I'm almost done with vol 1 and, rather than studying all of vol 3, my plan is to just study a list I've made of the 20 most frequent kanji (using 3 lists of frequency data). Acccording to the data that are all that is needed to achieve 98% coverage for newspapers, etc. After that, I'll just study new kanji as I come across them in my reading.

In the hope that someone else might find it useful, here it is pasted straight from excel (in Heisig order):

H2094 KLD2130 也 est [to be (classical)]
H2127 NC0437 俣 fork (in the road)
H2209 NC1268 孜 assiduous
H2212 KLD1397 宏 extensive
H2311 KLD0322 浩 abounding
H2325 N/A 渕 abyss
H2344 KLD-X6 狙 aim at
H2446 KLD1584 晃 limpid
H2448 KLD0742 曙 dawn
H2502 NC2279 梶 oar
H2511 KLD1555 李 damson
H2621 KLD0817 靖 repose
H2637 NC3389 筑 ancient harp
H2852 KLD1516 嘉 applaud
H2887 NC1497 畿 capital suburbs
H2928 NC4977 阜 large hill
H2960 KLD0564 那 interogative
H2976 NC1434 嶋 island [alternative]
H2981 N/A 龍 dragon [old]
H3005 NC2789 煕 (be of good) cheer


cjon256

Can I also recommend frame 2791 頃. I see this kanji all the time and I thought, "Spoon, head, what story was that?" But of course it's not in volume 1. I particularly remember it from an advertisement that I read on a train saying あの頃へ行こう. It was about going to an old part of Japan and experiencing what it must have been like in the past. At least I think it was. This was over a year ago.

What did you use to get the frequencies? I've read that a lot of the frequency data comes from analysing newspaper articles which probably isn't the sort of language that would be useful for you. 頃 is used in spoken language a lot. eg. ９時頃 くじごろ about 9 o'clock.

Thanks wrightak, your comments are spot on (newspapers not representative, etc...). Everybody feel free to add any kanji in volume III (or any not in Heisig at all) that they think are especially useful.

cjon256

I suppose it all depends on what your target learning material is. If you think you're going to read a lot of newspapers often then it would be useful but otherwise perhaps not. The one thing I've noticed is that a lot of kanji for place names occur in newspapers. Personally, I put names of people and places fairly low down my priority list with kanji learning.

One that I already see a lot is 2712 誰　(だれ） - who? Even though it is usually written in kana, the Kanji shows up a lot too.

誰 and 頃 show up all the time, and usually don't have furigana. Another one that usually doesn't have furigana is 謎 - riddle (Heisig 2709) and with the elements "words" and "astray" it couldn't be any easier to come up with a story.

Three more that pop up pretty often are:
咳 cough (2162)
怯 wince (2275)
鍵 key (2761)

To be honest, with the exception of 龍 and 也, I haven't seen any of the characters on that list except in names. 阜, 那, 晃, 宏 and 浩 are pretty common in names. 梶 appears in the name of the area of town where I live (正梶), but people usually scratch their heads when they see it, and write it in katakana when I'm dictating my address.

Make your frequency list last, that is, you have gone through the kanji from 2043 - 3007. I'm resisting the temptation to skip ahead to other useful/freqency kanji, even though that there are some I can get out the way (such as characters with fish, horse and bird) until I abolish all the other kanji along the journey. Once you've actually gone through the cycle of the 965, look for the ones that you use daily and learn them as vocabulary items that you can write them without thinking about it.

As far as remembering the rest of the lot, then just read your scribed notes to upkeep the others.

I am confused by the title of this thread.

Hehe, I think cjon meant "Vol. 3."

[ファブリス]

Edited title.