Currently starting RtK for the 3rd or 4th time, going to stick with it this time. I'm aiming to finish it by January 1st, which i know is a very little amount of time for RtK. My question though is more over my time goals for after RtK because I'm confident once school lets out i can do the last 1k kanji in a month.

So the question is, after RtK my current goals look like this:

Assamil started at 1k kanji, aiming to finish in 2.5 months.
Genki or some grammar equivalent started when i finish the Kanji, which is also the 40 Assamil mark.

How long do the grammar books need? I'm aiming for 15 days right now, mind you no school at that time. Kana at the same time, but i don't feel like Kana will be an issue what so ever.

When i finish Grammar/Kana i'm going to start doing Core, aiming to finish Core 6k in 6 months, 1k a month. At the 1k mark for Core i'm going to add RtK 3 in for 2 months before i finish that. 500 a month seems very doable.

My 'fun goals' as i have them labeled are to play Pokemon Blue the moment i hit 5k complete in core, is that possible? And JLPT N4 around the time i finish Core 6k, maybe a little before I'm done.

I'd like to add another 4k kanji over 4 months after I've finished Core 6k, hoping to pass N3 December of 2014.

I've no goals for when to stop using subtitles or when to start trying to read a light novel or childrens book because i really don't know at what level that's viable without having to scan through a dictionary at every word. And I'm not entirely sure what i should be doing for speaking/listening after Assamil other than watching/listening to lots of japanese media. Planning on making a Lang-8 account as some point but again i have no idea when that's viable.

I know there are tons of guides on here to explian stuff like this, but one of the biggest reasons I failed to stick with RtK in the past is because i tend to spend all my study time online reading about how to learn japanese instead of shutting up, burrowing down and getting off my ass.

ANY input is welcome. Thanks guys.

I don't think it's a good idea to postpone native materials that much. I've started reading Graded Readers & shounen manga at around 1000-1500 words in Core. NHK News & simple (action/horror/pinku) films without subs at around 2000. At beginning it's hard, but you'll get used to that. Isolating yourself from real Japanese won't do you any good. And there's really no need to check every single word you don't know when reading. If something's repeated several times you'll finally get it from the context, if it's used only once it's probably not that important. Even if you don't understand a sentence or two - who cares? You'll come back to it in a few months if you like and you'll understand it this time. Don't worry about being perfect all the time, better worry about progressing constantly.

Any recommendations on movies/manga/readers that you especially enjoyed or were of the perfect difficulty level for you at that stage? I'll take your advice for sure.

You mentioned trying RTK again for the 3rd or 4th time. I'd suggest maybe skipping RTK for now and just jumping straight into learning the kana, vocab and grammar from a textbook, because it seems like waiting to finish RTK is holding you back.
As for good manga, the standard recommendation is Yotsubato!. I also like Chi's Sweet Home, and a lot of people have also recommended Doraemon. Generally slice of life stories are the easiest to read as they everyday vocab. As for readers, there's a series of readers that start at pretty much zero Japanese skills, and steadily work their way up, and they include a CD that reads the books out. For anime, I'd recommend Polar Bear's Café, Azumanga Daioh, or Cardcaptor Sakura, as they're pretty easy. Asodora also have a lot of easy vocab, so maybe look for something like Teppan! or Ohisama.
If you work your way through the first Genki book, or an approximation of that, then you should be ready to start working your way through easy native material.

Kavian Wrote:Any recommendations on movies/manga/readers that you especially enjoyed or were of the perfect difficulty level for you at that stage? I'll take your advice for sure.

I was reading a lot of Japanese Graded Readers levels 2-4. But the problem is that these books are quite pricey regarding their rather small size. I had free access to them in library, not sure if I'd spend that much money. I was also reading Detective Conan manga - some stories were too hard, but generally it was quite ok.
Films I really enjoyed early:
ズームイン　暴行団地
くノ一淫法　百花卍がらみ
女獄門帖　引き裂かれた尼僧
団鬼六　少女木馬責め
美女のはらわた
看護婦日記 獣じみた午後
毒婦お伝と首斬り浅
Star Virgin
皮ジャン反抗族
Keep in mind that I love perverted and violent films so if you're very young or easily offended some of them might be not appropriate for you.

quark Wrote:You mentioned trying RTK again for the 3rd or 4th time. I'd suggest maybe skipping RTK for now and just jumping straight into learning the kana, vocab and grammar from a textbook, because it seems like waiting to finish RTK is holding you back.

100% agree.

quark Wrote:Generally slice of life stories are the easiest to read as they everyday vocab.

きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ's Oh! My God!! Harajuku Girl falls into this category. It's an extremely easy read even with a small vocabulary.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to try to stick with RtK but if I notice myself getting sick of it again I'll take the advice and move on to grammar and vocab.

I appreciate the recommendations too. I can't wait to start reading some of these.

For what it's worth, I think it's better to study kanji in parallel with other things(eg vocab, sentences, or grammar). I think there's a slight performance gain from studying dissimilar chunks of information because they reinforce each other. And it helps avoid getting bored by breaking up your study schedule a little.

I think it's ok to rush through RTK and then review it as you get back to studying japanese. Basically you may not recognize a kanji again when you see it but after looking it up you should then remember your story. Doing RTK until you're solid at it is also an option but that can take a while.

[s0apgun]

I'll add, doing 1k words a month in Anki is a realistic goal. I add 35 new cards a day but don't spend more than an hour in Anki. Its extremely important though that while you do this you engage in native material. Memorizing vocab does not mean you can actually read Japanese. You have to work at it consistently and your reading comprehension and speed will increase.