Hello all,

This is my first post here and I look forward to some valuable exchange with you all! I have been studying Japanese for two years now. I have finished Genki 1 and 2 and have moved on to sentence mining and reading simple (yet challenging) manga, such as GTO. I tried the Heisig method before, but, at the time, I only had an Anki SRS deck and no book. I had no idea how to actually study the characters and for the first two lessons ended up writing out each character 10x each. I eventually stopped my Heisig effort so I could focus on my college Japanese courses. Now I have free time (plus the book)and would like to try the method again.

How many times do you recommend copying a character? As previously mentioned, I was doing about 10 reps for each new character and 5 for each review.

Thanks,
Afrosattva

One or zero.

Hello, thanks for your response. So when learning a new character, only write it down once or (if I get it right away) zero?

I think most people only write the character once per review. The Heisig's method isn't about rote memorization, there's no need to do more. If a kanji feels weird when you trace it you can write it another time to get a better feel for the strokes linking, but that should be the exception, not the rule.

If you get it wrong, yes, you should write the correct form before reviewing the next kanji.

Ah thank you! That was something I was always a bit unsure of! When I did research about the method, I really didn't see much information on how to actually go about doing it. Like I said earlier, I just jumped into an Anki deck.

You don't have to really write it at all, just thinking of it is basically the same thing.

I started out writing them (3-4 times even, as I was learning them, and then once on every review). But, eventually, I got bored, and stopped writing for the most part. I learned plenty of relatively simple Kanji without writing them even once.

I would still review with pen and paper in my lap, but only write if the Kanji contained a tough primitive (like "turkey", that one took a while to learn how to write with ease), or if the Kanji itself was tricky and I was having trouble recalling it. The act of writing helped me focus better, in those cases.

But, when a Kanji is easy enough that you know it immediately, you should just press the button and move on. Writing down easy Kanji slows your pace so much that it's not worth it.

I've read so far that most people here do not write the kanji, but I do. I write it 1-7 times depending on how easy or hard it is. Personally, I don't feel the need to write more than 3 times if the story is good, but I may write it more times to balance the writing well. I remember kanji better if I can recall it well enough to write it if the keyword is presented. I have learned this through many failed kanji learning attempts in the past.

If you're not rushing to pass a test, or have a strict due-date to finish RTK 1, I can only recommend you following your gut. If writing it 7 times helps you remember it then do it. If writing it 7 times doesn't help or if your rushing to finish, then don't. Also, don't force yourself to write it 7 times when you already got it at the 3rd one and writing is starting to feel boring. It is important to know yourself when self-studying, and know if you need to move on from something, or stick to something depending on how you feel.

With my studies I learned for me, that writing it down repeatedly in a row more than three times works much slower than being prompted with the keyword and writing it down from recalling it. For example, I could write down a kanji 20 times in a row and not remember it, but I guarantee if I have to recall it by the key word, even the hardest looking kanji will take at most, 3 times and I'll be 100% confident with knowing the kanji, even if I see it on the street too. Just make sure you already wrote it at least once, or enough times to be comfortable with it, then quiz yourself, and move on once you comfortably recall it. Just a suggestion though! Follow your gut!

If your goal is reading, I recommend reviewing kanji -> keyword (i.e. meaning), and not writing them at all.

When I was learning them initially I just wrote them once. (At the very beginning I was ignorant about the shortfalls of rote memorization, so I stopped that method after about the first 100 kanji) I'm one of the few people who physically constructed all the flashcards. It wasn't until I completed the flashcards that I would do the practice routine of seeing the English word, trying to write the kanji on scrap paper, then flipping over the card to see if I drew it right.

I agree with the folks who already wrote. You really only need to write it once. It's important to study smart, not hard. It is repeatedly mentioned in the Heisig books that the Japanese approach to learning kanji is the worst way (i.e. rote memorization and drills) and that conventional methods should be avoided.

I write kanjis with my finger during reviews. It helps me to determine whether I remember the character correctly.