I'm heading toward the end of RTK, I've added all cards except the very last lesson, which is very short anyways. I'm having some problems with the last 200 or so kanji, as there many writing exceptions and complex primitives combinations. My retention isn't great, i usually average about 75%, but i think it will get better as i continue to review. An obvious problems source it the fact that English is not my first language and there have been a lot of keywords that i didn't know or didn't know the exact connotation.

I've always followed the general suggestion of reviewing Keyword->Kanji supposing the other way would come automatically as stated by Heisig. Now I'm realizing that often i've got problems recognizing Kanji. Apart from confusing similar primitives, which happens in both ways, often i can't remember a story at all although I have the feeling that I 'should' know it.
The cause might be that I've used the mental shortcut of giving some primitives different meanings like 'thread' for me can mean 'thread', other times 'Spiderman' or 'going' can be 'going' or 'column' as it was easier to construct stories, but it might reveal as a problem when doing the other way.

Have i wasted my time?

I was thinking of building an anki deck to review kanji->keyword, it shouldn't take much time, and maybe it could be useful to isolate kanji I've got that problem with. Do you think it would be a good idea doing this or I'd rather go with kanji->Japanese keyword?

Thanks.

If you've added 2000 and your retention rate is 75%, you definitely haven't been wasting your time.


If you're having trouble with annoying & vague keywords, try using a pun or wordplay of some sort. For example, with "bestow", I think of Bisto, a popular brand of gravy in the UK. For "decameron", I use David Cameron, a politician.

I wouldn't advise going kanji >> keyword because a lot of the keywords can be misleading, only partially accurate, and in some cases completely useless.

Why not change some of the problem keywords into the equivalent word in your first language?

Kanji -> Keyword is barely important when you get along to sentence picking. For ones where they are useful, you'll probably know the kanji -> keyword anyway, either through Heisig or natural exposure to the kanji.

Ryajinor Wrote:Why not change some of the problem keywords into the equivalent word in your first language?

I'm working on that.
But my main concern is the different meaning i gave to same primitive in different kanji. When i read the keyword it usually triggers a story about Spiderman or something related to a thread. On the other way when i see the kanji i can't remember if i have to read the primitive as 'thread' or 'superman'. With 2 confusing primitive in the same kanji i'm stuck.
My suggestion to those starting now would be to stick with ONE meaning in every story for each primitive.