That's still 70%, so it's not that bad.

Once you relearn those 300 you'll find that they stick even better. You've not done anything wrong. You'd have to be a genius to remember 1000 kanji without forgetting a single one, regardless of what memory techniques you use.

Babyrat wrote:

thanks for all the replys makes me feel much better . So do you advise that i do go back and relearn them or just carry on from the 1000? I guess i should go back as that red pile is starting to look very nasty.

You're using this site right? Or some SRS? Because if you do, you do not have to go back or anything, everything you put in on this site is reviewed automatically. You don't have to "go back" and study them because you're studying them right now.

Keep doing the SRS every day and don't worry about it too much. 70% is fine. Worry more about finishing the book. If your rate keeps dropping, then it might be time to worry about how you're learning... but just let the SRS do it's thing, and don't cheat. (And try not to skip too many days.)

Honestly, all you're trying to do is juggle the kanji in your brain until you can attach Japanese readings to them, then you can pretty much ignore/forget/purge the Heisig keywords. The SRS is an excellent juggling tool for that.

1) Make sure to review the yellow cards.
2) Clear the read pile.
3) Learn new cards.

*) Never review green cards.

babyrat:  It sounds like you didn't review at all, and then suddenly did a massive review at 1000 kanji?  You should be doing reviews every day or at least every week.  Use this site's "review" feature (http://kanji.koohii.com/main.php), or use an SRS like Anki or Mnemosyne.

liveone:  If you know Japanese meanings, GREAT!  Don't get hung up on Heisig's "English meanings"-- they're just "hooks" so you have somewhere to "put" the kanji in your brain.  A few of them don't even have anything to do with the actual kanji meaning, and many of them only capture one of a dozen meanings for the kanji.  If you use an SRS or possibly a greasemonkey script, you can even modify the keywords like I do.  Some of my keywords are the English Heisig keyword followed by a romaji or hiragana version of a Japanese word that uses it, for example:

分 - part (わかる)

It's also very helpful later on for distinguishing between keywords with very similar English meanings, where the kanji can be difficult to remember with Heisig alone.

snispilbor wrote:

babyrat:  It sounds like you didn't review at all, and then suddenly did a massive review at 1000 kanji?  You should be doing reviews every day or at least every week.  Use this site's "review" feature (http://kanji.koohii.com/main.php), or use an SRS like Anki or Mnemosyne.

"I told myself now ive reached that i will check every Kanji i have done before."

It also sort of sounds like he reviewed all of his green stacks. Could be either way. Or something entirely different.

Last edited by playadom (2008 November 10, 7:00 am)