going from kanji to keyword

Index » RtK Volume 1

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Reply #1 - 2008 January 16, 8:16 pm
dancc New member
From: Illinois Registered: 2007-12-07 Posts: 3

I've been noticing that I can go from the kanji to the keyword at a really high(99%) rate but my keyword to kanji retention is not so high(65%).  Anyone else experience that.  I used to use flashcards and would read show the kanji and guess the keyword until about 100 when I realized you were supposed to do it the other way.  btw I'm at 550.

thanks

Reply #2 - 2008 January 16, 8:44 pm
billyclyde Member
Registered: 2007-05-21 Posts: 192

That's typical-- Heisig mentions in the book that kanji-to-keyword basically takes care of itself if you study keyword-to-kanji.  Doing that forces you to dig deeper in memory to find the story, where seeing the kanji gets you halfway there.

Reply #3 - 2008 January 17, 3:10 am
vosmiura Member
From: SF Bay Area Registered: 2006-08-24 Posts: 1085

Its normal.  Doing from keyword to kanji is right.  Its not so important to recall the exact keyword from the kanji; don't practice that too much.  Later, when you look at kanji you don't want the English word to be the first thing that comes in your mind. 

Rather, you just need to recognize the kanji and have some ballpark idea of what it means, not the exact keyword.  Leave reading for when you know Japanese readings to go with the kanji.

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Reply #4 - 2008 January 17, 6:35 am
ファブリス Administrator
From: Belgium Registered: 2006-06-14 Posts: 4021 Website

Agree, but until the kanji enters visual memory you will most likely not be able to get onto the meaning until you remember the keyword, often the exact keyword, due to how the information was linked in memory. The keyword will "disappear" only when you will have seen the kanji many many times, it could be many months after completing RtK1, depending on how much your practice Japanese afterwards. That's normal, and based on my experience, for transition time you rely on the keywords, typically for those kanji that are less frequently used, the keywords shouldn't cause any problems when using Japanese. You of course don't need the keywords while speaking wink

Reply #5 - 2008 January 17, 2:53 pm
vosmiura Member
From: SF Bay Area Registered: 2006-08-24 Posts: 1085

Well, the keywords won't be lost if we still review from keyword->kanji.  And those keywords->kanji relationships are also useful for doing things like memory maps.

I guess I haven't found much need for remembering the exact keyword myself; not yet anyway.  Will see how it goes long term.  I think for me it is usually enforced later, while studying the Japanese readings.  So I always have 'keyword->kanji' in my mind, but I work on 'kanji->keyword' on an as need basis while learning 'kanji->reading'.

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