Maybe I'm not doing enough a day. Should I increase to 30-35, since Heisig said to do it quick as you can. I don't know...

If you are burning out after only 10 days, I think a larger problem is motivation.

Are you getting enough sleep at night? My brain doesn't function nearly as well on 5 hours of sleep as it does on 8-9

danieldesu Wrote:Are you getting enough sleep at night? My brain doesn't function nearly as well on 5 hours of sleep as it does on 8-9

I never thought about that. I experience similar early burnouts like the OP and on average get 6 hours of sleep.

I notice a large decrease in performance in my SRS reps (and other areas) when I get less than 7.5 hours of sleep. I always get more done if I've had enough sleep even thought I'm awake for fewer hours. If I have to sleep only 4.5/6 hours I'll squeeze in a nap somewhere.

I never really noticed this until I started using SRS a lot, but I think its been that way my whole life, and have a feeling that most people are like this (though the hours may vary)

uberstuber Wrote:I notice a large decrease in performance in my SRS reps (and other areas) when I get less than 7.5 hours of sleep. I always get more done if I've had enough sleep even thought I'm awake for fewer hours. If I have to sleep only 4.5/6 hours I'll squeeze in a nap somewhere.

Nice to see you used multiples of 1.5 hours. For those unaware, this is the average length of a sleep cycle. Here's some more info:

Quote:Studies show that the length of sleep is not what causes us to be refreshed upon waking. The key factor is the number of complete sleep cycles we enjoy. Each sleep cycle contains five distinct phases, which exhibit different brain-wave patterns. For our purposes, it suffices to say that one sleep cycle lasts an average of 90 minutes: 65 minutes of normal, or non-REM (rapid eye movement), sleep; 20 minutes of REM sleep (in which we dream); and a final 5 minutes of non-REM sleep. The REM sleep phases are shorter during earlier cycles (less that 20 minutes) and longer during later ones (more than 20 minutes).

If we were to sleep completely naturally, with no alarm clocks or other sleep disturbances, we would wake up, on the average, after a multiple of 90 minutes--for example, after 4 1/2 hours, 6 hours, 7 1/2 hours, or 9 hours, but not after 7 or 8 hours, which are not multiples of 90 minutes. In the period between cycles we are not actually sleeping: it is a sort of twilight zone from which, if we are not disturbed (by light, cold, a full bladder, noise), we move into another 90-minute cycle. A person who sleeps only four cycles (6 hours) will feel more rested than someone who has slept for 8 to 10 hours but who has not been allowed to complete any one cycle because of being awakened before it was completed.

http://web.archive.org/web/2006021818103...cerpts.htm

The other day I did wake up early with only 5-6 hours of sleep due to allergies. So hopefully that's all it is. Plus today I had to take a pill which is said to be non-drowsy but isn't so completely...which being drowsy all you want to do is sleep.

Thanks guys.

I do 20 Kanji / day.

I tried several times 30 - 40 and once 50. But every time I did it, they came back later as unkown Kanji.

So 20 new Kanji are my limit.

I'm working with the Leiter-System. I have a "daily to do list" with unknown Kanji and new Kanji. The maximum of this 'daily to do list' should 30 - 40 Kanji, but better only 30. (40 makes me repeating them sometimes very hard.)

After 1100 Kanji I think I must decrease my 20 Kanji / day. Because I have normally 15 - 25 unknown Kanji (already learned Kanji i didn't know during testing). So it is possible that I learn in the next weeks only with 10 - 15 Kanji.

1. if you learn 20 Kanji / day, than try 4x5 Kanji a day. Don't learn all at once
2. time is very important, if you have not enough time, it could be good to try 15 or 10 Kanji / day
3. some chapters of the book have longer forewords read them, now. There are informations that can help.

4. another possibility is the time between repeating known kanji is to long.

I repeated a Kanji after 1 day / 3 days / 7 days / 16 days ...

I changed it to 1 day / 2 days / 4 days / 8 days / 16 days...
After changing to repeating times, it it better, now.

You must look after what is your best repeating time.

Teskal Wrote:I do 20 Kanji / day.

I tried several times 30 - 40 and once 50. But every time I did it, they came back later as unkown Kanji.

So 20 new Kanji are my limit.

I'm working with the Leiter-System. I have a "daily to do list" with unknown Kanji and new Kanji. The maximum of this 'daily to do list' should 30 - 40 Kanji, but better only 30. (40 makes me repeating them sometimes very hard.)

After 1100 Kanji I think I must decrease my 20 Kanji / day. Because I have normally 15 - 25 unknown Kanji (already learned Kanji i didn't know during testing). So it is possible that I learn in the next weeks only with 10 - 15 Kanji.

1. if you learn 20 Kanji / day, than try 4x5 Kanji a day. Don't learn all at once
2. time is very important, if you have not enough time, it could be good to try 15 or 10 Kanji / day
3. some chapters of the book have longer forewords read them, now. There are informations that can help.

