At 500 at last. It's been somewhat of a bumpy ride, with a few ups and downs, but as long as I keep pushing myself I know I'll make it to the end.

It seems that once you drag yourself out of your comfort zone (setting a number of kanji to do per day that takes some effort to keep up), you'll be progressing quite nicely. I'm still amazed at how many kanji one can learn in a day. Sometimes it feels like I'm adding a bit too many and I fear that it'll just backfire, but I guess by relying on the system it'll turn out alright.

Yay! Just reached #555 (lol?).
And it's probably been said before, but I find it easier to finish studying right before a new primitive gets introduced. For example today I still had some time left but knowing that I wouldn't be able to nail down the next 20 or so kanji with the "Turkey" primitive, I decided to stop and save them tomorrow instead Also timeboxing is your friend.

Long story short I'm 1/4 through after a mere(?) 3 weeks... this site is winsauce +5. Good luck everyone!!

Ciermel Wrote:Yay! Just reached #555 (lol?).
And it's probably been said before, but I find it easier to finish studying right before a new primitive gets introduced. For example today I still had some time left but knowing that I wouldn't be able to nail down the next 20 or so kanji with the "Turkey" primitive, I decided to stop and save them tomorrow instead Also timeboxing is your friend.

Long story short I'm 1/4 through after a mere(?) 3 weeks... this site is winsauce +5. Good luck everyone!!

congratulations on reaching 555 kanji. See you in the half way forum topic .

Just completed frame 600 and feeling accomplished. This is my third try with RTK. My previous attempts were both halted to due to health issues and not being able to keep up. But seeing as I'm now farther than I've ever been I'm pretty sure I'll see it to the end this time.

You can do it, mikankun!

Just hit 508 here. Still on my first run, there've been stints of inactivity but I just keep coming back and reviewing them again as they accumulate. I don't think I'll stop from here on. It's not healthy, and there's really no reason to; there's always time.

I went to lesson 6 in only 3 (non-consecutive) days! Than means that I can study all of the kanji in a bit over a month!

*monster roar* (since there are people roaring here)

Dankoochoo Wrote:I went to lesson 6 in only 3 (non-consecutive) days! Than means that I can study all of the kanji in a bit over a month!

*monster roar* (since there are people roaring here)

Careful; make sure you time in the 3-figure amount of reviews you'll have to do every day as well.
But good luck!

I hit 508 last night. I rushed to get there so I wasn't as ecstatic as I thought I might be, but still, it's nice to know I only have to do this 1,534 more times. Only. -.-

But, one of the light novels I ordered came in today, and flipping through it looking at the pages of Japanese interspersed with pictures of half naked school girls has inspired me. I might switch to trying to do a lesson a day, splitting up the massive lessons in half...

I just made it to 508 today. Part three, finally! (*o*)

I hated going through the burnouts, but it seems I'm finally back in the kanji phase again. I got rid of over 400 overdue cards and my energy is back...let's see how long I'll last 'til the end.

On the plus side, I was flipping through one of my books today, and spotted several kanji that I'd just learned yesterday! I was so happy ^^

Hi, I'm thrilled to say I passed 636 last night after a little over a week of full-time study. Woohoo! I have found I am terrible at making up stories from just keywords, so without this web site I would have been doomed. It is so wonderful to have everyone else's stories to choose from.
As folks have been saying, my review time has mushroomed and my kanji per day has diminished, but I'm still hoping to finish before my enthusiasm wanes (one reason I'm pushing hard now).
Thank you for a great community.

My interest in the Japanese language began when I visited Japan on a business trip in 2006. Between then and last October I made little headway. I've spent hundreds of dollars on various books and local continuing education type Japanese language courses. I even signed up for Japanesepod101.com. In past four years I'd say I learned about 500 words and maybe about 10 chapters worth of Genki I grammar. Now that I think about it I've probably forgotten much of that due to lack of use.

Anyway during that time I collected a lot of various site links in by bookmarks folders and this site was one of them. While cleaning up those bookmarks I revisited this site and after downloading the RTK pdf and lurking in the forums I realized that the methods discussed and argued about here suit my needs well.

Today I'm happy to say I've reached the 508 kanji mark. When I started using this site I breezed though the first 80 in one weekend. Previous "Genki I" and "Japanese in Mangaland" lessons probably helped a lot. After the initial burst I've settled into a 5 kanji a day rate. Some days I'll add more and sometimes I won't add any, but always do the reviews.

I look forward to life after RTK I and III. Tomorrow I attack part three.

Thanks everyone, and congrats to all who've posted here.

Woot just hit 500 kanji today ROOOOOOOAARRRRR!!1

I got stuck at around 300-400 (fiesta and garments tied me up) so I gave up. But I just recently surpassed myself and reached 500. 2000 really seems possible.

Passed 514 today, twice as far as I got on my first attempt!

Now I'm excited every time I recognize a kanji outside of RTK, which is a great motivator. Since I'm not in a hurry, I'm comfortable adding about 20-25 new kanji most days and, like some other posters, I've learned to stop before a new primitive. My own stories have gotten much better, and I've also found some great ones here; "samurai kissing on the mouth before the battle for Good Luck". HA! Unforgettable image.

