They announced the list of new joyo kanji on the same day when I finished RTK1 How is that for a nice graduation gift?

http://www.kanjiclinic.com/listshinjoyocompounds.htm

Grats, Nesetoru!

Kerecsen, I'm new to this, but unless I'm mistaken, a few of the kanji on that list of new kanji are already in RTK 1. (I wonder why that is?) E.g., the new list includes:

宛 あてる address
嵐 あらし storm
茨　いばら brier
怨　エン, オン hold a grudge
韓　カン South Korea
伎　キ skill
亀　キ, かめ turtle
巾　キン cloth (which I think RTK 1 treats as a primitive?)
串　くし skewer (of food)
乞　こう beg
曽　ソウ, ゾ formerly
旦　タン, ダン dawn (nightbreak in RTK 1)
爪　つめ, つま fingernail (er, claw in RTK 1?)
賭　ト, かける gamble
藤　トウ, ふじ wisteria
瞳　ドウ, ひとみ pupil of the eye
栃　とち horse chestnut tree
奈　ナ what (奈良　なら　Nara)
梨　なし pear
虹　にじ rainbow
蜜　ミツ honey
呂　ロ backbone
脇　わき armpit

Still, most seem not to be included in RTK 1. I suppose that means Heisig has a reason to do a 6th edition -- and those of us who have done only RTK 1 now have reason to learn some new ones.

[Katsuo]

RTK1's 2,042 kanji consist of
1. Joyo Kanji (1,945 characters, though one rare character 璽, is missing so the book actually has 1,944).
2. Characters not in the Joyo kanji, but useful as building blocks, e.g. 頁, 圭, 匕.
3. Some common characters not in the Joyo Kanji e.g. 埼, 幌, 茨.

The new Joyo Kanji list (which has recently been decided but not yet implemented) adds 196 characters and removes 5. Details: KanjiJiten (Japanese); Spreadsheet (English, includes RTK numbers).

Breakdown of where to find the 196 new characters:
RTK1: 39
RTK3: 134
Not in RTK: 23

I finished today too. I started RTK1 exactly a year ago.

Man, I don't know what to say or feel. I feel kind of lost right now. What do I do next? When I started, I was getting kind of excited because I was a gamer and the prospect of playing Japanese games was very exciting (have a DS). Thing is... I quit gaming. Although I sort of like anime, I haven't watched any in years. I think Japan is quite interesting, and I do want to learn Japanese, but I'm not as motivated as I was when I was still playing my DS, y'know?

In many ways I did enjoy it. I love writing stuff down. I feel like I'm gonna get into calligraphy. Some of the kanji I have encountered were such a joy to write down, it's really marvelous.

But, yeah. What am I gonna do!??!?!

Sitbon Wrote:I finished today too. I started RTK1 exactly a year ago.

Man, I don't know what to say or feel. I feel kind of lost right now. What do I do next? When I started, I was getting kind of excited because I was a gamer and the prospect of playing Japanese games was very exciting (have a DS). Thing is... I quit gaming. Although I sort of like anime, I haven't watched any in years. I think Japan is quite interesting, and I do want to learn Japanese, but I'm not as motivated as I was when I was still playing my DS, y'know?

In many ways I did enjoy it. I love writing stuff down. I feel like I'm gonna get into calligraphy. Some of the kanji I have encountered were such a joy to write down, it's really marvelous.

But, yeah. What am I gonna do!??!?!

Congrats!!! Finally you finish it, a long road.

I guess review for some weeks, and maybe start watching anime and playing games as you did before. Think about what will make you motivated to learn the language, japan has much media. Go find your motivation, have fun, and then come back to learning the language. The easiest way to find your motivation is to continue where you left off.

Calligraphy may look good, but in my experience it is very hard. When writing calligraphy after a 4-month-break I begged to study on this site, to feel like I´m really learning something, instead of looking at how much I suck at doing kanji calligraphy with a brush. My Kanjis look much better when written with a pen. But really, maybe you should try doing it, who know wihat it´ll give you, experimenting´s good!

Thanks a lot. It's funny because it feels like I haven't really accomplished that much, even though I spent so much time and learning went actually very well. I remember a lot.

