Nah, pure ego - i didn't want to make an ass of myself. ;-) Remember, I had to ask what the deal is with double posting and necroposting.
Yudantaiteki: You mention a few different ideas earlier. Let me separate it into two. Re RTK as supplement:
Thora Wrote:I suppose I don't see RTK as a separate system because we did it as a supplement during univ.
yudantaiteki Wrote:Heisig says in the intro to RTK 1 (italics are in the original):
"The reader will not have to finish more than a few lessons to realize that this
book was designed for self-learning. What may not be so apparent is that using
it to supplement the study of kanji in the classroom or to review for examinations
has an adverse influence on the learning process. The more you try to combine
the study of the written kanji through the method outlined in these pages with
traditional study of the kanji, the less good this book will do you. I know of no
exceptions."
I believe Mr Heisig is saying RTK shouldn't be done in the order and at the pace of traditional kanji learning. In other words, a teacher shouldn't assign an RTK kanji story and constituent primitives as each kanji is introduced in class. This would adversely affect the RTK learning process. RTK's component based order is not the best order for learning readings/vocab. The idea is to complete this learning technique to facilitate subsequent vocabulary learning.
Similarly, (conversely?) I imagine he cautions against incorporating the readings into the RTK1 process. (Some here have experimented with learning one on-yomi with apparent success, though.)
By supplementing my classes, I meant doing RTK in the order and pace intended as a complement to regular kanji learning, not enmeshed into it. For example, a student could do RTK in their own time along with the regular curriculum (one term?). This isn’t limited to class takers, of course. Self-learners can combine RTK with whatever method(s) they choose. They don’t have to create their own method.
People have been combining RTK with other methods for 20-30 years. If the quoted Intro paragraph is ambiguous, it doesn’t seem to have caused major problems. :-)
Quote:(Beyond that, even here it's often recommended to completely finish RTK 1 before doing anything else, except maybe learning kana.)
Are you talking about the order of learning language skills (reading before speaking, for eg) or the idea of completing the full RTK before learning any readings? Again, the order of skill acquisition is beyond the scope of RTK.
In terms of reading skills, someone planning to do RTK
should do it before embarking on an activity such as 2001KO or Kanji in Context. RTK is obviously still very worthwhile for those who can already read x hundred kanji though.
If your concern is the % of RTK, I think you already know my personal advice to beginners would be to first complete a useful subset of about 1400. Doing 2000 obviously won't do any harm, I just don't think it's necessary at the beginner stage. And some people with time constraints are keen to start learning to read!
It's cheaper than our US schools too...
