When I learn new kanji in this site I always write the kanji then write the meaning under the kanji 7 times.
But recently, I have been questioning my methods if I am just wasting my time for that time maybe can be spent on more kanji. Also knowing to write the kanji is okay but is not what I am aiming for reading Japanese sentences. But what I agree is every time I got due cards I write them in a paper so I can compare.

So what do you think?
Is writing more kanji more effective to remembering or should I just write less?
Do writing the kanji multiple times really help you remember greatly?
Any other approach would be appriciated.

Thank you

If you're asking if rote memorization is futile, well, mostly.
You should write the kanji a couple times to get a feel for how writing feels, but not for memorization. You are learning the kanji by creating a [i]meaningful[i/] context.

*裏技：　if you write a kanji 458 times exactly (no more no less) than you will remember it.

Writing them out helps me cement it in my mind sometimes, or gets my mind going when the story doesnt quite make it there. But unless it's hard I don't go over 2 and unless it's really hard I rarely go over 4 times of writing it. And when I review I don't really write them as much anymore. If you are looking for ways to cut down on study time then writing is definitely a big one that you can live without

I dunno. I finished RTK about three weeks ago. My deck is 60% mature. It took me around three months to add all the kanji from the book. For every single kanji I followed the same process:

1) Check RTK for new primitive/meaning if applicable.

2) In Anki's card browser, check the story for the new kanji, modify as necessary. If I don't like either story, I'll either check the study section for alternates or come up with my own. Bold all element/keywords.

3) Do a quick search of my study decks for words which use that kanji. I have finished Core2k and my sentence deck has ~3100 mature cards, so I usually find a few usages. I also frequently check WWWJDIC for nouns and add those as well.

4) Add vocab using the new kanji (in kana) to the 'Japanese' field I have added to my Anki deck. This helps me distinguish between linked keywords and also reinforces vocab.

5) Once my stories and Japanese are all sorted, I write each kanji 7-8 times in my kanji practice books from the 100 yen store. I repeat a key mnemonic as I write each kanji.

6) Unsuspend new kanji in Anki, test myself, ensuring that I read the stories carefully for every new card.

7) Custom step on the Anki deck means I see the kanji again in 2 hours, but in general I'll see them either later in the evening or the next morning.

8) I always hit "hard" the first three times I see new kanji, along with ensuring I fully and carefully reread/imagine the corresponding story.

I was sure that I wrote the kanji by hand 100% of the time for new cards. After that I'd say I write out my reviews about 80% of the time. My hand-writing has gotten much faster as a result, but I think my retention rate is really the biggest benefit:

New cards correct: 95.96% (5457 of 5687)
Young cards correct: 95.23% (13895 of 14591)
Mature cards correct: 97.44% (836 of 858)

Whether that is due entirely to diligently writing out kanji as much as I could is probably up for debate, but I certainly feel it has helped me. I also have a small pile of notebooks full of kanji.

tashippy Wrote:If you're asking if rote memorization is futile, well, mostly.
You should write the kanji a couple times to get a feel for how writing feels, but not for memorization. You are learning the kanji by creating a meaningful context.

This. When you begin, I think it's reasonnable to write some kanji two or three times to get a feel for the flow of the strokes, but yeah, the point of RTK isn't to rote learn so 7 times is a waste of time.

The fact that you write the meaning 7 times too when learning seems especially pointless. It would make sense if RTK were about recognition (you get tested on a kanji, you answer by saying/writing the meaning), but RTK is about production (get a word, produce the kanji). Imo you should get rid of this habit.

That said, when reviewing cards I think you shoud always write the kanji once. Some people don't but it really helps memorization. Even if you don't plan to write later on, the little extra effort is worth it.

1 or 2 times should suffice, unless the kanji is particularly hard to draw.

Actually even learning the English keywords is like training wheels. You learn them as placeholders for later, when you're familiar with all the Kanji and learn real vocab.

WOW!!!

I could have learn more now if I did less writing.Looks like I'll have to change my studying habits(should have done it earlier).
Thx allot for the advices as they were really helpful to me.

I started RTK1 during the weekend and did the first 3 lessons (about 54 Kanji) using the template linked below.

Perhaps I have started doing things wrong. I basically repeated each Kanji per line. Which is about 11 times each for a total of 594 written Kanji. It was too much for my hand, I actually had to put ice on top of my knuckles. On top of all, I've been holding my pencil vertically like if I was using a brush. Seeing this thread early in the book is quite a relief.

I'll probably do 3 times each Kanji and hold my pencil in my usual inclined way from now on.

Template I'm using: http://nubero.ch/downloads/index.html

[ファブリス]

Writing the kanji while reviewing and studying is definitely a plus, especially with a method that supports writing fluency. Writing the characters once or twice, or even just once "air guitar" style without pen and paper is fine.

Writing down the keywords is completely unnecessary though. If you have trouble with the keywords what's useful is look it up in an english dictionary to understand its nuances and which one Heisig was going for, particularly if you are not a native english speaker.

I've always used handwriting to cement things in my brain. There's something about the eye-hand-brain circuitry that works for me, although I don't know if that's true for everyone. YMMV.

For studying other things I use or two repetitions, but RTK is different, due to unfamiliarity with the characters. (I also do it for writing practice, since the only RL writing I do is typing emails.) I write simple, easily remembered kanji twice (first two reviews) most kanji three to five times, and hard ones every review until they're easy.

And yes, the reviews go MUCH faster when I'm not writing!

As a not native english speaker, I found that writing keywords is good only when you have problems with their meaning (and most of the time, I don't write them down even in this case... I do it only if when I fail the character SRSing my first thing is "I knew how to write it! It's the one with the slightly different keyword!").

Funny fact: I still don't know what hoist means, but now I know for which kanji it stands for. Basically, for me now hoist means 揚 (a hand holding a piglet).

hoist is "hissen, herauf ziehen" in German if you go for the verb, or "Aufzug, Flaschenzug" if you go for the noun.

I do the "air guitar" thing, too. When I wanna get them out of my way quickly, I just say the parts and be done with it. Then again, my hand writing isn't as horrible anymore.

Yeah now I use jisho.org to check the meaning of the kanji. Like he kanji party supposed of the political party so I changed the keyword to "Party(political).There are also many english words I am unfamiliar in heisig keywords and I do find it sometimes hard to recall the kanji with the keyword despite English is my first language.

Progressing in RTK also there were many words similar to each other like promontory,headland,cape. . . . .utilize and use.

@mztik You may want to strain your hands and like what I do know I just write kanji if its tottaly new.That is if you are not aiming to write kanji. . . . . .

When you do the Heisig way the way it's intended, you'll learn to write without much writing. Draw it once with your finger in your palm if you think you need to, but learning the stuff in that order and with stories that connect the primitives, you WILL learn to write anyways.
Your kanji will look pretty bad then, but writing's a purely physical skill, it gets better with practice, and the point where you do Heisig comes waaay earlier than that.

Just relax, do the stuff and eventually you'll get there. Part of what makes RTK so fast and effective is that it only makes you do one thing. It skips reading and whatnot for a reason. If you add tasks like "write the keyword 7 times, drink the blood of 13 virgins and dance naked on the graveyard at midnight with your black cat on your shoulder", you overburden yourself again.

Just be patient and do it till the end