Ok, this may be an odd request, but does anyone know of a link to a well thought out negative review or argument against the Heisig method? I have to write a paper for a class I'm taking, and I've chosen to incorporate my Japanese learning as a theme. I'm going to be arguing that the approach is beneficial, especially when coupled with a collaborative community such as this site (the class is focused on the benefits of mass collaboration), but I need to address the arguments against the method. It doesn't have to be a scholarly source or anything (in fact, due to the mass collaborative nature of the project, wikipedia is my professor's favorite source...strange dude), but something a little more eloquent than "it is the sux." I know the merits have been debated several time here and on other boards for 20+ pages a thread, but I'm really looking for more of a stand alone article or review I can point to than a back and forth fight on a message board.

And I already know at least most of the arguments for or against the method. I'm not looking for another debate, just a pointer to a good resource that succinctly summarizes the negative argument.

Thanks.

http://kanjihanzi.blogspot.com/

The guy who made this site could possibly help you out. >_>

When I think of Kanjihanzi the words "succinctly summarizes" are not really what springs to mind.

I don't know if it helps but I remember there being a lot of discussion on the forums at thejapanesepage.com, including opinions from people who are really anti-Heisig (".... beyond worthless, verging on being a fraud."). See posts by AJBryant and Yudan Taiteki amongst others.

I don't know if there is a succinct summary of the anti-Heisig position there either, but I think the posters at least make some informed and rational arguments.

Not exactly a review, but Tae Kim has a post on it here: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008...the-kanji/

Here's one that didnt dissuade me:
http://www.nihongoperapera.com/reviews/r...kanji.html

Some of the forum members on thejapanesepage have been opposed to RTK, but I realized that the reason is because of beginners who did some RTK and then went to TJP to gloat about how they learned XXX kanji in a short time and therefore how great RTK is compared to the traditional methods.

RTK is great, but people need to recognize the extent of what it teaches and not go around telling people who made great effort to become highly literate that they learned all the kanji from RTK. Finishing RTK is not even close to being finished with learning the kanji.

All that it is, is starting the path to learning kanji "on the right foot". Something to optimize the rest of the process by decreasing kanji memory loss, and increasing the pace at which a beginner can tackle reading, which is the key to becoming literate.

Thank you all for your help. I had heard that thejapanesepage had an anti-RTK contingency. I tried searching the forums there earlier for Heisig, and got quite a lot of hits, but all the posts I waded through kept mentioning earlier posts where everything had all been said before, and frankly when they were all 15+ pages of name calling and flame wars I got tired of reading them. Maybe now that I have some member names to search for I can find something more reasonable.

Otherwise, I think that one that chully listed should do the trick. I really just need to point to something and lift a few lines to show that I'm not making it up myself.

Thanks again!

Did you see this link that Fabrice had posted?
http://www.fask.uni-mainz.de/inst/chines...ardson.htm
It is a pretty detailed review of the method.

vosmiura Wrote:RTK is great, but people need to recognize the extent of what it teaches and not go around telling people who made great effort to become highly literate that they learned all the kanji from RTK. Finishing RTK is not even close to being finished with learning the kanji.

It's the internet. If people can't deal with random strangers bragging about everything they do, they need to step back from the keyboard until they get their head on straight.

And those people -have- accomplished a great deal in a short time. RTK is not something you just breeze through. It takes work and dedication. Yes, it only lays the groundwork, but the traditional way doesn't lay -any- groundwork. You're expected to just jump in and start memorizing randomly.

For the record, I didn't use RTK. I used a similar method that wasn't as good, and I didn't actually finish it... I got about 3/4 of the way through. It has still been -immensely- helpful. In fact, I'm thinking about going back to that method and starting it from scratch and completing it this time.