I've only been at this a few days so please forgive my ignorance. After a short time of studying I'm familiar with the kanji up to 35 or so. At what point will I learn the Japanese word for the Kanji I'm learning? Seems to me it would be easy to include romanji under the kanji so that I get to take it in all at once. I fear that the disconnect between the kanji and the Japanese pronunciation will make it difficult for me to 'get my head into japanese mode' rather than constantly translating in my head. When I was learning spanish the hardest part was forcing myself to think in spanish instead of translating everything.

Thanks for any guidance.

Please read the Introduction and the Note to the 4th Edition and then get back to us.

Try to remember that this is only one step in the learning process. Baby steps. Learn the kanji, then learn Japanese language. Sort of like, learn the alphabet, then learn to read and write.

The direct answer to your question is "never". RTK is really not for learning the japanese words for the Kanji you're learning. Knowing the kanji, and then learning that the word you're learning is written with this kanji will (in the long run) be faster, in my opinion, than trying to master everything at once---vocabulary, grammar, kanji (of course) and readings of kanji (on-yomi and kun-yomi). Of course, you can learn vocab without grammar, and I suppose you could study syntax and grammar without a ton of vocab. You can also study kanji without readings.

Now, confession, I didn't do it that way. I learned to speak/listen first. And then or nearly the same time, kana. I want to learn to really read (don't we all?) so I've divided that into steps, with RTK helping me tremendously. Kanji/english stories and keywords. I'm not done yet. Next would be Kanji to vocab and back. I'm still toying with the idea of Kanji/japanese stories and keywords.

I'm recommending that you complete RTK in 3 or 4 months, and don't particularly worry about the readings of the kanji (ie the japanese word for it) at this point.

Ok, I read the introduction and now I 'get it'. Sorry if I offended anyone.

Perhaps my self-directed learning of Japanese should not begin with RTK. My primary goals are to learn how to speak and read. With that in mind, should I really be focusing my energies someplace other than RTK?

No offense taken.

If your goals are to speak and read, there is no better place to start than RTK, Volume 1.

I agree. No better place to start!

If you have a lot of time on your hands, you could study basic Japanese on the side. I don't think learning the readings for kanji in Heisig order is a good idea( for a beginner?).

Please define "basic Japanese".

Believe it or not, reading is one of the best ways to learn how to speak. Read something fun, like a novel or manga.

After I finished (actually, came close to finishing) RTK, the first thing I tried to read was called "レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー", which is actually a collection of various short readings (short stories, facts about Tokyo, Sumo, etc.), and I was exhilarated when I got through an entire story without a dictionary. Reading is fun, and my Japanese, both reading and speaking, has improved 10-fold.

triangleman42!

Try any basic japanese book you can find for elementary grammar and japanesepod101 if you don't know it already! That way you'll hear native speakers speak it and learn to pronounce it right.

This is a good place to get a taste of it: --> http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php?...&order=asc

After completing the RTK1 you'll have a good foundation to start learning to read.

I think, when you know enough grammar and vocabulary, translating will naturally turn into understanding and speaking without translating from whatever language you speak. That's just one milestone along the way!

I hope this was of any help!

Thanks for the info everyone. I truly appreciate it. Seems everywhere I look online I see different information (read: opinions) on what to learn first, what to focus on, and what to definitely not focus on. I guess I'll just take it all with a grain of salt and find my own path.