Whew! I just finished #2042 though I rushed at the end to get to that magic number. I bought the blue kanji box off of Amazon at $89 a while ago, though decided to make my own cards to make my own mnemonic stories and to practice making the correct stroke orders. . (The Container Store sells ringed notecards that are really handy for creating and carrying your own cards around.)
I need to begin re-reading RTK II since the first time I read the introduction I didn't get it. How do you proceed to review with RTK II? Who has used the "blue" box? Any hints for how to strategize RTK II?

[ファブリス]

Congratulations taijuando!

I envy you!
Good luck on your next steps!

Congrats, yo!

Yes. First, get a computer program like SuperMemo or its free counterpart, Mnemosyne Project.

You cannot keep up with paper flash cards.

Then you review from compund word to reading.

Like the word 世界. Write that on the front
The kanji here is 世
So on the flip side you write 世 and its corresponding kana せ
then you write せかい and the meaning in english.

When you get to other kanjis, like 中, put that with its word on the front page,
like 中国
on the flip side you write 中　チュウ to remind yourself that this is the signal primitive
then write the word ちゅうごく　and China.

Hope it helps. But seriously, upgrade to computer program for reviewing. You still have to review your RTK1 cards as well, and by now it gets really messy.

I am not exactly sure what the process is here. I also didn't understand what Heisig means by a signal primitive. I think I understand that Heisig wants you to review only the onyumi first. Does that mean you go through all 2042 cards before you study kunyomi?

The proces is as I explained above.

You review from compound to reading. Not just from individual kanji to its reading, you do it from a word of sorts, like せかい. Start by making flash cards for the first 60 ones and try how it goes.

The signal primitives are simply words where one element determines the kanjis pronounciation, like チュウ. it means 中 but also you say 忠 and 沖 the exact same way, because the element 中 チュウ makes the kanji have this sound.

He doesn't demand that you review in any particular order, in fact he says that you can do how ever you like.

Yes, you are meant to do onyomi first and move on to kunyomi afterwards. RTKII deals almost exclusively with onyomi, then has a small DIY kunyomi section that is really just meant to get you started. Just memorize the words given like Immacolata said.

The reasoning behind that is that there's a lot more uniformity in the onyomi as there are patterns you can follow for a good majority of the readings. Kunyomi has no such patterns to catch on to... it's pretty much individual readings which have to each be treated seperately. I think the easiest way to pick these up is through reading and repetition, but Heisig gives you a method to use mneumonics there as well if you want.

I understand it's hard to keep track of paper flashcards, but i've already bought the box, and at this point I'm need a break from making flashcards online or on paper. It was always good to have paper flashcards even while using kanji.koohii because I could study them on the elevator, on the subway, etc ....when I didn't do physical review my kanji.koohii review didn't go so well ....

Ah yes I see what you mean. How do you keep track of them, then? ITs a lot of cards O.o
How is the quality of the cards? I read on amazon.com that one buyer was unhappy about the flimsy quality of the cards. Thin paper, not cardboard.

Well... the cards are kind of flimsy but there are over 2000 cards...I'm planning to take the box to Japan while I'm there and I'm glad the cards aren't so sturdy...if they were as sturdy as playing cards the box would weigh 50 lbs. I have a little plastic envelope I carry a few cards at atime....the box includes little blue tabs that help divide the cards into groups of 100...there are also blank tabs that can help you divide the box in other ways... if you wanted to use a Leitner type system ... of course...it's harder to keep of expiration days etc....I'm glad I got it I think....I didn't use it when I discovered kanji.koohii but now that I'm going to study onyumi and kunyomi readings, it seems like a good tool

I bought the cards about a month ago but i barely used them since I found this site. Helsig says that you shouldnt shuffle the cards out of their groups of 100. Since the cards are organized sequentially according to RTK I, how am i supposed to use the cards to review readings for RTK II??? Are you guys shuffling the cards out of order even though the instructions says not to?

Once you finish doing RTKI using this website examine the cards really closely. On the back where you see the keyword you'll see Roman Numeral II and a series of numbers. Those numbers are the corresponding numbers for RTKII. It takes a while to reshuffle, and I just started, but it seems like a fun and portable way to study. Finish RTK I before you do anything to arrange the box for RTKII.

Just wanted to report that I'm still using the blue box. I definitely erred in taking the whole big box to Japan, because I only really studied 100 out of the 2000+. I've even set up a little bit of a Leitner system by using post-it to put expiration dates on cards that I have reviewed over 3, 7, 14, 30, 60 days. It's slow going since I only carry ten around with me every day, including expired cards that I failed. Maybe I should be doing the kanji chain but this only takes about 10 minutes every day and at this point I really need to focus on vocabulary and grammar in my Japanese studies. Is there anyone else out there with the cards or am I going the way of the dinosaur?

