If it's a word I thought I had a grasp on and fudge it in any way, it goes back to Fail.

I am going to go into grammar, but I have quite a few resources available to me.

Introduction to Modern Japanese 1 and 2. These books are supposed to be really good and are dense, I actually made it to lesson 25 some years ago and stopped. The problem is, I really don't feel like spending 1-2 years going through them in conjuction with Anki. I figured I could do 3 lessons each week on one day.

52 lessons, 3 a week, would be done in 4 months. Probably faster since I already made it to 25 years ago and have a much more solid kanji base then when I did it.

or

Tae Kim and the TK Anki deck. How long does it usually take to finish this? I hear that the deck is splendid but have no experience long term with it.

or

Japanese The Manga Way. Supposed to cover almost of common grammar points and I read it all years ago actually, but only internalized wa/ga/ni/de/basic verb forms from it.

So I dunno what to commit to or if there is a better textbook/source out there.

I can't comment on Introduction to Modern Japanese because I never used it. However I'm using Tae Kim's deck and guide, and I'm also using Japanese the Manga Way as a supplement. Tae Kim's guide is decent but sometimes the explanations are subpar and I don't understand it at all. That's when I open up Japanese the Manga Way and it instantly makes a lot more sense.

Overall I definitely recommend Japanese the Manga Way It's really entertaining and fun compared to some other grammar guides out there (Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication bored me to death). I just wish Japanese the Manga Way didn't have any romaji in it... -_-

On another note I don't know about most people here on the forums but I can't rush through my grammar studies at all. I'm doing 1, maybe 2 sections of Tae Kim's guide a week; on the other hand I've been averaging 20-35 new vocab cards a day no problem.

Thanks for the tips, I guess I'll give Tae Kim a go for now and read JtMW again. I really didn't like the roumaji the last time I went through it either.=p TK is about 62 sections and the deck is only 377 something cards, so I think it will be faster than going through that textbook again.

I can't believe I left this out of my first post.

I can break up kanji into parts now and am seeing similarites between words. There are a few of which I don't remember the keyword, but once I get a feel for them in a sentence I can kind feel a vauge meaning that connects them.

Thing is, I have a problem bringing them forth from memory, when doing RTK reviews specifically. Should I go through RTK again or should I just focus on producing words I know? If I do go through RTK again, how should I go about it in getting the kanji themselves to feel more personal? The stories I used to initially remember them are all but useless to me at this point, I don't even remember them, but I don't want to just make a useless story for them again just to be in the same boat at I am now.

I'm not sure what TK deck your using but mine has ~780 cards in it.

Looking back in hindsight I feel like RTK is to more about getting comfortable and being able to recognize the kanji rather than produce a keyword from them. More than 50% of the time I see a kanji and can not produce a keyword from RTK whatsoever.

IMO I prefer recognition type vocabulary for a couple of reasons. It takes a lot less time to review than production. When I study I really don't memorize kanji like 勉強 as 勉　and　強 I just remember the word as a whole. I'm starting to recongize patterns in pronunciation though between words and some words I can guess the reading. I even changed TK's deck from production to recognition.

I think if you're comfortable enough with kanji to be studying vocab and Tae Kim's guide you shouldn't have to go back and re-do RTK. Over time things will start falling in to place when you see the same vocab/grammar patterns etc across several different mediums. I can easily produce (write and speak) vocab that I've seen multiple times, although my vocabulary isn't that large yet. Once you jump in to native materials the process will speed up. Then when you start speaking practice you will start to turn passive vocab into active vocabulary.

I also switched the format of my RTK cards from kanji ---> keyword to help give me some hints when learning new vocab. I write out my vocab when I learn them so my writing skills are still decent.

I hope this answers some of your questions!

Honestly, I think you spend too much time making threads and posting posts about learning how to learn Japanese, and thinking about how to learn Japanese. Yes, you're doing the same on other forums, not just this one.

I hate to quote corporations who use sweatshop slave labor but: "just do it" already!

BTW, I read both TK and The Manga Way but have not read ItMJ and my advice is still this: the differences between them are probably pretty marginal so choose one and "just do it" and then choose a different one and "just do it"

Just FYI and don't misunderstand when I post these topics, by the time I post on a new method I want to try out, I'm already well on my way into it. I just want opinons from people who've been in my shoes.

Not like I haven't been doing nothing. Going at 20-30 new words, reading 12 pages a day and media immersion is far from doing nothing. Though yeah, wasting time posting on this forum 1-2 times every other month totally is screwing me up.=p

But I did take that advice to heart, so thanks.

If you're talking about "other places" like Gamefaqs, I've given more advice on learning it than I've asked for.0_o

Ryanjmack, my deck has 377 cards in it, unless my counter is screwed up somehow or the deck is something different than what you have.

My advice if you're forgetting the keywords and want to retain them, add another field to the back of your cards, and add the Heisig keywords in there as you go through your vocab deck.