So I've just started RTK vol. 1 and I'm just curious on how I should use anki in conjunction with my learning or if anyone has any advice. For example I want to get an idea of how long people usually wait until reviewing what they've learned. I only got finished with lesson 1 and some of 2 and waited the following day to review. Also I only did 20 Kanji to start, and I know it's the beginning and they'll eventually get hard but should I increase the amount more since I found them easy to remember. Also I'm curious what people find better, having the Kanji shown and guessing the keyword or having the Keyword and recalling the Kanji or even both. So far I stuck with the default which is the keyword on the front.
2012-09-23, 6:41 pm
I waited with reviewing new cards until the next day. Perhaps mostly because I usually finished all the due reviews before adding new ones, felt kinda pointless to review them immediately after I'd just gone through them. I don't think it's important either way.
The reviews don't pile up as much in the beginning, so I don't see how you can add too many cards at once. It might be good to keep a minimum amount as a motivating factor but I don't see why you should cap it despite when having the will and motivation to do more. Otherwise 20 new characters a day isn't bad, it'll get you through the book in almost 4 months. What's good or not depends on individual goals.
Most people on here and I'm fairly sure Heisig himself at one point in the book (a bit into it when he describes paper flashcards), suggest going keyword to kanji, the character on the back. The idea with flashcards is that it is the information on the back of the card that is important. That's what you work your mind into remembering, that's what you're actually supposed to learn. The front of the card you just recognize, you don't work as much on it.
The idea of RTK1 is to remember and become familiar with the appearance of the characters, with the keywords as "labels" or "training wheels" rather than actual precise meanings. That's why it's not important to have the keywords on the back and drill them in. We're not learning how to read Japanese characters in English, we're becoming familiar with them so that learning actual Japanese is a whole lot easier.
The reviews don't pile up as much in the beginning, so I don't see how you can add too many cards at once. It might be good to keep a minimum amount as a motivating factor but I don't see why you should cap it despite when having the will and motivation to do more. Otherwise 20 new characters a day isn't bad, it'll get you through the book in almost 4 months. What's good or not depends on individual goals.
Most people on here and I'm fairly sure Heisig himself at one point in the book (a bit into it when he describes paper flashcards), suggest going keyword to kanji, the character on the back. The idea with flashcards is that it is the information on the back of the card that is important. That's what you work your mind into remembering, that's what you're actually supposed to learn. The front of the card you just recognize, you don't work as much on it.
The idea of RTK1 is to remember and become familiar with the appearance of the characters, with the keywords as "labels" or "training wheels" rather than actual precise meanings. That's why it's not important to have the keywords on the back and drill them in. We're not learning how to read Japanese characters in English, we're becoming familiar with them so that learning actual Japanese is a whole lot easier.
Edited: 2012-09-23, 6:41 pm
2012-09-24, 3:56 am
I don't think it would be a bad idea to just go and grab the beta for Anki 2. It's pretty stable and almost ready for release, and you could take advantage of the new learning mode. You can set it up to have custom intervals, say 1 minute, than 10 minutes, then 1 hour before it gets thrown in the normal mix of reviews. This is far improved from just learning new cards in Anki 1.
The other thing I might point out is check out japaneselevelup.com. There are some good articles I wish I had read before I started RTK.
The other thing I might point out is check out japaneselevelup.com. There are some good articles I wish I had read before I started RTK.
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2012-09-24, 4:33 am
I usually give it 30/60 minutes before reviewing for the first time, which has worked well so far.
I have been using Anki 2 and Ankidroid 2 beta from the start, so I can vouch for it being stable. Apart from release 17 of Ankidroid being rubbish for me (went back to beta 16 as I couldn't browse my deck!) I have had no issues.
I have been using Anki 2 and Ankidroid 2 beta from the start, so I can vouch for it being stable. Apart from release 17 of Ankidroid being rubbish for me (went back to beta 16 as I couldn't browse my deck!) I have had no issues.
2012-09-24, 1:44 pm
Thanks for the advice guys I just downloaded the beta for Anki 2 which is pretty different but not to hard to figure out once you get to know what everything means. I left the default for the steps for the 1 and 10 min. for the interval steps. I think I'm gonna stick to waiting to review the cards the following day unless I see that I'm not retaining as much information then I'll start reviewing sooner and maybe more frequently.