By the way, slightly off-topic, but something mind-blowing just happened. I was trying 'Labs' --> 'iVocab Shuffle' on the website, and just tried it to see what it was. First one I didn't get (I got 'local police station', three kanji), but then I got two kanji. I could recognize... electricity... and... waves. And then I thought... radio wave? Sure enough, that was the second definition, after electro magnetic wave. MIND BLOWN!!!

Hah, wow! I still haven´t gotten my prize: The pleasure of recognizing kanji. I finished RTK1 on saturday, but so many reviews right now, I´m not keeping up well.

I don´t feel like I´ve learned that much either, but soon I think I will understand just how much I learned and how useful it is.

2042...that´s something, considering how slowly the japanese learn the kanjis.

Jettyke: Keep in mind that in a matter of days, not even weeks, you will see the number of cards needing review go down really fast, once you're finished. When I finished I had around 120 reviews a day, and after a week or 2 I was down to 60. Just keep it up and soon it won't bother you that much anymore.

However, then comes the time when you start doing other things and it's a hassle having to take out the time every day to do reviews. XD But yeah, they're important so you don't forget what you've learnt.

Wow I can't imagine doing that many reviews... I have 1500+ cards that are due, and I do about 20 to 30 reviews a day.

By the way the sense of accomplishment is increasing... I'm re-learning the kana to refresh my memory of it, which I neglected when I started RTK1 a year ago. I'm feeling really good. If you're not done yet and you're reading this: keep at it, you're going to love it once you're done. (Although technically you're never quite done, you'll learn more kanji as you go.)

You're doing only 20/30 cards a day and you have 1500+ due? :O

Perhaps it's time to start doing a little more just until you've caught up. Otherwise it completely defies the purpose of the SRS; you review when the cards are due for better retention.

I can understand 20~30 new cards per day, but reviews?! That must take all of 1-2 minutes. I normally do at LEAST 700 reviews per day.

At last... Just finished today, and I want to take this opportunity to thank Spiderman, Wolverine, Zorro, Mr. T, Bruce Lee, Captain Hook, Jiminy Cricket, the residents of The Pinnacle, the questing Rice Seedlings, Noah's Ark, Love Dolls, Trojan Horses, Zombies, Cavemen, Pirates, Pogo Sticks, and all the rest of your great stories and primatives.

It took me over a year to get to 1,000 on my own, and then only a couple months to finish after finding this site. I owe it all to you guys.

Congrats for finishing, drkdve!

Jarvik: Pah, I do 1000

700 reviews a day? 1000!? You do write it down, yeah? It seems pointless to review and not write it down before you flip the card.

drkdve Wrote:At last... Just finished today, and I want to take this opportunity to thank Spiderman, Wolverine, Zorro, Mr. T, Bruce Lee, Captain Hook, Jiminy Cricket, the residents of The Pinnacle, the questing Rice Seedlings, Noah's Ark, Love Dolls, Trojan Horses, Zombies, Cavemen, Pirates, Pogo Sticks, and all the rest of your great stories and primatives.

It took me over a year to get to 1,000 on my own, and then only a couple months to finish after finding this site. I owe it all to you guys.

I 2nd the thanking to all those wonderful characters, congratulation on finishing. Best of luck post RTK 1 studying.

I just finished a couple hours ago! Yay me!

I think someone should write a novel featuring all of the characters that inhabit the pages of Reviewing the Kanji. You'd have Spiderman and Bruce Lee and Mr. T and Yoda side-by-side, fighting Zombies, Voldemort, and Oni, all while jumping (or dancing!) on pogo sticks and sneaking around in Trojan Horses. Meanwhile, back at the Pinnacle, loyal, revered, skilled samurai would be providing stone-solid assurances to nervous turkeys that their coops were secure. Romantic subplots would feature the Love Doll and Zorro, the Farmer's Daughter and the Happy Fat Man of Tenacious-D, as well as some hot turtle-on-chihuahua action. And of course the Tiger would be chasing everyone else.

Anyway, thank you all for making the process so fun.

Congratulations! It's a great feeling isn't it! I was so happy I went and bought myself a PS3 and JP versions of FFxiii and 龍が如く3&4 as a graduation gift of sorts...

Remembering over 2,000 individual stories involving a relatively few elements, we RTKers have to have some kind of special ability now, though I'm not sure what use it has beyond the obvious.

