Finally done with RTK1, started on January 1 (total coincidence), so that's two months and a week. I wish I hadn't taken a week long break where I barely learned new symbols mid - January, could've already sank my teeth into RTK3, but I guess that too served its purpose in helping me mature the first several hundred kanji.

I feel like there's a lot of work for me still - I know next to none of the on readings, core 6k has, well, three times as many flashcards as I've built up until now, and I'm not even done with the supplement. The readings are my biggest worry by far at this point, I hope I persevere until I'm done with them.

I have no clue how to approach 6k though - should I just add a bunch of new cards a day, press review and fail them until I remember, or is there a more systematic way to go about it? I could go with RTK2 I reckon, but then I'd have to hunt down every kanji that appears in the deck one by one, and it isn't really productive to add a hundred new composites that are all read the same way in one day.

I just finished RTK 1 the other day also. But I haven't studied the 2010 Joyo update yet. Readings do look like the major roadblock ahead. I was going to study RTK 2 and looked at it for about two days before jumping directly into some vocabulary. It is too bad that there doesn't exist a site as good as koohii for studying readings. Like others have recommended, I'm going to learn by going through each word. This is going to be much harder than progressing through RTK 1. I'm also learning through the Genki set of textbooks at the same time. I have KO2001 (bought the ebook) and will probably use that instead of core 2000 since it seems more structured in my opinion. But I'll sample both methods before I make up my mind.

I finished RTK 1 just now! I started on Jan 1st as part of a new year resolution. Can't believe I stuck with it and I got here. There were days when I didn't feel like studying at all; full time job and grad school made it hard at some days.

As for what's next... I plan on finishing the supplement in the next few days and start on the core deck. I did Tae Kim before, but I'm going to review through that too while I do Core. After I finish Core, I figure I would be in a good spot to start delving into native materials. For me, I'm going to play some Japanese RPGs, read mangas, etc, stuff I always enjoyed which I used as a motivator for learning Japanese.

Update - I finished the supplement last night

I'm done with RtK1! 2042 Kanji!
It took me around 3 months (summer vacations here). I've kept my reviews up to date so that they won't stack. It's been quite a challenge and a nice life experience I think ! Now I just gotta go through the supplement

After this do you recommend doing Core2k or Core6k? I'm almost at an intermediate level and I'm planning on doing JLPT Level 3 by the end of this year and hopefully pass.
I've started college again but I think that if I keep up my reviews and in my free time play VN and watch anime I can do it!

It seemed impossible when I first started but somehow I stuck with it and succeed!

Anyway I can't lay down now, the true challenge begins now >;( ! 頑張ろう！

congrats to fadeway and potbellypig!!!

I'm finally through RtK1 6th edition! I found the most difficult thing was to actually get some steady progress up and running. By the end of February I was only at around 500 despite having had the book for about half a year at that point. I feel really lucky that just about nothing happened around me during the Easter holidays allowing me to blaze through the last parts of the book.

Now I'll be off to study Tae Kim's grammar guide and finally start actually learning the language (I don't even know how to introduce myself yet, lol)! After that I'll probably do some core2k/core6k before attempting to learn from native material. Could anybody tell me if there are any other prerequisites than Tae Kim's and RtK1 before jumping into the core decks without being thrown completely off?

Congratulations, Isbilenper! Just the basic grammar section of Tae Kim's should be enough for you to understand most of what's in Core.

Isbilenperさん、おめでとう！Hope you learn Japanese without any difficulties.

Thanks both of you! I guess I'll go thoroughly through the basic section then and just glance over the other parts so I know where to search if I get caught up in something I can't quite decode. =)

I've done it! 28 days ago I dusted off the book and went balls to the wall. So happy

I think I posted in this thread something along the lines of five years ago, that I had finished RTK. And I had. But I made the grave mistake of not continuing on to vocab and/or RTK2 with any real intensity and so a few years later, I had forgotten virtually everything.

So, here I am five years later, finishing RTK for the second time! I've got most kanji out of the first stack now, and no failed kanji. I'd like to do the kanji in the supplement but it seems that there is no way to add in those kanji without adding in all of RTK3 so.. I've ordered RTK3 and will continue on to 3000 kanji!

I've just started with RTK2 while I learn the Core 6k vocab using iKnow. I really feel like I've made some significant progress over the last few months, and I owe a debt of gratitude to Fabrice and all of you whom I've copied stories from!

Thanks, and congratulations to everyone else too!

Update: Looking at the date I joined, it's almost six years to the day! So for all those people who think taking a year is a long time to complete RTK, try six years!

You are all fabulous. The End

I've just finished RTK1 .
It took a long time than I had expected (about 4 months >.<) but anyway I can move on grammar and vocabulary now.

And Congrats to everyone who has finished it too ^_^.

