I'm in the same pickle as you my friends.  I think the problem is the absence of a clear goal.  with RtK1 you could always look ahead and say "only 1000 more to go!" or "only 200 more to go!" and when you were finished you knew you'd be finished and could move on the next step (while still reviewing, of course).

I've tried to replace the goal with 10,000 sentences but it just seems so much more overwhelming that I've having trouble with it.  I've only got about 700 sentences in Anki so far, from a variety of sources.  Assuming I can do 50 a day I could finish in 6 months, but that's totally unrealistic for me unless I win the lottery and can quit my day job.  Moreover, you never really finish learning Japanese, so who's to say you can actually stop at 10,000?

Anyway sorry I'm not really helping with advice but maybe if I throw this out there somebody can help the three of us out!

maybe you guys should stop focusing on cards and numbers and start looking into japanese media sources.

since you're done with RTK, you should be seeing these kanji all over the place. if you don't... well, don't worry about it. if you don't see it, don't study it.

i had the same problem a while back. i was focussed on making flash-cards and all that.... and eventually i was such a slave to the cards that i forgot why i wanted to study japanese in the first place: to read books, watch movies, and make friends. i hated making cards and reviewing cards, so i eventually hated studying.

i stopped with the cards (though i continue to do RTK... i quit for a while, but the more japanese i'm exposed to, the more convinved i am that RTK is worth the time) and started using my own "system."

it's simple. i just read short stories. when i come across a word i don't understand, i look it up in my J-J dictionary and write down the definition in japanese. it's simple and doesn't cause "burn-out."  and every once in a while i see an RTK kanji and get one of those "よかった"　moments. also, seeing the 読んだ本　section of my library fill is pretty motivating // satisfying.

i read through my definitions on trains // free time, and then re-read the story a week or two later. i usually do much better the second time around. not only that, but if you read a variety of stories, you suddenly have lots of topics you can bring up in conversations.

to sum things up: find what interests you and focus on that. there are tons and tons of ways to study and enjoy japanese. try a few different strategies and see what works. and don't be afraid to make changes. one week can be movies, the next can be stories, etc, etc.

Last edited by TGWeaver (2008 March 18, 12:26 am)

I`ve actually found myself in the exact opposite situation.  For me, Heisig was the perfect recipe for stress.  Now that I`m done with the book and more or less on top of my reviews, I`ve really been enjoying my studies. 

I`m doing the sentence method.  And that can be a drag sometimes, but not nearly as stressfull as Heisig.  10,000 sentences is just too many to treat like a marathon. 
I take my sentences primarily from textbooks.  now I`m going through "A dictionary of basic japanese sentence patterns" by Naoko Chino.  The structures are pretty simple, but the author does a nice job of mixing up kanji, so it`s good practice if your starting to learn readings.

Aside from that, I`m having a go at the immersion environment, and it`s been a lot of fun. I watch television (I`ve recently gotten into a hilarious jdrama called densha otoko - download it raw from j addicts).  I also listen to music and play video games. 

A few tips on that front. 1) if taking sentences from your immersion environment stresses you out, DONT DO IT.  Make your sentence gathering part of your study time. enjoy your immersion time.  2)if you play guitar, learn japanese songs.  3) find a classic video game that you`ve played through in english - that platformer or rpg that  you know inside and out - and play it in japanese on an emulator.  This will keep you from stressing out whenever you get stuck with the language.

That`s all I can think of for now.  Good luck!

Edit:  I didnt make this clear.  Im in the very early stages of studying and my japanese, well, stinks.  I don`t follow the bulk of the plot when I watch television, I often dont understand what I`m singing when I play guitar, and understanding a full sentence in a video game is the exception rather than the rule.  But while all this is true I am still enjoying the process and I can see my japanese progressing every day.  I just wanted to say this to stress the fact that you can make studying fun, even if your japanese stinks.

Last edited by blackstockc (2008 March 18, 1:59 am)

I have tons of japanese manga and it's been my plan to start reading a little bit of them everyday but I've been procrastinating that.

It's just that reading a few pages can take hours and generate lists of dozens of new words. So that seems a huge task. (and the result is often very little understanding anyway). I guess I should get started even if it's one or two pages at a time that's much better than nothing.

I find that the first issue or so of a new series can be quite difficult, but once you get used to the style it becomes much easier.  It might help in getting started if you don't bother making lists of words for the moment - just read and enjoy.  Some repeated words may start sticking out at you - if that happens, go ahead and look them up or add them to a list or whatever it is you do.  The point though is to start enjoying stuff in Japanese and refresh your motivation, not to start learning and studying vocabulary immediately.

TGWeaver and yukamina, do you have short stories that you can recommend?  I love reading short stories in Japanese, but I have trouble finding them.

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo … 1&PN=1
Short stories and novels with audio books.
http://ikeda-hideo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/library_e.html
A few more audio books. I haven't checked any of these out.
http://www.genpaku.org/alice01/alice01j.html
Alice in Wonderland, lot's of casual speech and stuff you won't find in rikaichan
http://www.alz.jp/221b/aozora/le_petit_prince.html
The Little Prince
http://www.geocities.co.jp/HeartLand-Gaien/7211/
Many Japanese stories, I haven't checked any of them out either

Not all short stories, but certainly enough to keep anyone busy. Some stuff is easier than others...

ivantolearnkanji wrote:

Recommended:
"A Japanese Reader" by Roy Andrew Miller
Graded Lessons for Mastering the Written Language
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en& … tvj4JBIYl0

Thanks for the tip. I've also found graded books to be very useful and can recommend this series:

http://www.thejapanshop.com/product.php … amp;page=1

Each volume of 5 books also has a useful CD that goes with it.

I am surprised that nobody even mentioned trying to start RTK II. I have finished the first book and my whole motivation to keep reviewing the flashcards and not forgetting the 2042 kanji I learned, is to learn how to pronounce them.

Moreover, my real motivation is plain fear. Yes, fear of not being able to continue with RTK II after spending more than a year with RTK I! My dream is to become literate in japanese and for that I must conquer kanji. Sure, it will take years but now that I started I cannot go back. I just passed the point of no return.

I also know that after I finish RTK II my motivation will be finishing RTK III?

yukamina wrote:

After I finished the meanings of the kanji, I couldn't wait to start RTK2, actually. I don't know why people dismiss it so easily. I didn't finish, but even half the book is enough to get the hang of learning on-readings and kanji vocab.

Well they probably want to learn some Japanese after that.  I know I was sick of studying so hard but not learning much that was immediately useful.  I want to speak to Japanese people and be understood.  When people say they want to learn a language, they primarily mean 'be able to speak'.

I think that Janet Ashbe's "Read real Japanese" is another good introduction to Japanese literature.
http://tinyurl.com/2l596k