Odin89 Wrote:I just don't think, however, that keeping information like keywords or stories throughout the whole duration of the learning process is worth the effort required to keep it fresh.

If in 10 years (2004 to 2014) you would have learned ~2200 kanji, which is 2200/365*10 = 0.6 kanji a day, and kept them reviewing all that time, your review workload these days would be approximately 0.6 * 10-20 = 6-12 kanji a day.

This equals to 6-12 * 10 / 60 = 1-2 minutes of your time.

In my opinion, the benefit of knowing the meaning and writing of those 2200 kanji is worth those 2 minutes – you seem to evaluate the cost vs. benefit somewhat differently. Well, everybody is different...

Inny Jan Wrote:If in 10 years (2004 to 2014) you would have learned ~2200 kanji, which is 2200/365*10 = 0.6 kanji a day, and kept them reviewing all that time, your review workload these days would be approximately 0.6 * 10-20 = 6-12 kanji a day.

This equals to 6-12 * 10 / 60 = 1-2 minutes of your time.

Excellent piece of information, but back then I didn't know about this forum, RtK, Anki, Rikaichan and many other resources. I was just a 15 year old kid with an excess of curiosity towards this language.
Data will probably support you back rather than the personal experience of random forum member B, I'm just giving my take on it, TC can either consider my message or throw it to the garbage, I don't pretend to evangelize anyone.

As I'm learning many Kanjis a day currently, I thought of the amount of reviews to do in the future.
When I begin to learn compounds in the volume 2, I will repeat the meanings of Kanji learnt in volume 1, won't I?
The stories are there to make a bridge between keyword and Kanji. Do the meanings of compounds help to remember the meaning of the Kanjis it is made of? If that's the case, it's not bad if the story gets forgotten but the connection Kanji->Keyword remains. Am I wrong?

dlgltlzed Wrote:As I'm learning many Kanjis a day currently, I thought of the amount of reviews to do in the future.
When I begin to learn compounds in the volume 2, I will repeat the meanings of Kanji learnt in volume 1, won't I?
The stories are there to make a bridge between keyword and Kanji. Do the meanings of compounds help to remember the meaning of the Kanjis it is made of? If that's the case, it's not bad if the story gets forgotten but the connection Kanji->Keyword remains. Am I wrong?

Once you finish RTK1, and focus on reading, you automatically review the kanji by studying lists of vocabulary needed for the particular reading passage you're working on.

I keep an Access database of vocabulary and each time I am ready to start a new reading passage, I input all the new vocabulary. My database is set up so that I input the RTK1 keyword, press enter, and the kanji pops up automatically in the kanji field.

In this way, I'm constantly having to use the RTK1 keywords.

The RTK1 keywords of the kanji used to form a compound in many cases help to remember the compound. And the meaning of the compound does in many cases reinforce the keyword that goes with the kanji.

My vocabulary lists consist of: kanji, romaji transcription, meaning of word/compound, and RTK1 keyword(s). So I review everything at once when I'm reviewing vocabulary.

dlgltlzed Wrote:As I'm learning many Kanjis a day currently, I thought of the amount of reviews to do in the future.
When I begin to learn compounds in the volume 2, I will repeat the meanings of Kanji learnt in volume 1, won't I?

I'm sorry I don't have any experience with RTK2.

Quote:The stories are there to make a bridge between keyword and Kanji. Do the meanings of compounds help to remember the meaning of the Kanjis it is made of?

In most cases, yes.

Quote:If that's the case, it's not bad if the story gets forgotten but the connection Kanji->Keyword remains. Am I wrong?

You're not wrong, the story usually fades away so only the connection kanji <-> meaning remains.

EratiK Wrote:

dlgltlzed Wrote:If that's the case, it's not bad if the story gets forgotten but the connection Kanji->Keyword remains. Am I wrong?

You're not wrong, the story usually fades away so only the connection kanji <-> meaning remains.

Perhaps more accurately, your mind creates a more efficient (ie. direct) mapping from keyword->kanji or its radicals and the story neural connections become weaker. You can probably force yourself to recall the story if you try, but if you instantly can fully visualize the kanji, just roll with it.

Linval Wrote:I got burned out on my RTK deck too a while back, and I solved the problem with a very simple tweak.

My original RTK cards where Keyword + story on the front and kanji + stroke order on the back.
I simply flipped the cards to kanji front, keyword + story back. The benefits were immediate : less time spending deciphering stories = faster reps = less frustration = no burnout. Originally, it made my success rate fall off a bit, but I quickly picked it right back up, and I never went back.

That's a good point. Reading requires to know the meaning of the individual Kanji which correlate with the meaning of the compound. Learning from keyword to Kanji is good for learning how to produce the Kanji, but needs more time than the other way around. After finishing RTK, I think it's reasonable to switch, because for reading, it's of course more important to recognize the Kanji and know the meaning. And after writing down 2200 Kanji, your muscle memory should be very well trained and losing the ability to write down a Kanji unlikely. There are also a lot of patterns for writing Kanji that get very clear along the way.