One thing I didn't expect when I started working on RtK Was that I would learn so many ENGLISH words. Because the keywords are often quite obscure, and because Heisig generally uses a rich vocabulary, I have learnt more words in a week than in several months of studying in the UK (I'm no native speaker of English, but in day-to-day life, I don't notice that I have less vocab than natives, and I'm not used to needing a dictionary), like:

Happenstance, eventide, ridgepole, briar, plane (as in a carpenter's tool), lightning-bug, gall bladder, hothouse, gall bladder, and a handful more that I can't remember right now. I think I would have understood most of these, but they definitely weren't in my active vocabulary.... Am I the only one not to know many words in RtK?

You must like gall bladder.

Nah, you're not the only one, I think there's a few topics already about non-native and natives alike who learned new words thanks to Heisig. I'm a native English speaker, and he definitely taught me some new words.

I'm currently around 1100 mark and since the beginning I have had to look up around 250 keywords in the dictionary. I already memorised many of the words through the process of reviewing, but I still have problems with the rest. It's kinda frustrating because before recalling the kanji I have to get the meaning of the keyword. I have listed them in a notebook, but it doesn't have any search features I started modyfing the RTK Anki deck, but I also use RtK.
It's not that much of a deal, but certainly it's slowing my progress with RTK.

In my case, as there are only maybe 20-30 words I couldn't understand up to #550, it actually helps. Weird keywords I had to look up, or kanji whose stories used difficult words sort of "stick out" in my mind. But if I'd tried RtK 3 or 4 years ago, when my English wasn't all that great, it would definitely have got in the way - it's not the most foreigner-friendly book and I understand the need for translations.

Haha, in some sessions I have to look up half the keywords. Actually, some of them I've forgot the meaning, but can still draw the kanji when I see the keyword. Strange, I know.

I had the same problem. There's also lots of English keywords that have almost identical meaning that make them impossible to differentiate. I'd keep the original keyword and then use Japanese words, if I knew it already (pretty frequently), or a picture. I found using a mixture of of all three really helps making them all instantly different.

I don't really have any excuse for knowing so few English words, because I grew up in the US. Or maybe that's my excuse?

Annexed, briar, adroit, filial piety, facsimile, auspicious, perusal, interment and brocade are some of the ones I had to look up.

From a native speaker of English. Decameron, Promontory, Sagacious, I've never heard any of these. I'd almost rather learn a Japanese word than learn these that I'd probably never use.

I think the only words I learned were plant names. How can you not know what a carpenter's plane is?

dinmamma, think positive. My understanding of English certainly improved a bit after RTK.

Minlawc Wrote:From a native speaker of English. Decameron, Promontory, Sagacious, I've never heard any of these. I'd almost rather learn a Japanese word than learn these that I'd probably never use.

I find that kanji that have rare words as keywords can be easier to remember, especially if you have very few connections with the keyword. One example of this for me was with 'promontory', because I quickly remembered the one place I had heard the word before--in the famous John Donne quote:

"No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

Then I could just connect the keyword to that quote, and the story was super-easy to remember.

@Kimagure - I believe a member has created (or is in process of creating) a Polish version of RTK. If that interests you, there is a thread in this forum on that topic. If you cannot find it, check Anki's forum - he also translated Anki into Polish I believe.

Edit: One thread started by Piotoro is here, but I seem to recall a longer one as well.