＼_(^◇^)_／＼(*^^*)／ おめでとっ！

Congratulations to those who recently finished RTK! Now you can turn to the fun part of learning.

[s0apgun]

I finished a couple weeks ago. Feels good man. Doing Core 2k/6k now with a goal of finishing out by the end of the year.

Yes! I finally finished it! Thank you all for your stories!

This is actually my second attempt, I got to about 1500 the last time but didn't have enough motivation to continue. After trying to learn Kanji in different ways these past few years, I realized that I wasn't getting anywhere and I was just confusing everything.

So I came back to heisig and started again from the top since I realized that I really didn't remember much anymore. So after about 40 days, I'm proud to say that I've finally done it!

I've started core2/core6 about 4 days ago when I was feeling stuck which really help enforce what I've learned. I can understand spoken Japanese well but reading was really tough for me (I can't even read a shoujo manga without having to check the dictionary every few pages)

My goal is that before the year ends, I can finally read the Japanese Bible that I got a few years ago.

[s0apgun]

Congrats! Seems like me and you are on the same page right now as far as ability and goals. It'll be great to compare our progress by the end of the year.

Same to you!

I'll see you around in the forums then! Otagai ganbarou ne!

Well ... it took me a ridiculously long time (5 years, 3 restarts), but I did it. Averaged out that comes to only about 1 kanji per day, but ...

I went through 4 years of college Japanese, including a study abroad in Japan, but never made much headway with Kanji. After graduation I came across Remembering the Kanji, and by extension this website. I was initially skeptical, but was amazed at how quickly I was able to complete the first few chapters, and at how well I was able to retain the information, so I kept at it. Every once in a while work would crush me, and I'd have a backlog of some 600 characters to review, and I'd start over. Most days I didn't add any new kanji, but merely worked on the days reviews. Finally, this year I decided I was going to finish it. I began adding 10 Kanji a day, every day. That worked reasonably well, although it was hardly smooth sailing.

Reading the stories of others, it is clear just how ...mediocre my own abilities at ideograms are. Still, my hat is off to Heisig's books and this website for allowing someone as lacking in innate ability as myself to finish. It's been an interesting five years learning how to write the kanji, let's see how long it takes me to learn how to read them.

IT'S BEEN A MONTH, I AM DONE!

And now onto more Anki decks.

"small chuckle" growing to evil laugh. MUAHHHAHHAH. Finally I conquered RTK1, wow right now i just feel soooo amazing, listening to my fav songs and already did all my reps for the day. So i started on march 26 2012, finished may 17 2012, so..56 days woot even I'm a bit amazed that i was able to stay focused and continuously do some kanji if not every day at least every other day. My original goal was to actually complete it by my birthday June 21, but I'm ahead of schedule YAY. so I'm contemplating just moving on to RTK3, but that won't be for a few more days lol since i don't yet have that book. But seriously I have to thank not only Heisig for creating such an amazing and invigorating method of helping one to learn kanji but also the website and Fuabrisu for even creating this site. Without him there would definitely would have been no way (well not one that was as efficient and cool as this website).

Also this community is simply amazing and so very helpful and i know for sure I'm going to be sticking around. I just wanna say thank you again everyone, not even once did i ever feel alone on this journey, and yes i know there is still another 160+ from the new joyou kanji list i gotta learn but let's not think of think of that as of yet ok ^^.

For those still pushing through, good luck just do as much as you can each day and OMG if you do nothing else at least maintain your reviews never ever let your reviews pile up and gobble you up or you'll feel discouraged before even trying to learn the new cards.

I don't know what else to say but 万歳、万歳、　万歳　：）

Done with RTK. It took me 6 months, but with the ammount of time ive spent on it, it should have been little over a month... i guess, trying to study, while youre in a terrible mood all the time, isnt an easy thing to do. Doing Genki, with all the excercises, Tae Kim's Guide after it, and SRSing sentences later. I'll be slowly doing rtk3, adding new cards whenever i feel like it. Im glad, that i just have to review little ammounts of cards now. It was a pain, when i had to force myself to keep going, but definitely worth it. I find the part, where i actually learn the language, much more enjoyable, but i cant imagine it without doing RTK beforehand. All thanks to it, that i can enjoy learning the language now.

I finished RTK1 (2,200 kanji) on Friday. It took me 90 days. During weekend I added some more kanji from RTK3 related to words I know already so I've gone through 2,356 kanji in total :-) I've never done anything like that before, feels good to finish. It wasn't easy though. Congrats to others! Now I'll continue reviewing RTK.
Doing JLPT5,4,3,2 vocabulary, than probably start Core6k.

18. Feb - 31. May

104 Days

I

made

it.

...

phewww

I am an exchange student and I have been in Japan for 10 months and I managed to finish RTK1 ! After staying up many hours, it finally pays off and now it's time to practice remembering the Kanji and reviewing the stories!
Finished right now! Yay!!!