I'm not really sure if this belongs in this section, or of t would be better in another, but I really felt I should ask this before I get too far into anything.

I started RTK1 about six days ago, and I'm currently trying to do at least one lesson a day and then review with this site (which I discovered two days ago) and Anki (also a discovery from two days ago). I'm studying entirely on my own and I have no intention nor time to take an actual class (which according to RTK1, the book was designed for self study anyways). My only experience with Japanese before this is listening to music and some anime, and using Rosetta Stone (which I've recently come to realize was pretty much a waste of time)

I suppose my question is, should I stick with RTK1 only and do nothing else until I finish? Or should I try learning some grammar? I was trying out Tae Kim's guide to grammar, but I'm afraid of stretching myself thin here. Is there anyone who's been in a similar situation? Or has any advice?

Also as a bonus question, I'm just curious to know how many people are learning on their own, or do most people take up a class?

Thank you

Hey darkauras,

A lesson a day is ambitious, only 50 days left!
You only need one SRS btw: so pick up your poison, either the site RevTK or Anki, but not both, it's a waste of time.

Well if you don't burn out, you should try to do a as much RTK as possible: the idea is that RTK is time consuming, so it's better to get it over with as quick as possible to start immersing in native material.

If you feel bored doing only RTK (which will probably happen), do a little grammar on the side or take a break for awhile (from adding, not from reviewing). RTK is like a lot of things: it's the steadiness not the quantity that matters to succeed.

I'm guessing the majority of the people hanging out here learn on their own (though there are a lot of students taking classes too).

Good luck!

If you really plan on doing one lesson each day, or more, considering that there are very short lessons in this book as well, and considering also the amount of reviews you will have to face, i would say you should just focus on doing RTK. Get it over with as fast as you can, and study Japanese afterwards. In the meantime you can watch Anime, Drama, Japanese TV or listen to music. If this is not enough, you can still try to do some Tae Kim, or An Introduction to Japanese *click me* on the side. The latter book is an old draft of the author, so it might contain some errors, but since it is free and a neat little resource, you might want to give it a try.

To answer your bonus question, I learn on my own as well. You can send the fridge for answering it to my address. I would also take money as prize.

Go and 'acquire' the Pimsleur Japanese audio course and listen to that during your commute/cleaning time etc. Other audio courses such as Teach Yourself or those provided by the defence language institute (of america) may also be worth your time. I've never used them myself for Japanese but I have for other languages. I think you should at least learn hiragana before attempting to learn grammar via written sources.

Thank you!
From the sounds of it, I think I'm going to just focus on RTK1. I feel like if I make it a goal, to finish the book before I let myself doing anything else, I'll be more inclined to actually finish. Those of us with short attention spans need a reason to stay focused.

Also, thank you for the advice on the SRS, Only doing one will save a lot of time so I think I'll pick Revtk, because I like the focus on lessons and the visual aspect of the charts and what-not.

Thanks for the help once again!

I started just recently too. I'm doing both RTK1 and Tae Kim's guide at the same time. I'm nearly finished with the Basic Grammar section of the TK's guide and am about 145 kanji in on the RTK. For myself, I don't find the pace too daunting. I like the feeling in fact of having these milestones. But after I finish RTK, I will make sure to reread Tae Kim's guide to make sure I understood at least a good deal of it.

Really, I think it comes down to motivation and intent of studying (IDK if these are the same in English, sorry its not my native tongue). If you have a solid reason to study Japanese, you will find yourself studying more than you usually do (at least for me.. spent my past entire weekend studying Japanese).

P.S.
I self study.

How many subjects did you study at school or college? I'm guessing it was more than one. If you have time, you can progress in more than one area at once. 50 days is a lot of time to not be acquiring language, training your ears and perfecting your pronunciation, and there's no saying you won't burn out or take two or three times longer than planned. Don't forget that it's far from over after you finish the book. You'll have mountains of reviews waiting for you every day for weeks after doing it at that pace.

I'd recommend signing up to JPod and listening to lessons when you get the chance. I learned a ton of Japanese from using nothing but that site for six months. You can even take a look at some of the PDF's if you're feeling ambitious and see how some of the kanji you're learning are used. What I wouldn't recommend is starting another SRS deck or anything that might take time away from RTK or increase your chances of burnout.

What you learn in the podcasts will motivate you to get through RTK when it doesn't seem so fun, and you can cut back or increase how much you do whenever you feel like it without worrying about reviews! They were actually a lot of fun and didn't seem like studying at all.

Hmm I did RTK1 and Tae Kim's sentences at the same time.

But if you really do find it too much, just do RTK1 and then just listen to Japanese music, podcasts, watch anime, jdrama raw, or w/e u find interesting ^^~ I hope that helped

And I also self study too, despite my 4 day timetable at college.

If you want to do more. Grammar+RTK. I suggest going super slow with the other one. If your srsing, add like 5 grammar points per day and 20 RTK per day

To be honest the first thing I did was grammar and hirgana, katakana. Then the kanji came and I had to stop with learning anything. Kanji were slowing me down, they were a mystery to me and I could not get the hang of them.
I needed a system, I was given Heisig like a medicine by my girlfriend ("take that!"), and after finishing I started with core6k. I had a bit of grammar pre-knowledge so it was easy to understand the sentences written, BUT as I basically ignored the audio attached to the deck (haha.. how unclever), my listening comprehension is still quite crappy and I mostly understand onlyporridgelikethat desu~

It took me almost 10 months for RtK1 -- but it was worth the time. Enjoy that time, it's a great feeling unlocking the 'secrets of kanji' how I call it from day to day, before you actually start learning Japanese the real - hard and complicated - way..