I'm glad that I've finally established a comfortable and effective study routine, because I'm confident it will take me through the rest of the way. I don't know that I could/would have done it without all the help I've gotten from RevTK, so thanks to everyone, and especially to Fabrice for this excellent site.

Made it past that 500 mark (I'm actually at 522).
It's taken me quite a while. Over a month so far (closing in on 2).
How do you all go so fast at learning kanji?

I've seen many rewards so far from studying this book (such as really understanding a new vocabulary word based on the kanji used to write it), and I anticipate the day I finish it and can move on to more advanced kanji studies. But I guess it will have to be at my own pace.

This book has been bit of a hindrance on my Japanese, but I can already see how rewarding it will be when I finish it. I can also see how damaging it will be if I don't finish it. 頑張ろう！

Didn't know where else to put this. I passed 500 at least two weeks ago, but got stuck as hell in Chapter 23. Did that one almost kill everyone else? Finally just knocked out the last 20 kanji in 23 and ready to head into 24 which Heisig promises is easier. Wow, anyway, see everybody at the halfway mark!

Woo, just passed 500th frame yesterday, it took me about 1 month to complete the 500th frame, which I think is a bit on the slow side but considering how stop-go my work has been, I think the progress is ok I tended to average 30-40 new kanji every second day which wasn't exactly ideal, ideal would've been 30-40 new kanji each day or even 15-20 kanji a day but I tend to like to complete it per chapter. And yes I did the 80 kanji chapter in one shot and gwad that one sucked, not looking forward to the monster 120 kanji chapter >_<!

Done, currently sitting at kanji #532.
It's my second attempt at RTK1, first one failed at kanji #330 mainly because of some sloppy attitude from me. Had to create a new account. Feeling way more confident this time. Very frustrating to be so slow though, took me a month to get the first quarter out... I'm aiming to finish RTK1 in about 2 months, which means increasing to ~750 kanjis per month, which I'll hopefully be able to achieve.
Truly no idea on how some of you guys learn 50-100 of them per day, that would be such an immense full time work endeavor for me O _ o

Anyways, it's notably tougher then I first thought it would be, investing so much time, every day, on preparing to learn Japanese instead of just learning it requires quite a heavy dose of motivation and self discipline. On the other hand I simply can't imagine myself learning Japanese the usual way, learning words, readings, meanings AND writings at the same time is just too much ^^'

Cherny Wrote:Done, currently sitting at kanji #532.
It's my second attempt at RTK1, first one failed at kanji #330 mainly because of some sloppy attitude from me. Had to create a new account. Feeling way more confident this time. Very frustrating to be so slow though, took me a month to get the first quarter out... I'm aiming to finish RTK1 in about 2 months, which means increasing to ~750 kanjis per month, which I'll hopefully be able to achieve.
Truly no idea on how some of you guys learn 50-100 of them per day, that would be such an immense full time work endeavor for me O _ o

Anyways, it's notably tougher then I first thought it would be, investing so much time, every day, on preparing to learn Japanese instead of just learning it requires quite a heavy dose of motivation and self discipline. On the other hand I simply can't imagine myself learning Japanese the usual way, learning words, readings, meanings AND writings at the same time is just too much ^^'

congratulations on reaching 532 kanji! Good luck on reaching your 750 kanji/month goal ^^.

I just hit frame 500 and it feels pretty good. I was actually at frame 440 for like 2 months and I finally managed to get to a point where I felt ok adding new cards. Now I have a bit of a new wind.

Hopefully I'll see you all at the half way mark. Good luck!

Sheepy Wrote:I just hit frame 500 and it feels pretty good. I was actually at frame 440 for like 2 months and I finally managed to get to a point where I felt ok adding new cards. Now I have a bit of a new wind.

Hopefully I'll see you all at the half way mark. Good luck!

Congratulations on reaching 500! Use that wind and soar up to that 1000 mark. Best of luck reaching it.

Finally reached #601 after taking two huge breaks (more like periods of time with no motivation) and I will finish it this time, already got a goal per day (20 - 30) and schedule, just hope I can get my motivation from here. Kudos to the guy who made that video, picked up RtK again this evening since I found the thread, even though I found the music slightly annoying ^^'

Made it over the 500 mark after 39 days.
It's about 110 days until i'll be going to Japan, so if I want to make it before my departure I have to increase my speed even more. Not that I rush it, it just would be nice

Chaze Wrote:Made it over the 500 mark after 39 days.
It's about 110 days until i'll be going to Japan, so if I want to make it before my departure I have to increase my speed even more. Not that I rush it, it just would be nice

Congratulations on getting to 500 so soon. My advice to you is to take the 1540 that's left and devise it by 100 days and just do a minimum of 16 kanji a day because I have been learning RTK for about 11 months and I am still stuck on like 1550 because the reveiws take a while when you get close towards the end. So, by doing a minimum of 16 your are guaranteed to have RTK done before you get to japan.

Good luck.

finished lesson 20 last night, so standing on 514 kanjis so far (instert a little kitty roar here)!

took me about 10 days, i need 2 go faster as im planing on giving JLPT N1 or N2 a try in december, so lets c wat ll happen (starting from scratch >.>)