There could be quite a long novel series of Potter-esque proportions based on all these characters. Each one has had a pretty exciting life, like the poor chihuahua, who in his few years has fallen in love with a turtle, gone to prison and had to deal with the wild dogs there, been an offering in a crazy southern ritual, been knocked out in a rural boxing match with an owl, had a human leg grafted onto him in a science experiment, and that sort of thing ;D. There could be a movie just about him...

Oh, I hadn't thought of a movie centered around one character. Mr. T could reinvigorate his career that way.

Or Spidey could have a whole new comic-book series. He'd weave his way vertically through Gotham, darning his luxuriant socks so they don't shrink, tighten his fiber gauze over his eyes, try not to think back to the thong on his love doll, then continue in the next picture-frame his overall search for the Gotham Strangler, whose fate (and salary) is strangely entwined with his. He'd spot his quarry and tie him down at the end of that comic, pumping his fist as he jumps to first in his superhero class, a feat that would be chronicled in the Harvard Crimson, though it might also spin off into a distracting lawsuit requiring a dainty settlement...Well, you get the idea.

Groot Wrote:I just finished a couple hours ago! Yay me!

I think someone should write a novel featuring all of the characters that inhabit the pages of Reviewing the Kanji. You'd have Spiderman and Bruce Lee and Mr. T and Yoda side-by-side, fighting Zombies, Voldemort, and Oni, all while jumping (or dancing!) on pogo sticks and sneaking around in Trojan Horses. Meanwhile, back at the Pinnacle, loyal, revered, skilled samurai would be providing stone-solid assurances to nervous turkeys that their coops were secure. Romantic subplots would feature the Love Doll and Zorro, the Farmer's Daughter and the Happy Fat Man of Tenacious-D, as well as some hot turtle-on-chihuahua action. And of course the Tiger would be chasing everyone else.

Anyway, thank you all for making the process so fun.

Congratulations on finishing. Don't forget to celebrate this achievement! I'm still slugging my through the last quarter and I can't wait to be where you are right now ^^. Best of luck in your future 日本語 studies.

Yeah, I've finished RTK1 today, finally. It took me pathetically long, but it was my own fault. Won't happen again

Congrats!

It took me pathetically long also!
8 months! I imagined I would do faster than that...

I'm going over RTK again, got to 800+ right now. Seems I remembered a lot of the kanji but forgot some as well. I think I've been noticing that once you understand japanese by itself the kanji meanings start to become irrelevant but it's important none the less. Makes you learn the writings for the kanji/meanings which will help you a lot when you enter the sentence phase

jettyke Wrote:Congrats!

It took me pathetically long also!
8 months! I imagined I would do faster than that...

Haha, don't worry man, you're not even close. I've spent months on this **** full-time.
I consider it one of the biggest mistakes in my life. I knew I could've done it much much faster, but I wanted the whole thing to be "perfect"..... and the result: a recent trip to a neuropsychologist, and a neurologist
I hate Heisig

drkdve Wrote:Remembering over 2,000 individual stories involving a relatively few elements, we RTKers have to have some kind of special ability now, though I'm not sure what use it has beyond the obvious.

Wait until you start RTK2!

Congratulations to everyone who has finished.

And good luck Raschaverak! I hope everything is fine.

Sitbon Wrote:700 reviews a day? 1000!? You do write it down, yeah? It seems pointless to review and not write it down before you flip the card.

Here's where you'll learn that what works and is essential early in your studies is counter productive and not useful later in your studies.

Starting off with RTK, it may be best to write the kanji each time it's reviewed (maybe again when it's wrong). Later, especially after you start doing sentences, that starts being tedious so you start just answering in your head and just write down kanji you get wrong. Later still, you just stop bothering writing kanji as you know how to write it, you just didn't connect the keyword to that kanji was all. Hell, soon you may stop keyword to kanji altogether. You feel that vocabulary cards test your production ability of kanji enough.

Notice though that this is a path to that point. You don't start off with just not writing kanji. You could, but there will be some trade-offs. What Jarvik is doing 5 plus years into Japanese is not necessarily what one that's 2 months into Japanese should be doing. It's about what works, and what works will change as skill and knowledge changes. The same changes to how one reviews other materials (vocabulary, grammar, listening sentences, state capitals, equations, etc.) evolves as your ability to handle the material evolves.

Lots of skills to you, and congrats to all that finished this one enormous hurdle.