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Please post in RtK Volume 1 only for topics closely related with James Heisig's book! Otherwise please use General discussion, Learning resources etc.

Prereading lessons

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Reply #1 - 2009 June 11, 5:48 pm
isharabash
Member
From: United States
Registered: 2009-03-23
Posts: 36

I'm still a beginner, on the 300s or so, but I keep on running into road blocks with RTK. So I decided to try something new, preread each lesson, write in the book, and then go back and do each kanji.

Why?

I found out that if I just went from Kanji to kanji, I'd get hung up on the ones with stories that didn't really make sense to me, I'd slowly get bored and fall asleep.

So I'm reading each keyword quickly, and if the story doesn't match any of the immediate imagery I get in my head, then I'll edit the story to match MY imagery. If I can't come up with anything, I'll circle it and come back to it later (because kanji are used as primitives, there's a good chance that another kanji will use it that I do have a story for).

I'll see how this goes and report back to you guys, just posting to ask you guys to wish me luck!

(and give me opinions)

Reply #2 - 2009 June 11, 5:53 pm
kazelee
Rater Mode
From: ohlrite
Registered: 2008-06-18
Posts: 1941
Website

That's smarts! Good idea.

Reply #3 - 2009 June 11, 6:31 pm
chully
Member
Registered: 2008-10-14
Posts: 29

I do this too. It's goo.
Sometimes I feel like I don't have time to do it, and among those sometimes, sometimes making the stories sucks. I can lose attention or fall asleep too.

Sometimes I have time on a bus ride or just when I don't even feel like sitting at my desk, when I can use what would otherwise be lost time, flipping through RTK and letting my imagination play freely without the commitment to write it down. I can get a good laugh out that way, and it helps me feel like studying more, so I can get myself to the desk without even dragging myself there.

Heisig only works for me when I enjoy the process, I somehow forgot how to do that from about 1000-1500. Don't let it happen to you!

Reply #4 - 2009 June 11, 9:03 pm
mafried
Member
Registered: 2006-06-24
Posts: 669

All good advice!  I actually don't learn/suspend kanji (yet) that I can't come up with a story for.  The next time I come across it it is often easier to work with.

Reply #5 - 2009 June 11, 10:33 pm
TaylorSan
Member
From: Colorado
Registered: 2009-01-03
Posts: 358

I has a lot of success creating my own primitives and doing what you do.  Sometimes I could pick out a loose theme in response to keywords, that worked much better than the book ones.  I didn't start that until around 1500, but it worked great.

Reply #6 - 2009 June 12, 12:43 am
isharabash
Member
From: United States
Registered: 2009-03-23
Posts: 36

So far so good, first go and 96% remembered (missed 1), of course, the real test comes tomorrow when I wait a day between prereading and learning, and after that when I wait a day between prereading, learning, and testing.

If successful I'll have a system where I preread tomorrow's, learn today's, and test yesterday's, all the while keeping reviews and studying up.

Last edited by isharabash (2009 June 12, 12:44 am)

Reply #7 - 2009 June 13, 1:02 pm
isharabash
Member
From: United States
Registered: 2009-03-23
Posts: 36

Great success!

That is all.

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