So right now, I use RevTK to study kanji. I'm on 891 now and I'm doing at least 40 kanji a day with around 1-4 hours of study a day, it differs depending on how much I review previous characters.

So I've noticed while I can successfully answer flashcards in RevTK through seeing the keyword I can't as easily identify the meaning of Kanji I see 'in the wild'. So to counter this not so bad but still annoying issue I downloaded anki and reversed the card layouts so while on here I identify the character on anki I have to identify the meaning.

Has anyone else tried this? I figured while it may not help drastically it should challenge me somewhat and make learning quicker. I was also thinking how it would be nice if RevTK had maybe an option to review with the layout reversed or with both layouts used randomly. Does anyone agree this'd be a good feature?

"Kanji to keyword" is not a new idea. Most will probably agree it's not a good idea either. To give you the short answer - just review keyword to kanji and your Japanese will turn out fine. To get a better idea, re-read Heisig's introduction in the RTK book. What you're aiming for is to be able to read in Japanese, not translate kanji to English keywords.

Doing it that way certainly will not hurt you, as long as you just use it as a supplement. Just make sure that you still do also review the standard way as well, because that it what ensures that you REALLY know the kanji.

No don't do that. You're better off using that time on something else like learning the reading of the kanji or A word that contains that kanji or learning grammar etc etc

shinsen Wrote:What you're aiming for is to be able to read in Japanese, not translate kanji to English keywords.

In my opinion one of the benefits RTK gives is recognizing the meaning of kanji instantly, but I ran across the same problem of not being able to recall the keyword from kanji very fast. I did kanji to keyword for a long time, and got really good at instantly recalling the keyword, and it helped me a lot. When you're really fast at that, while learning a new kanji compound you can just be like "ok, this word is made up of these keywords", which helps more often than not with the meaning of the actual word, and it just helps in noticing the patterns. I've tried recalling the keywords with only keyword to kanji reviewing and it was way too slow, and I didn't like learning new words without recalling the meaning of the kanji first. So in my opinion it helps. But you just have to decide for yourself if it's worth the extra time.

It says in the book not to, because technically the keywords are training wheels that you'll eventually lose and you'll only retain the (japanese) meaning.

You'll be wasting time, but if you want to then do it.

Thanks for the replies guys and I fully understand what you are all saying. This is probably because I don't own the book unfortunately, but I agree with your points and will most likely follow the advice given. It does make more logical sense to recognize kanji through their japanese reading and meaning first and I see why this idea is quite pointless to some degree.

I could see it helping in ways but it'd just slow things down in the long run I suppose.

All bow down to our Lord and Saviour Heisig! If he says it, it must be true!

That's what I immediately thought! Although I have not read the book if he advises something then quick! Do as he says. Without his method kanji would take a lot, lot longer to learn.

bestscammer5 Wrote:It says in the book not to, because technically the keywords are training wheels that you'll eventually lose and you'll only retain the (japanese) meaning.

Yes but it can take a heck of a lot of time to learn words or readings for ALL of those kanji. I finished RTK years ago, and I still don't know any words for several hundred of them.

nuh-uh. just because you didn't read/apply yourself enough for whatever reasons doesn't mean it can't be done. by reading I mean reading stuff that actually interests you.
You mean 2000 and not 3000 or 4000 or whatever rtk2 is right?

He did say all the kanji i guess.

All I'm saying is that its possible to do RTK in just a few months or whatever, but actually learning the vocabulary of the Japanese language is a process that takes years.
If reviewing from kanji to keyword can help you figure out the words that you are reading while you are working up to that point, then whats the problem?

Good point, any way to help me learn should be used. A simple way to do the same thing but in a better way is just to write the kanji on a whiteboard before giving an answer. Makes sure I remember every stroke of a kanji although I wouldn't recommend over-doing it because it slows down reviews.

The book is "available" as a pdf, people should read it (or at least the written parts, like the intro and somewhere in the middle) even if they don't buy it.