triangleman42
Member
From: Portland
Registered: 2007-10-10
Posts: 11
I've only been at this a few days so please forgive my ignorance. After a short time of studying I'm familiar with the kanji up to 35 or so. At what point will I learn the Japanese word for the Kanji I'm learning? Seems to me it would be easy to include romanji under the kanji so that I get to take it in all at once. I fear that the disconnect between the kanji and the Japanese pronunciation will make it difficult for me to 'get my head into japanese mode' rather than constantly translating in my head. When I was learning spanish the hardest part was forcing myself to think in spanish instead of translating everything.
Thanks for any guidance.
CharleyGarrett
Member
From: Cusseta Georgia USA
Registered: 2006-05-25
Posts: 303
Try to remember that this is only one step in the learning process. Baby steps. Learn the kanji, then learn Japanese language. Sort of like, learn the alphabet, then learn to read and write.
The direct answer to your question is "never". RTK is really not for learning the japanese words for the Kanji you're learning. Knowing the kanji, and then learning that the word you're learning is written with this kanji will (in the long run) be faster, in my opinion, than trying to master everything at once---vocabulary, grammar, kanji (of course) and readings of kanji (on-yomi and kun-yomi). Of course, you can learn vocab without grammar, and I suppose you could study syntax and grammar without a ton of vocab. You can also study kanji without readings.
Now, confession, I didn't do it that way. I learned to speak/listen first. And then or nearly the same time, kana. I want to learn to really read (don't we all?) so I've divided that into steps, with RTK helping me tremendously. Kanji/english stories and keywords. I'm not done yet. Next would be Kanji to vocab and back. I'm still toying with the idea of Kanji/japanese stories and keywords.
I'm recommending that you complete RTK in 3 or 4 months, and don't particularly worry about the readings of the kanji (ie the japanese word for it) at this point.
Last edited by CharleyGarrett (2007 October 11, 12:53 pm)
danieldesu
Member
From: Raleigh
Registered: 2007-07-07
Posts: 247
Believe it or not, reading is one of the best ways to learn how to speak. Read something fun, like a novel or manga.
After I finished (actually, came close to finishing) RTK, the first thing I tried to read was called "レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー", which is actually a collection of various short readings (short stories, facts about Tokyo, Sumo, etc.), and I was exhilarated when I got through an entire story without a dictionary. Reading is fun, and my Japanese, both reading and speaking, has improved 10-fold.
