For the people here who do RevTK kanji in large batches, do you refer to the mnemonic devices in memory(more or less, anyway)- or do you find yourself having to or making yourself peek at the mnemonic, wherever you may have typed/written it up? Do you find yourself trying to write out the kanji based on your memory of it from when you spent time writing/taking a story or whatever before you look at it in RTK?

I do the above, and I was simply wondering whether it's common practice or not. I kind of have a feeling that it's not as uncommon as I was thinking earlier, but whatever, asking doesn't kill.

...uhh, one more question. I recently started using muscle movements in my stories since I find that I can actually make much more fluid motions in my head when I do. Is anyone else an oddball like this?

the whole point of mnemonic devices is to aid memory recall surely?

If you peek at the story, that means you're peeking at what elements are in that kanji. That means automatically you should fail that card.

Occasionally during review I remember the elements of a kanji and write it correct, but I don't remember the story; on these occasions, I pass the card and then check the story so it is fresh in my head.

Actually, I wasn't referring to the process of review, but the process of learning how to write a batch of new kanji after gathering enough mnemonic stories(assuming you don't do them one at a tim- GAH, !@#$ing spiders). But whatever, you probably have better things to do than thoroughly examine my posts.

I guess you could say that I was just curious whether or not it was normal to remember, for example, say, 20-30 mnemonics after spending 20 seconds to 3 minutes copying/writing each one- even after spending about an hour or two doing other things before actually applying the mnemonics. I hardly ever used them for anything before RTK, so I wouldn't know. T_T

I wouldn't know, I personally made my own mnemonics for like.. 95% of the kanji after Heisig stopped supplying. In the few cases where I "stole" a story from someone else, I spent quite a lot of time reading and imagining it so it would stick.

I never peeked at the stories after adding them though.

I personally learn a Kanji by looking at the kanji in the book, reading the list of primitives, and if something doesn't pop for a story instantly, I look at the top stories on RevTK. RevTK stories sit there open while I study, practice writing it once or twice.

I will usually take the top story, usually seems best, and then quickly move on, I do a batch of about 20 or so like this, keeping with primitive groupings rather than a set number.

I don't do all the imagine stuff at first, I just power through, quiz in, and when they come up again I have an 80%-95% retention on new cards, you just have to keep your mind fresh on new cards if you do power through them like this. I also make sure to write out the Kanji fully each review before looking at the answer.

I am more liberal for mistakes in pile 1-3 if I have a stroke not long enough, or a primitive that is 95% there I will pass it, but in pile 4 and 5 I fail for any reason other than perfection without peaking.

Every fail, I refer back to the story, if it needs tweaking, I will tweak it, if I fail a few times I do the hardcore imagination visualization thing, or perhaps get a new story.

Yes many people do not like how I do my cards, but it works extremely well for me, and my retention is damn good to prove it.

aphasiac Wrote:the whole point of mnemonic devices is to aid memory recall surely?

If you peek at the story, that means you're peeking at what elements are in that kanji. That means automatically you should fail that card.

Occasionally during review I remember the elements of a kanji and write it correct, but I don't remember the story; on these occasions, I pass the card and then check the story so it is fresh in my head.

For RTK I never looked at the stories, but for the Hanzi I've been looking everytime, doesn't seem to make a difference to me. Does anyone else always look at their stories, meaning they are displayed on the answer portion of the srs along with the keyword?

I do not have the stories on question or answer, i have them completely separate for studying faileds only

Dustin_Calgary Wrote:I do not have the stories on question or answer, i have them completely separate for studying faileds only

Same, only except I look at one small part of the story and write it out quickly before I fail the kanji just because I think it's a bit more stimulating for the brain.

Yonosa Wrote:

aphasiac Wrote:the whole point of mnemonic devices is to aid memory recall surely?

If you peek at the story, that means you're peeking at what elements are in that kanji. That means automatically you should fail that card.

Occasionally during review I remember the elements of a kanji and write it correct, but I don't remember the story; on these occasions, I pass the card and then check the story so it is fresh in my head.

For RTK I never looked at the stories, but for the Hanzi I've been looking everytime, doesn't seem to make a difference to me. Does anyone else always look at their stories, meaning they are displayed on the answer portion of the srs along with the keyword?

I do but I have them in a really light color so that I can't see it just by glancing... I found myself too often just glancing down at the story when the card first popped up soo yeah. the lighter color is nice. And if I need to see the story it's still readable.