I work on two decks right now, Core 6k and a RTK deck.
I've noticed a problem with my retention lately. I've learned 533 vocab words in Anki and picked them up fairly easily after doing RTK. When I do my RTK reviews afterwards though, I tend to forget how to write some kanji I thought was easy when doing RTK while others stick.
There have been cases where I would read the word in native books with the kanji and understand it, but be baffled by the kanji when it shows up on in the RTK reviews and I mess up the writing and placement of radicals and such. I have this problem with the vocab deck too sometimes, I'll mis-spell a kanji in a compound or some such thing.
Today, I just didn't do my Anki reviews and focused on passive reading. Why? Because it didn't feel like fun at the time. I felt like I needed that break, but it the past, it's been dangerous because that day can turn into a week and then months.
I'm not sure if I should stop adding new vocab, review the vocab deck and focus on the RTK deck for now, or stop the RTK deck and keep chugging on with vocab.
Adding the translation of the key word in Japanese(or word close in meaning to it) fully in kanji or katakana?
I'm focusing on remembering each item card right in 5 seconds or less, writing them out, and moving on, if any part is wrong I'm hitting 1. Doesn't help that I switched from the site's SRS to Anki where I have to go through them all over again starting from the beginning. Adding 100 "new" kanji a day no less.
I think it's a case of me not having the kanji firmly cemented in my brain even though I finished RTK a month ago. I felt on top of the world a few days ago and then the past few days it's like I don't even know any Japanese, lol. Is this normal until the cards are mature or will I always have this problem if my memory seems bad?
HelenF
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2012-04-11
Posts: 39
I'm not really trying to translate the keyword. I just use words I can read, preferably each with only one possible solution (so usually words with more than one kanji).
If I know the answer from the English keyword, that's fine; otherwise, sometimes the Japanese word reminds me. Or if the English keyword makes me think of two different kanji, the Japanese word might help me pick the right one.
Starting again and adding 100 a day is going to greatly increase your workload for a while. If it's stressing you out, maybe stop adding new vocab until it quiets down, or add the kanji more slowly.
There was once a way of transferring review progress from this site to Anki. I'm not sure whether it works at the moment.
Stansfield123
Member
From: Europe
Registered: 2011-04-17
Posts: 799
Stop adding vocab, continue reviewing what you have. Maybe even suspend cards that are especially annoying (from either deck). But don't let all your hard work go to waste by not reviewing what you already added, especially with RtK.
If you prefer reading, read. Never add another word to Anki, if you don't want to, or only add a few words here and there, to help you with your reading. The end result will be the same: you'll be learning Japanese. If you continue to use Anki (even lightly, by just adding 5-10 words you come across frequently in several hours spent reading), that will speed up the learning process, but you'll continue to progress even without it. (I don't even use Anki for that anymore, I just use a notebook because it's more convenient).
So don't let your dread of Anki stop you from learning Japanese. SRS-ing thousands of words is not an obstacle you MUST cross on your way to fluency. You can just take the scenic route around it.
I currently have about 600 vocab items reviewed and yes, I very much rather read than do Anki at this point. I find that I only really want to do Anki when I'm actually actively reading.
I HAD planned to stop at 1000 words, stop adding, review for awhile and then add some more in about a month while getting the RTK deck up to speed, but I'm thinking about doing my textbook Introduction to Modern Japanese again and making a deck based on grammar and vocab in the book at some point too. Is it advisable to use a supplemental deck like that with no audio?
If it matters I'm doing the Listening - Reading thing too with stories now too.
