If you feel comfortable with your knowledge of the kanji in RTK1 then it's time to move on to RTK3. This is because the kanji in RTK3 are basically composed of kanji/parts of kanji learned in RTK1. I finally felt ready to tackle RTK3.
I browsed all through the 1,000 additional kanji and it looks like it will be a relatively easy task to finish RTK3 in a couple of months.
I realized that one big benefit of doing RTK3 is that it will help reinforce my knowledge of RTK1. This is because as noted above the kanji in RTK3 use elements learned in RTK1. For example, in RTK1 we learned that the kanji for "detach" 離 is made up of top hat-villain-belt-elbow-turkey. In RTK3 the left side (top hat-villain-belt-elbow) is given the name "sheik" and is used in some other kanji. So later when you review RTK1 you might say that "detach" is made up of "sheik-turkey" which may be easier to remember. There are other similar examples of this.
Something else I've noticed is that some of the keywords in RTK3 are very similar to those in RTK1, though Heisig has taken care to make them different. For example, RTK3 has "mend" 綴 whereas RTK1 has "mending" (bottom half of "just so": 是).
You also see subtle points, like: "sapling" in RTK3 is "drop" plus "St. Bernard dog" whereas "heavens" in RTK1 is "ceiling" plus "St. Bernard dog." But they both look very similar.
There's the usual challenge in making up stories. E.g., "lottery" 籤 is made up of: bamboo-assembly line-fiesta-green onion.
I browsed all through the 1,000 additional kanji and it looks like it will be a relatively easy task to finish RTK3 in a couple of months.
I realized that one big benefit of doing RTK3 is that it will help reinforce my knowledge of RTK1. This is because as noted above the kanji in RTK3 use elements learned in RTK1. For example, in RTK1 we learned that the kanji for "detach" 離 is made up of top hat-villain-belt-elbow-turkey. In RTK3 the left side (top hat-villain-belt-elbow) is given the name "sheik" and is used in some other kanji. So later when you review RTK1 you might say that "detach" is made up of "sheik-turkey" which may be easier to remember. There are other similar examples of this.
Something else I've noticed is that some of the keywords in RTK3 are very similar to those in RTK1, though Heisig has taken care to make them different. For example, RTK3 has "mend" 綴 whereas RTK1 has "mending" (bottom half of "just so": 是).
You also see subtle points, like: "sapling" in RTK3 is "drop" plus "St. Bernard dog" whereas "heavens" in RTK1 is "ceiling" plus "St. Bernard dog." But they both look very similar.
There's the usual challenge in making up stories. E.g., "lottery" 籤 is made up of: bamboo-assembly line-fiesta-green onion.
Edited: 2014-11-03, 10:26 am