4. another possibility is the time between repeating known kanji is to long.

I repeated a Kanji after 1 day / 3 days / 7 days / 16 days ...

I changed it to 1 day / 2 days / 4 days / 8 days / 16 days...
After changing to repeating times, it it better, now.

You must look after what is your best repeating time.

Anyone who carefully looks at this must come to the same conclusion that I have reached: There are days when quite a few kanji can be added to the system, and other days when adding less is optimal.

Some of the groupings lend themselves to interrelated stories more than others. Some will just "make sense" more than others. Some will take more concentration and time. You will also (as is true of all human beings) have good days, and lessor days.

If I was advising here (and I guess I am), I would say that you should do as many as feel doable on any given day, and that getting stuck on some fixed number that never changes per day is something that only the obsessive compulsive nut cases among us would worry about (and my charter membership in that group entitles me to slander them as much as I like).

Trust your instincts. Go with the flow. Do what feels natural, and blow off the 100 a day or how many ever super heroes. It's okay for them, perhaps. Who are you?

Wally Wrote:Anyone who carefully looks at this must come to the same conclusion that I have reached: There are days when quite a few kanji can be added to the system, and other days when adding less is optimal.

Yeah, thats something really important, too.

stplush Wrote:Maybe I'm not doing enough a day. Should I increase to 30-35, since Heisig said to do it quick as you can. I don't know...

One thing you can do is kind of take an SRS vacation. Don't add any new cards. Just review the ones you have now. In the free time you have in which you're not adding new cards you can go and try to read some manga/other japanese materials. Go and get frustrated when you don't know a kanji (more like the majority of kanjis)! Look around the net and find someone really arrogant and obnoxious who has already completed Heisig (this place is a fine place to start [not to say there aren't nice people here too... but there are some jerks, like everywhere in life]).

Basically, motivate yourself. Get yourself excited about all the kanji. Go out and brag to someone. Show off. Try and feel any good feelings kanji can bring you.

And when you go off your little SRS vacation (the article about these lovely things), why don't you start adding more slowly. Do 20 every 2 days or so.

A lot of people here will tell you to rush through and that fast is best. This is only their opinion. Keep that in mind. Form your own opinions. You've tried fast, now try slow. Then try the middle-ground. Do what works for you best. Stay motivated. Go at a comfortable speed. Maybe that will be going fast some days and adding none other days.

Sorry to ramble, but I know how you feel. Just keep a positive attitude, get motivated, and take it easy. Essentially, have fun with it! It's a game.

I've been doing Reviewing the Kanji for almost a year.. At a couple points, I slacked off for a few weeks before ever adding new kanji.. I think I even had an expired pile of a couple hundred.. But I'd gotten back on track and am making satisfying progress.

I think the speed of which you study isn't so important, and not relevant to your motivation.. If you aren't excited about learning the kanji, maybe you should focus on grammar for now instead? Or maybe you aren't really interested in Japanese? I doubt that if you've already gone 200 kanji into it...

Actually I may have felt a bit of this myself when I first started, now that I think about it.. That is, I felt overwhelmed.. Like I would never get it done. I saw people at the 500 mark and thought "Wow, I'll never get that far". Heh, Now I'm about 75% into it and am more excited and motivated than ever. You do have the capacity, and all you have to do is make a bunch of silly little stories.

Something that does help for certain is to have fun with it. Make the stories fun and interested rather than what you think would be most proper. This isn't formal study in the classroom. It's Heisig's controversial method where anything goes

cerulean Wrote:Something that does help for certain is to have fun with it. Make the stories fun and interested rather than what you think would be most proper. This isn't formal study in the classroom. It's Heisig's controversial method where anything goes

Exactly. When I started you couldn't talk me out from using any of the Heisig's stories and primitives and when I ran out of his stories I freaked out and thought it would not be the same. Turns out it went better. Creating your own stories is so stimulating and fun! You can have stories about the things you like and don't have to be overly general like "lady walking on the street after midnight", geez, you can say "my bitch ex-girlfriend walking at the street after midnight! I shoulda known better!".

Like, currently I am making stories with a lot of Naruto characters and is working out just fine.

Teskal Wrote:4. another possibility is the time between repeating known kanji is to long.

I repeated a Kanji after 1 day / 3 days / 7 days / 16 days ...

I changed it to 1 day / 2 days / 4 days / 8 days / 16 days...
After changing to repeating times, it it better, now.

You must look after what is your best repeating time.

Actually I like the look of the first one better, but whatever works for you. Are you using jMemorize, btw?

mafried Wrote:

Teskal Wrote:4. another possibility is the time between repeating known kanji is to long.

I repeated a Kanji after 1 day / 3 days / 7 days / 16 days ...

I changed it to 1 day / 2 days / 4 days / 8 days / 16 days...
After changing to repeating times, it it better, now.

You must look after what is your best repeating time.

Actually I like the look of the first one better, but whatever works for you. Are you using jMemorize, btw?

No, I use Stackz (http://www.stackz.com)