JimmySeal wrote:

Thanks for providing those Chinese examples as well as practically shooting down your own argument.  That's really relevant here.  There are plenty of reasons to argue that the phonetic markers aren't enough to forego RTK.  If you'd like to discuss it in a separate thread, I'm sure several of us would be happy to indulge you.

It's work exactly the same in Japanese... 中 and 沖 both pronounce as ちゅう, 流硫硫 all pronounce as りゅう...

I second just flipping the cards and continuing as you were. Even if you're up to 800 characters you've still only been doing it for less than a month, a lot of them should be fresh in your mind and not too difficult to remember the other way around, shouldn't they?

keyword alone.

Because the process should go like this:

1. seeing the keyword
2. recalling the story
3. recalling the kanji

How was the deck originally set up?  Maybe you need to modify the way the fields are laid out in the deck model?

ye i was lookign around that.. ended up downloading the same anki deck again and checking what it was that i had changed. then re did it. so now it shows the keyword alone. i click answer it shows kanji and the story. this way is good right?

That way's A-ok, kevester.

Seamoby wrote:

warakawa wrote:

Don't use RTK, it's flawed because it does not take into account pronunciation. 80% of Kanji are Phono-semantic compounds.

I really feel sorry for those who did RTK, because you made up and memorized crazy stories for a majority of the kanji when it is totally unnecessary.

Meh, pffft, don't feel sorry for us, we're doin' just fine.

Heh, yeah, it's not like cramming all those "crazy stories" into our heads will make the Japanese fall out .

Don't be afraid to start over with a new English -> Kanji deck type.

It will all be studying, and you get to check if you remember all the characters again. It doesn't hurt you to get this extra rehearsal, actually it will probably benefit you. And then you can do the rest of the book in English -> Kanji.

You have everything to gain by "starting over" with your deck, I'd say.

Necrojesta wrote:

Indeed, you don't lose anything, just think of it as extra reviews. Before long you'll be back to where you were

Yeah, it's not so bad.  Sometimes you hear of people who completely delete decks of 3000+ cards and start over.  Compared to that, 800 cards should be a breeze.  (Of course, learning to write them will take a little work than just learning the English meanings...)

Hey kevester,
Most likely no one has gone the route of Kanji->Keyword then flipped/continued to give you insight into what will happen with you.

So, why don't you try to copy your deck, flip the cards and review? Try it yourself.

Also, how do you feel about the 800 Kanji you've learned when you find them while reading something or in the wild? Do you feel like you really learned the Kanji and can recognize them?

And finally, if you want/need to be able to write the Kanji, then, as others said, you've to go Kanji->Keyword to produce the fine detail of the Kanji.

Good luck and enjoy Japanese!

Edit: To be honest, the extra effort you put into Keyword-> Kanji is really worth it. You'll feel very satisfied when you are able to break Kanji down and write them perfectly from memory, and can boast how you did it in a surprisingly (to others) short time. You'll also be able to really understand how Kanji writing work, and I think that's VERY rewarding.

Last edited by undead_saif (2012 August 31, 5:10 am)

Yes, the reviews space out, and you'll get faster at it, about 150 in an hour will become your average.