Are the RTK keywords equally applicable to Mandarin Chinese?

Index » RtK Volume 1

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Reply #1 - 2008 September 16, 11:37 pm
thermal Member
From: Melbourne, Australia Registered: 2007-11-30 Posts: 399

Are the RTK keywords equally applicable to Mandarin Chinese?

I have a friend who is going to learn Chinese, so I am wondering if it is a good idea recommending RTK to him.

Reply #2 - 2008 September 17, 12:10 am
byakko Member
Registered: 2008-01-04 Posts: 19

"How Did You Learn Kanji? Did you use RTK/Heisig?
Because I had the intention of learning Chinese as well, I did not learn kanji from ?Remembering the Kanji? (RTK) with James Heisig. Instead, I took Heisig?s method and applied it to the 4280 odd characters in Rick Harbaugh?s ?Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary?. It breaks characters up into components. For learning kanji for Japanese, I highly recommend Heisig?s book."

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/bl … -questions

Thats from the AJATT site.

Reply #3 - 2008 September 17, 1:14 am
Evil_Dragon Member
From: Germany Registered: 2008-08-21 Posts: 683

PRC uses simplified characters. So for example instead of Japanese 漢字 Kanji, in the PRC you would write 汉字 Hanzi. Likewise in other parts of the world (Taiwan, Hongkong,...) they use traditional characters which are also often different from their Japanese counterparts, because some Japanese Kanji are simplified as well. Although not quite as many and they are sometimes simplified in a different way.
Compare these:
樂 traditional
乐 Chinese simplified
楽 Japanese simplified

If your friend learns the Chinese characters by using Heisig's book he might often encounter characters which he is unfamiliar with in Chinese speaking countries and also probably Korea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character#Reform Click here for further information.

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Reply #4 - 2008 September 17, 5:27 am
Tobberoth Member
From: Sweden Registered: 2008-08-25 Posts: 3364

thermal wrote:

Are the RTK keywords equally applicable to Mandarin Chinese?

I have a friend who is going to learn Chinese, so I am wondering if it is a good idea recommending RTK to him.

Why? Heisig has made a Remembering The Hanzi, recommend that instead. It's the same thing but with 3000 hanzi (both simplified and traditional) and the meanings etc are changed to fit Mandarin Chinese instead.

Although yes, the keywords are often the same in Mandarin and Japanese.

Reply #5 - 2008 September 18, 10:41 pm
thermal Member
From: Melbourne, Australia Registered: 2007-11-30 Posts: 399

Awesome, I didn't know about Remerbering the Hanzi. That looks perfect, thanks.

Reply #6 - 2008 September 18, 11:07 pm
leosmith Member
Registered: 2005-11-18 Posts: 352

thermal wrote:

Are the RTK keywords equally applicable to Mandarin Chinese?

Some are, but the simple answer is no.

Tobberoth wrote:

Heisig has made a Remembering The Hanzi

I'm pretty sure it hasn't been published yet.

Reply #7 - 2008 September 18, 11:36 pm
Katsuo M.O.D.
From: Tokyo Registered: 2007-02-06 Posts: 887 Website

leosmith wrote:

I'm pretty sure it hasn't been published yet.

Latest information from the relevant page on the Nanzan web site:

Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1; Remembering Traditional Hanzi 1:
PROGRESS REPORT (9 September 2008):
The books have gone into production. Publicaition is slated for mid-late November.


You can download free samples from the page above.

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