Is there anything inherently bad about learning common words as you go along through the book. I have found that while studying, I come across a kanji for which I already know the japanese word, ie. つくえ for desk. I get curious and wonder...is 机 used for this particular word.. so i look it up and lo and behold it is..

It doesn't really slow me down at all, but I was wondering if there would be some sort of conflict when I reach book 2 with the readings.

If you're studying Japanese in conjunction with RTK, is it possible NOT to learn common words as you go along? It happens to me frequently; I consider it a bonus that comes with using RTK.

More generally, do you/are you supposed to keep your RTK studies separate from any other Japanese study? On another forum I've been debating this with an anti-Heisigite who insists that the method is worthless, in part because RTK learners are not supposed to study Japanese in any other venue (according to him). I consider it a ridiculous accusation, given that RTK2 chapter 6 begins with the assumption that you HAVE learned some basic Japanese, but what's your impression?

I don't remember Heisigs exact words, but I think he was warning against concurrent "systematic" kanji studies. For example, if you're taking a class and the teacher has you learn 50 assigned kanji per week. If you study them in a non-Heisig way, it could mess you up. I don't think onesies twosies are going to hurt you, but if you've got a parallel system going on, your in trouble.

(edit) If you've already learned the kanji your talking about using the Heisig method, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with learning words.

I think that mostly what Heisig is cautioning against is taking on too much at one time in a systematic way. Heisig isn't a method to teach people kanji. It's a method to familiarize people with kanji meaning and writing methods. It's like you're building a wall. Simply being able to recognize general meaning and produce the kanji is the first layer. Once you've got that down pat and all mortared and straightened, you can go ahead and start building more abstract concepts like multiple pronunciations to each of the kanji. But if you try to build one column of the wall 9 stories high before the bricks around it are layed in and steadied then it could topple and end up being pretty worthless.

Tying a kanji to a few nouns you already know is perfectly acceptable. What Heisig specifically cautions against is trying to rote learn pronunciations at the same time as meaning/writing.

The difference is that you're not trying to learn stuff you don't already know. Heisig ties 机 to the word desk, and in the japanese compartment in your brain you already tie the hiragana word つくえ with that word. So you're tying two things you already know together. You didn't look up 机 to find out what it meant, and then try to learn that on top of its meaning and writing.

Heisig's methods are there to combat rote learning. So any time you're finding order in the chaos of your Japanese learning then I don't really think it can hurt. And on the other side of it, any time you're trying to pile stuff on haphazardly it's going to be difficult and you might not progress as efficiently as you could.

Here's a good way to tell the difference. If you don't have to work to remember it then chances are it's no problem. If you're having to work hard then there might be something wrong. Remember, Heisig's methods are there to make things EASIER. Anytime things get HARDER, it might be an indicator that your methods need some work.

Defintely agree that you can't help but learn it along the way, especially if you're living in Japan. It's one reason this method is so nice. You put away lots of kanji in a relatively short amount of time, and you probably put away all the 1-kanji words in the same effort.

For multi-kanji words, it reinforces the kanji I already know by recognition so that there's no question in my mind as to what 2 kanji make up a word.

So while I'm not learning the readings on purpose, every here and there, I just pick up on and kun yomis I already know. I like learning stuff with no effort like that.