So I've been at it since April 11 with Heisig's book, and I'm at 508 now. But I have stumbled a lot, and luckily I have identified a few things.

First of all, my reviewing was very poor. Reviewing stuff randomly is absolutely essential. Since I found this website, things have gone much, much better. In my opinion, Heisig doesn't properly emphasize how important RANDOM reviewing is. Flashcards with paper in real life are simply too clumsy to be usable. How do you shuffle around 2000+ cards? The book should have come with some type of software, similar to what this website has.

I'm also learning German, and this self-study book that I'm using also recommended something similar. Using random reviewing to learn new words, with paper flashcards.

Both books have been published recently, and neither come with some type of software to learn stuff. Obviously, you can't take your computer everywhere like you can your flashcards. But still. Randomization is most easily done with a computer, so I think both books dropped the ball for not including some type of software.

Even after finding this website, things didn't go perfectly well immediately. It seems writing down a character once isn't enough to remember it. It has to happen several times. Here's how I changed things:

I study 90 minutes a day. 45 minutes reviewing, 45 minutes learning new characters.

I could do 15 or so but now I'm thinking of slowing down to 10 to write the characters twice, on seperate times, and see if I can remember them on the first time. If I can indeed remember them on the first time, only then will I add the characters to my flashcards stack.

I may also decide to increase my time for learning new characters: 30 minutes reviewing, 1 hour new characters.

This website is pretty good, because it also has a section to practice reading and even highlighting the kanji you are familiar with, while ignoring the kanji you don't know yet. Excellent.

The website is truly a godsend. I simply couldn't do without. Which is why I'm somewhat disappointed by the book. Included software would really make it that much better.

The book was originally first published in 1977. It's been here for more than 30 years and could still be used in another 30 years. It's best that the book isn't dependent on any particular software that would likely become obsolete at some point.

Codexus Wrote:The book was originally first published in 1977. It's been here for more than 30 years and could still be used in another 30 years. It's best that the book isn't dependent on any particular software that would likely become obsolete at some point.

Books are revised with new editions so I don't see problem. Some books do have software that is bundled with the book. Besides that, you won't have to make the book entirely dependent on that little piece of software. With Heisig's book, you could still make paper flashcards if you want. It's about having that option, and having that additional resource.

The book is there for you to learn the kanji in the way Heisig specified. Reviewing them is something entirely different, which people will do in a multitude of different ways. It's up to the person to choose their method in reviwing the kanji, that's not what the book is there for.

To be fair, there is a software that's officially attached to Remembering the Kanji. I think it's KanjiGym but I can't be sure right now. It's linked via the Nanzen page IIRC.

Yeah, I'm too lazy to even bother looking if what I wrote is correct. See, the thing is, "official" sources may be worse than these ad hoc ones that have sprung up. What I recall of the "official" software was that it had a horrible reviewing system, the drawing pad was clumsy, and story system a pain. However, you could down load it for free, so there was that.

For your reviewing, I do recommend you don't set a time for review then for learning new things. Combine the two into one long study time. Do the reviews first (including studying missed cards). Then go on with the remaining time to add new cards. If your reviews are taking too long, that's a clue that you may need to slow down adding new cards to let the review system catch up. If you add at a constant rate, the review time will get longer and longer. If the reviews are too short, you have more time to add new cards. It's self correcting.

[Katsuo]

KanjiGym

I think the newer editions should just mention that there are lots of good digital flashcards options to be found and it's worth trying out - so even if you just buy the book without looking for other help you still find out about it. There's probably more people using Heisig without the help of digital flashcards than we want to believe...

Also, about writing down the kanji - this isn't necessarily beneficial and depends on a lot of things. The advice offered about writing them down every time you review them sounds to me like too much of a timewaster and in my case, I don't write down anything other than new primitives. It actually helps me because what I do now is I mentally go through the stroke order, forming a picture in my head. Sometimes I'll close my eyes and make the motions with my index finger in the air to get the 'muscle memory' aspect too. I don't really worry about my writing since I prioritize becoming familiar with all kanji, but I can write just fine and probably just as good as if I'd been writng them all down. In fact, this method really helped me speed up and as a huge bonus I'm immensely better at drawing now; I've developed that 'sense' where you hold a detailed image of what you're going to draw in your mind vhile working on it.

'Course, what works for me works for me and everyone's different. This is to point out that there are always options and ways to change how you learn kanji. I think learning kanji can be made so much more valuable by learning other things in conjunction - like what I've mentioned, memory techniques, etc. Then you won't feel like you're doing so much work just for a language you don't even know how to speak yet.

oh and good luck!