Hello there everyone!

I haven't been very active on these forums, which is awful really as I am a huge fan of this website and Heisig's work!

Over summer 2008 I studied the whole of RTK1, but after Uni started in September I really REALLY let it slip (awful I know, but Uni was piling on so much work!). Anyway, come January of this year, I decided that I would go for it, and started re-learning it all, ready for my end-of-year exams, as it is particularly helpful with comprehensions!

Anyway, I have now finished RTK1, and I'm reviewing it with both this website and my NDS to keep on top of it. This is all very satisfactory, and everything, and I'm doing RTK3 now as well. However, I am trying to work out what my best next step is. My problem is this - from September, I'll be in Waseda University doing the Intensive Japanese Language course (until July 2010), and obviously once I am there, I will have my work cut out without making extra work for myself! However, THAT is in September - I have three months to make the most of! That's a QUARTER OF A YEAR!

My question is this - what is the best use of these 3 months? Bear in mind I have been studying Japanese at uni for 2 years, and my grammar is much better than my vocabulary, which is quite limited.

One option I am considering is using the vocabulary Beta part of this site, in conjunction with RTK2 (which I do own) and simply working my way through it like any vocabulary list. However, I'm open to suggestions!

Like I say, I do realise that I am not the first person to ask a 'what next?' question, but the fact that I have such a specific time span at my disposal makes me anxious to make the most of it. I will be able to dedicate a good 6 -7 hours a day on Japanese Monday to Friday, so I mean, I do have quite a bit of time! Also, I am familiar with the vocabulary in 'Basic Kanji Book' 1 + 2, as that's what we have to do here.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated - there is such a wealth of Japanese learning experience on these forums, I'd be rather silly not to make the most of it!

Thanks!!

Douglas

PS. My director of studies at uni here in Edinburgh has told me he is friends with Heisig (he calls him 'Jim'!!) so maybe I'll go on a little pilgrimage to Nanzan when I'm over there!

I'm a relative beginner, but I have that heard people have had excellent results after finishing Kanji Oddyssey 2001 books 1 and 2. It is almost the perfect counterpart to RtK. You say your weakness is mostly vocab, which is what these books/ebooks tackle. The two book together cover meanings/readings of over 90% of the most frequently used Kanji compounds according to the company's research. Each book presents 555 kanji with approximately 3 example sentences for each one (and the ebook has audio readings for each sentence). If you add 10 kanji per day (~30 sentences) you should be able to get through at least the first book before you leave and a lot of the second.

In the KO2001 threads people have said that after finishing KO2001 they can read most things that are required for everyday life in Japan. You might want to try searching for those threads and reading a bit of them.

I'm not really qualified to answer, as I'm only an RTK intermediate myself. But I could suggest watching as much japanese media as you can. There's a statistic on AJATT, that says some classes make students listen to hundreds of hours of the language before they start teaching them?

So unless you want to start learning the language before you left, I'd just expose yourself to as much Japanese as you can, and keep ontop of your kanji reviews. That's my two cents, anyway!

Ooooh well I do watch a lot of Japanese dramas!

KO2001, yes, this is what I have been beginning to think after reading around here - if I do a lot, then that sounds like it would be the most helpful! After all, functioning in Japan is going to be the most important thing for me upon arrival!

Thanks for all the advice! Keep it coming!!

Douglas

Remember to watch without subs though, otherwise you won't learn much.

That is a very good point! I tried re-watching some of Long Vacation without subtitles yesterday, and could understand a lot of it! Admittedly that I have watched with subs before, but still, I felt quite a sense of acheivement!

So, I have had a look at ko2001! I have discovered the iKnow project that people are helping with, and that looks amazing so I am going to try doing that for a week and see if I find it helpful! What I really like about it is the sentences thing (sort of like Kanji in Context) and the pronounciations.

So far then, my 3 months of Kanji look something like

- RTK1 + 3 (NDS+RevTK revision)
- KO2001 (smart.fm)
- Japanese dramas / Music / mixi / penpal
- Makino Grammar books

Already beginning to take shape! See, you guys are a fantastic help!