I also have the big blue box. I bought it before I discovered this wonderful website. I have not used it as much since I also recently got a palm tx and I have been using the KanjiGym software (much easier to carry in my pocket than a stack of cards). The palm is also convenient since I can review any of the 2042 kanji at any time. I am saving my big blue box for RTK 2 studying though. I am currently at 1600 kanji (only three more weeks to complete RTK 1 !!!!! I think the big blue box will be easier than inputing data into supermemo. I tried the trial version and thought it was a bit of a nightmare to input data. I would use the palm version of the software if it were easier to use. Instead, I will use my big blue box.

In addition to making cards for all 2042 kanji in the first book (I didn't discover this site until a few months after I finished), I was adding the information to my cards as per Heisig's instructions when I started working on the second book.

I was working on the yomi for a few months (on and off, got busy with other things), but I ran into another problem: I had to sort all my cards into numeric order, because otherwise it would take forever to find each card as I went through the second book. This pretty much made the cards useless for reviewing the first book, because when they're all in order, it gives away the answers.

I came across this site about a month ago, when looking for another way to continue reviewing the first book without messing up my cards for the second book (and besides, once you've accumulated over 2000 cards, it takes a good hour to shuffle them all!). I had forgotten a lot of my stories! I've now got about 1500 in the last box, and the other 500ish sitting my failed pile, so I should have all 2042 done again within the next few weeks. Thanks for this awesome resource, Fabrice!

But back to the point. I still am using my cards for working on the second book, and I also found it very helpful to make and have the cards in the first place, because I did a lot of my reviewing on long bus trips when I was teaching English in a bunch of small cities spread around Yamagata prefecture. Since I've been doing a lot of reviewing of the first book again, I'm progressing pretty slowly on the second book. I'm still going through the "pure groups", currently on groups of 3.

As a side note, living in Japan really helps too. You start to recognize common words like 非常口, 交通安全, 株式会社, 不動産, 大塚愛 (heh), and so on, and these are great ways to remember several yomi with a single word. It's great to do a lot of messaging on your keitai as well, since you can just type in kana and have the kanji appear (and it's usually pretty easy to know which one you want).

What does 大塚愛 mean? A few guesses come to mind.

Aah, a young lady. Big hillocks eh?

wrightak Wrote:What does 大塚愛 mean? A few guesses come to mind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_Otsuka

November and almost december....I'm continuing to use the blue kanji box while at the same time winnowing down my failed kanji (300 down to 80 now--a good reason not to rush to finish) on kanji.koohii....I'm not doing any kanjitown stuff because I really only have 30 minutes or maybe a little more to study...I'm only studying the onyumi....I use post-it strips to mark when cards expire (3 days, 7 days 14 days, 30 and 60 days later)....I usually try to keep 10 cards in a little plasticine envelope that I carry every where to study on a bus or train, etc...on a good day I only review three times...if I fail more on review of all the expired cards I go ahead and carry more than 10 but for some reason it's great to have a smaller number....slow going but steady-going....would love to hear from more blue box people

I got a blue box but have some bad news or good news depending on your mood. I used the blue box but it never gave me the exhilaration that I get from having a PDA loaded with the KanjiLight program. If your budget can swing it, I highly recommend it. I don't fiddle with card arranging that I had to do all the time and the worry of losing some enroute somewhere.

You however are doing excellently with your paste-it strips. With that discipline you might do well without a PDA. With one though it would be like carrying your blue box in your palm wherever you go. Of course, the PL program has its limitations but they can be overcome by loading the PDA with other card review programs.

Hey, I made it thru the book with my own cards. It was fun, actually. I had to break for a week or two after every 500 cards to review, but it worked. I though I was at 90% when I finished, but it was really hard to tell. That's one really good argument for using electronic cards. Now I have everything in supermemo, and I stay at 90%. My daily reviews are usually about 20 characters.

How does supermemo work? Where can I get it? How does it work with onyumi kunyomi and how much time does it take?

You can get older versions of SuperMemo for free from their website. I tried it out to remember some things other than Japanese. It's truly amazing how botched a job they've done of the user interface. Perhaps the internal mechanics are sound but I think it was designed by an angry chimpanzee.

Basically it's just a flexible flashcard program. Remember text, audio, video or whatever. You design your own flashcard layout and make whatever cards you need for that day. Run the program daily, it keeps track of your progress, and supposedly arranges their review dates to maximize the chances of remembering them.

Mnemosyne is a freebie that works similarly (not as powerful as SuperMemo) but at least the interface makes sense.

still seems like a big hassle...how do you review RTK II with supermemo?