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The Encouragement Thread
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Only a month? That's pretty good! 
It took me a few months to get to 500.
Koos83 wrote:
Only a month? That's pretty good!
It took me a few months to get to 500.
It's all a matter of motivation and enthusiasm. I downed my first 220 characters in like 1 week (admittedly, knowing quite a handful of them prior to RTK), but my rate dropped later and I even had to stop somewhere around the middle.
Now, with only about 10% of RTK1 unstudied, I can't get enough kanji, and only keep resonable amount of intake to prevent my reviews from becoming overwhelming.
SugaHOLiC wrote:
It looks like I'm in need of some encouragement:
I started RKT in the beginning of this year. I had reached #1317 but I ran into a problem... Due to RTK boredom and my lack of motivation I stopped RTK in June and had plans to start up again in September, but school got in the way and I never could get back into it. Now, I have come to the conclusion that I NEED TO FINNISH RTK NO MATTER WHAT AND I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO FINISH. Since I have not studied in so long, and I know I forgot most of the Kanji I learned, I have started the process all over again. I'm moving at a slow, but steady rate of 10 per-day/other day. Whenever I feel like adding Kanji I'll do so but I review everyday. So far, since I just started a few days ago, I've only gotten up to #50 but I say that considering I'm proud of my progress.
I'm really disappointed in myself that I stopped RTK, esp since I was so into it, and it made me really upset what I became burnt out, but I was to finish really bad. To me, it is part of my future and where I see myself, so I need to keep going. I know I can do it this time, I will let nothing stop me. I need to look forward! One. Step. At. A. Time.
Kay
Come now, if you've been all the way to 1300, you should remember quite a bunch of characters, especially at the low frame numbers. Try studying for time rather thank for number of kanji. Some characters are hard, and some are practically free (ie 日、月、水、火、時). Don't be surprised if you can go well over 50characters/hour depending on how solid they were when you stopped.
Last edited by unauthorized (2009 December 28, 7:53 am)
unauthorized wrote:
Koos83 wrote:
Only a month? That's pretty good!
It took me a few months to get to 500.It's all a matter of motivation and enthusiasm. I downed my first 220 characters in like 1 week (admittedly, knowing quite a handful of them prior to RTK), but my rate dropped later and I even had to stop somewhere around the middle.
Now, with only about 10% of RTK1 unstudied, I can't get enough kanji, and only keep resonable amount of intake to prevent my reviews from becoming overwhelming.
Not just a matter of motivation and enthusiasm, also a matter of free time and energy. I was working fulltime when I did this, and anyone who has ever been a teacher knows you come home with no energy left. So even though I had the motivation and the enthusiasm, I also had the frustration of lacking the energy. Which is why I am trying to get to 1500 by the end of these holidays and hopefully be able to do 10 a day when I start work again.
Haha not exactly a quote by me. 
I was like: When did I say that?? 
It was unauthorized.
You *will* breeze through, and they *will* come back to you.
My first lapse with RTK was just before the 500 mark. It was before I discovered SRS or RevTK, so I was doing it all by hand, with flashcards and a graph paper notebook. Needless to say, I burned out quickly, and burned out hard. Didn't want to touch Heisig, even about it, for months. When I came back to it after finding this site, I was surprised at how much I retained.
Second time I lapsed was around that 1300 mark. That was an energy burnout. Pushed too hard, too fast; not enough attention to the stories. Ended up getting swamped with reviews and discouraged. But again, after I got my head straight it was easy to pick it up and move on. And I did move on, to finish RTK and start enjoying the actual study of Japanese.
The kanji will always be there. No point in feeling bad about what you should have done before, or thinking too hard about what you haven't done yet--that's wasted energy. Take that energy and use it to attack the problem at hand. Do what you can in the present moment, and move forward. You'll be there before you know it. 
I've been working on RtK1 for a few weeks now, and I just passed #200... it seems to me I'm going at a much slower pace than most people here. I sometimes take as long as 10+ minutes thinking about a certain story/kanji in order to cement it in my mind. The good news, though, is that I seem to be remembering them all pretty darn well - much better than when I used to learn them by rote, anyways.
I'm so glad I found this website. It's nice to know that there are others out there using the RtK books. Good luck to everyone on their kanji learning ventures!
vinniram wrote:
I got up to 900ish, had a 2 weeks break, had 300 expired and already about 80 failed, and now I have 100 failed and 230 expired. I feel so unmotivated to continue...
Take it in time frames rather than number of kanji. Focus on the expired ones first, get them out of the way. Say: I'll do this for 15 minutes (that will get about 50 or so out of the way). After you've got them all out of the way in a few days, tackle the failed ones, also for 15 minutes or so at a time. Gradually, you will catch up! Don't let it get even further behind; catch up to it now, finish it and then you'll have to review less and less afterwards.
So after months of irregular kanji binges, I've gotten into the rhythm again. This time, I'll see it through to the end! I just passed 900, and hope to hit the halfway mark this weekend.
Good luck everybody, you can make it!
Long chapters? The last two chapters (lesson 55 and 56) have 20 and 17 kanji respectively. I am on those last two as well. Unfortunately (for the kanji) I have to work and I am getting a visitor today, so I'll try to do those 20 today but I don't think I'll manage the last 17 as well. But those will definitely be done tomorrow and then I'll have finished, by the end of January, as was my New Year's resolution!
I can't believe it. If there were no reviews, I'd probably fall deep into a 虚 (void).
Can't wait to post in the top thread of this forum... 
rosenafglenn wrote:
I was a bit half-witted for a moment and misread the last chapter number, so I thought the last two chapters were 50 each. It was a pleasant surprise to see it otherwise, though.
Haha, it must have been a nice surprise to see it was much less!
@leosmith
0.0
She's got nothing on Mikie or Haruka. I'd post a link but... yeah. 
I got this a while back, but put it off for a bit. Then exams started and I had no time. Only now have I started. Today at school I got from 1-44
They're getting harder but I'm able to keep up because of the Jame Heisig method.
Also to keep me motivated I watch Keyhole Tv (Japanese TV) and Play all games in Japanese (I.e Pokemon and Legend of Zelda)
Excellent! Don't let it affect your regular school work though.
Ah! I'm really glad I found out about this site, and about Heisig (through AJATT). To tell the truth, I've been wanting to learn Japanese since elementary school. I still have these old print-outs of the kana that I remember I always used to look at wistfully and think, "Man, I wish I knew how to read this". After having watched hundreds of hours of anime and read hundreds of manga (subbed and translated), last week I finally made a commitment to actually learning it. I bought myself a Japanese novel as incentive, haha. I started yesterday, and I'm on frame 50. I'm trying to get through 40-50 a day, as 45-ish seems to be my limit. Wish me luck!
(Also, does anyone want to be my learning buddy? We could talk about our progress/write to each other. It would really help me out, to have someone doing it with me. )
And does anyone else have a problem with atrocious handwriting? I can't for the life of me get my characters to look as good as the ones in the book or online. XD