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Hello!
I'm a little bit confused by this program/study tool, more or less. I understand that it is a supplement to the Remembering the Kanji books. However, what I don't understand after reading some of volume one of RTK, is how I'm supposed to learn the kana for the kanji that I am being taught.
From the general understanding that I have of this website/system is that it teaches you how to recognize the kanji character and be able to understand its English translation. I.E., 車 - Car. I might be able to recognize the kanji as being the Japanese equivalent to car, but how would I know the kana translation for the kanji itself through this system?
I'm sorry, I know this has got to be one of the most idiotic topics ever made but I seriously do not understand how to utilize what I believe to be an amazing learning tool! Please, if anyone might be able to help me understand this I would be much appreciative!
Thanks ahead of time!
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Kanji aren't words (though some words are only one kanji) so there is no point in learning the readings in isolation. It would be like learning all the Latin/French/etc roots before starting English vocabulary.
Just pick up readings as you learn words.
Joined: Oct 2009
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Thank you for your post.
I do understand that kanji are ideograms. I get that. However, this is where I have an issue of concern/confusion. If I want to read a sentence that contains kanji characters and be able to read it aloud I would need to know the reading for that character.
i.e.
皆さんはお元気。
みなさんはおげんき。
If I don't know the readings for those kanji then I wouldn't be able to read the sentence in Japanese, I would be essentially reading it kanji by kanji in English. See what I mean?
Edited: 2010-06-24, 3:26 am
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Did you by any chance skip the introduction in RTK1?
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You learn how to read kanji by means other than RTK. RTK doesn't teach you japanese, it's just like learning the alphabet. Most kanji can be read a number of different ways, just as a lot of single letters or combinations in English can be read a number of different ways. You slowly accumulate more and more readings as you learn more words, via whatever method you proceed with after RTK. One method you can use during RTK is to learn one common reading with each character and drill yourself on that as well as the writing. There are a number of different dictionary sites you can use to get this information or you could use pop-up dictionary like rikaichan for firefox. I used a dictionary site to learn the most common onyomi reading (chinese derived reading used mostly in compound words) because there aren't so many different possible readings and they are mostly monosyllabic which makes them easy to learn via mnemonics. For example, as you make your stories for each kanji, check its most common onyomi reading and assign a consistant mnemonic to it (for example, for kanji read KAN, the mnemonic genghis KHAN) and include it in your story. This might not be a good idea if you don't already at least know hiragana though.
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And, don't get too comfortable with the RTK readings. They aren't exactly correct much of the time. RTK teaches you more to recognize and identify characters rathern than giving a direct meaning. You'll still need to learn meanings later.
Joined: May 2010
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Another good point made by crayon:
The kanji you learn aren't standalone. They must be combined with other kanji and kana to make sensible words. RTK doesn't intend to teach you words, only the elements that make them.
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The point of RTK? Well, it's possible to learn kanji gradually overtime as you getter better at Japanese, and as you learn them you learn how to read them, how to write them, what compounds they're used in, how they're pronounced, and all that. Or you can do RTK, and then, only after you're very loosely familiar with their meaning and how to write them, do you learn how they're actually used (i.e., in real Japanese). The idea is that, even though there's an extra step, the familiarity with the kanji achieved through RTK makes learning all those things so much easier and faster that doing RTK is actually worth it.
In truth, most people I know who are very good at Japanese can read and understand kanji very well, and can type on a phone/computer, but they can't write at all by hand. People I know who've done RTK can also write by hand, and have probably overall spent the same amount of time. To me that's the main difference.
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OTOH I did RTK and I still can't write Japanese by hand any better than I did before I started...
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As far as Japanese is concerned, the "voiced obstruents" are d, g, z, b, and j. (I think)
