Hello all,
This is a great site.

Learning over 2000 Kanji seems a bit daunting. I studied Japanese 15 years ago and was obsessed with it for a bit, but switched to Spanish for work. I am almost fluent in Spanish. Seems like women don't study Japanese much past their 20's. Any other women out there slogging away at the beginner or beginner intermediate levels? I've recently discovered the Takarazuka Review on Youtube and I'm looking for CD's Video's anything. O.K., so I'm in love with Haruno Sumire like everyone else. I went to a few Japanese Auction sites, but there was no way I could understand enough to order something and it seems they won't ship to the US (Berkeley) anyway.

Best
Laura

Hi Laura

Welcome aboard, I think anyone can memorize all the Kanji in RtK, regardless of age/sex/etc, especially with the help of this website. It's pretty amazing.

Try sites like amazon japan, yesasia.com, play-asia.com, http://www.cdjapan.co.jp, they all ship to the US, although shipping can be a killer sometimes.

Thank you for the info and encouragement. I just went on Amazon Japan and found 3 pages of Takarazuka books, CD's etc.

Best
Laura

Yes. It's definitely possible. There was an article somewhere on Kanjiclinic.com
about a guy who was over 40,50, or 60(can't remember his age) and finished Heisig.
He thought he was too old to learn kanji, because it's harder to learn new things when you're older. He made it through just fine. He was so happy that he wrote an email
to the website.

Just goes to show that even older people can work through Heisig just fine.

fujisan.com is another good site for Japanese goods.
Just go to their English page.

Well... I will turn 60 this summer, 今年還暦になります.　I got through RTK1 in about 6 months, finishing up last January. As I work full-time, I averaged about 100 per week, a rather leisurely pace compared to some you! ahaha... And now I am slogging my way through RTK2. I think it is more about attitude than age. If you think you are too old then it is rather likely you will give up too easily. But in the end, at least for me, working through Heisig was much more about dedication, discipline and good study habits than about being really smart. So if any other 老生-types are out there, hang in there! You can do it!

I'm a woman, I'm over 40. Before I found this site, I had done 900 kanji, but that was 1,5 years ago. When I restarted here, I finished RTK1 in half a year, and I'm now halfway RTK3. I could do it faster if I wasn't working fulltime and had a few other hobbies I want to spend some time on. All it takes is the will to do it, and a little time each day.

As far as I know, there is no scientific proof that women are in any way inferior to men when it comes to learning (though there might be slight differences in aptitude in certain areas between the sexes). Age does matter, sadly, but it's not that big a barrier to be afraid of. I'm forgetting lots of names these days, and I sadly have to use a notebook to write down my assignments at work instead of just remembering them like I used to, but my kanji recall rates are quite decent (around 90%). Actually, it might even be good to keep training your memory with kanji.

Anyway, good luck with your studies and the best advice I can give you is to stick with a decent, steady pace that you feel confident with each day. Even one kanji a day will get you there eventually, and I'm sure you can do better than that.