I've read a few topics about this on the board but I wanted to share my experience and ask for some advice as well.

First, unlike many people I decided to start RTK at fairly advanced stage in my studies. I passed the JLPT2 last year and I can read/talk/write/listen about everyday stuff without much trouble. However, I really wanted to learn how to write the kanji properly, not just read it, so I decided to try RTK.

I must say that for learning how to write, RTK is better than I expected. I read a lot of negative comments about it so I wasn't really sure about using it or not, but so far I really like it. On the other hand, since I want to take JLPT1 next year, just learning how to write is not enough for me. So I sort of decided to combine the KanjiDamage method and RTK in one big method, because I like the RTK ordering and also because I like the KanjiDamage's idea of creating two stories - one for writing the kanji and another for remembering the onyomi...

So far I'm having mixed results. I can remember how to write the kanji without problem most of time, but when it comes to remembering the reading... Sometimes I can't remember it at all, but there are times it works perfectly. Also, I'm not a native english speaker, so I'm translating the RTK to my own language (Portuguese) AND trying to create an onyomi story for each kanji. You can tell it's not always easy.

So what I want to know is - Should I stop trying to learn the onyomi with the kanji? Do you guys use any particular method to learn onyomi after completing RTK1? Anyone here tried to learn the onyomi together with kanji and had good results?

Also, I gave a look at the Movie Method but I don't know if it will work... It seems like it will require a big amount of creativity to make up stories and relate them to a movie... And for the creative part in the stories, I'm using this site.

I haven't tried it yet since I'm still going through RTK, but my plan for learning the On-yomi is to adapt the movie method (though I have no intention of restricting it to movies) for post RTK. I'll just make stories using the kanji keywords as primitives. I think the advantages of this are:

-I can use the RTK order
-I think adding readings to stories will make them significantly harder to remember, and it seems more efficient to do it in groups with the same reading.
-Linking each kanji's story to something seems hard and I think I will easily mix them up, but using them as primitives in a single story will help keep them together.
-It should be really quick. The extra primitives will probably mean each story takes longer than a kanji, but I still think it will be easy to do several a day, and there are alot less readings than kanji.

The only problem I can see is that there may be too many kanji with the same reading to make a usable story, but I don't think it will be a problem to use more than one story if necessary. I may also use these as compound primitives in a single story.

P.S. I'm open to any suggestions on how I could improve this.

How about doing RTK with Japanese keywords?

Yukemine, I posted spreadsheet with my current efforts for the Movie Method. It includes the movie and for many early kanji, a scene from the movie I used to put the kanji into.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=...l=en#gid=2

It's meant to be an open collaboration, however, not everyone has seen the same movies. That makes sharing stories more difficult. Still, here's the other file when it comes to Onyomi count:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=...l=en#gid=5

Here's the steps I use:

1. Group by Onyomi count order then by Kanjidic order (sorts by radical)
2. Select a movie/commercial/tv show/actual location that jumps to my mind based on what kanji keywords are in the list and the onyomi itself.
3. Try to attach primitives/radicals common to these kanji as characters or specific items.
4. Limit locations/scenes to select few. For large onyomi groups like KOU I had to realize multiple key scenes while an onyomi with just 5 kanji I can limit to just one scene in a movie/commercial/book/tv show/actual location.
5. Kanji by kanji, start putting them in the scene.

For reviewing, I do Kanji to onyomi. However, I also have MEXT vocabulary to help out matters. I prefer to know the onyomi straight out without needing the "hint" of a vocabulary word, but remembering because of the word is just as good.

For the kanji with two common onyomi, I put a "x2" by the kanji so I know I need to state both onyomi.

Once I got to the point where Onyomi count was 4 or less kanji, I change tacts. At that point, I sorted by KO2001 order, then added the kanji in a brute force sort of way. Here, having MEXT vocabulary words that I knew really helped.

For Kunyomi, a good way to help there is just use Japanese Keywords for those kanji.

Nukemarine, thank you so much for the spreadsheets and tips! I still have two questions though: Do you think it's better to finish RTK1 the usual way (no readings) before doing this? Also, how do you review what you studied? Do you create flashcards for the movie method?

yukimine Wrote:Nukemarine, thank you so much for the spreadsheets and tips! I still have two questions though: Do you think it's better to finish RTK1 the usual way (no readings) before doing this? Also, how do you review what you studied? Do you create flashcards for the movie method?

Probably no best way. I started this after Core 2k and RTK. That helped as I could see right off the benefit it brought to reading even with a limited vocabulary. One could just as easily start with no vocabulary but you must depend only on your stories then as you have no vocabulary (and it's onyomi) to help out. Personally, if you can recall an onyomi because you remember how it's used in a word then you're golden. The story can be a fall back option. To be fair, I've limited myself to the 1110 KO kanji ie more common vocabulary words to help with onyomi with plans to add in the rest of the 2001 list later.

I study by creating a recognition card in my RTK deck that's Kanji to Onyomi. The Q side is Kanji with some example MEXT onyomi and kunyomi words in kanji. The A side has yomi in addition to meanings and the keyword.