Finally done with RTK1, started on January 1 (total coincidence), so that's two months and a week. I wish I hadn't taken a week long break where I barely learned new symbols mid - January, could've already sank my teeth into RTK3, but I guess that too served its purpose in helping me mature the first several hundred kanji.

I feel like there's a lot of work for me still - I know next to none of the on readings, core 6k has, well, three times as many flashcards as I've built up until now, and I'm not even done with the supplement. The readings are my biggest worry by far at this point, I hope I persevere until I'm done with them.

I have no clue how to approach 6k though - should I just add a bunch of new cards a day, press review and fail them until I remember, or is there a more systematic way to go about it? I could go with RTK2 I reckon, but then I'd have to hunt down every kanji that appears in the deck one by one, and it isn't really productive to add a hundred new composites that are all read the same way in one day.

Last edited by Fadeway (2012 March 09, 12:31 pm)

I finished RTK 1 just now!  I started on Jan 1st as part of a new year resolution.  Can't believe I stuck with it and I got here.  There were days when I didn't feel like studying at all; full time job and grad school made it hard at some days.

As for what's next... I plan on finishing the supplement in the next few days and start on the core deck.  I did Tae Kim before, but I'm going to review through that too while I do Core.  After I finish Core, I figure I would be in a good spot to start delving into native materials.  For me, I'm going to play some Japanese RPGs, read mangas, etc, stuff I always enjoyed which I used as a motivator for learning Japanese.

Update - I finished the supplement last night

Last edited by donkatsu (2012 March 16, 10:44 am)

congrats to fadeway and potbellypig!!!

Last edited by tashippy (2012 March 29, 2:19 pm)

Congratulations, Isbilenper! Just the basic grammar section of Tae Kim's should be enough for you to understand most of what's in Core.

Last edited by Splatted (2012 April 08, 3:40 pm)

Thanks both of you! I guess I'll go thoroughly through the basic section then and just glance over the other parts so I know where to search if I get caught up in something I can't quite decode.

I think I posted in this thread something along the lines of five years ago, that I had finished RTK. And I had. But I made the grave mistake of not continuing on to vocab and/or RTK2 with any real intensity and so a few years later, I had forgotten virtually everything.

So, here I am five years later, finishing RTK for the second time! I've got most kanji out of the first stack now, and no failed kanji. I'd like to do the kanji in the supplement but it seems that there is no way to add in those kanji without adding in all of RTK3 so.. I've ordered RTK3 and will continue on to 3000 kanji!

I've just started with RTK2 while I learn the Core 6k vocab using iKnow. I really feel like I've made some significant progress over the last few months, and I owe a debt of gratitude to Fabrice and all of you whom I've copied stories from!

Thanks, and congratulations to everyone else too!

Update: Looking at the date I joined, it's almost six years to the day! So for all those people who think taking a year is a long time to complete RTK, try six years!

Last edited by rgravina (2012 April 14, 10:22 pm)

I've just finished RTK1 .
It took a long time than I had expected (about 4 months >.<) but anyway I can move on grammar and vocabulary now.

And Congrats to everyone who has finished it too ^_^.

I finished a couple weeks ago. Feels good man. Doing Core 2k/6k now with a goal of finishing out by the end of the year.

Congrats! Seems like me and you are on the same page right now as far as ability and goals. It'll be great to compare our progress by the end of the year.

Well ... it took me a ridiculously long time (5 years, 3 restarts), but I did it.  Averaged out that comes to only about 1 kanji per day, but ...

I went through 4 years of college Japanese, including a study abroad in Japan, but never made much headway with Kanji.  After graduation I came across Remembering the Kanji, and by extension this website.  I was initially skeptical, but was amazed at how quickly I was able to complete the first few chapters, and at how well I was able to retain the information, so I kept at it.  Every once in a while work would crush me, and I'd have a backlog of some 600 characters to review, and I'd start over.  Most days I didn't add any new kanji, but merely worked on the days reviews.  Finally, this year I decided I was going to finish it.  I began adding 10 Kanji a day, every day.  That worked reasonably well, although it was hardly smooth sailing.

Reading the stories of others, it is clear just how ...mediocre my own abilities at ideograms are.  Still, my hat is off to Heisig's books and this website for allowing someone as lacking in innate ability as myself to finish.  It's been an interesting five years learning how to write the kanji, let's see how long it takes me to learn how to read them.

"small chuckle" growing to evil laugh. MUAHHHAHHAH. Finally I conquered RTK1, wow right now i just feel soooo amazing, listening to my fav songs and already did all my reps for the day. So i started on march 26 2012, finished may 17 2012, so..56 days woot even I'm a bit amazed that i was able to stay focused and continuously do some kanji if not every day at least every other day. My original goal was to actually complete it by my birthday June 21, but I'm ahead of schedule YAY. so I'm contemplating just moving on to RTK3, but that won't be for a few more days lol since i don't yet have that book. But seriously I have to thank not only Heisig for creating such an amazing and invigorating method of helping one to learn kanji but also the website and Fuabrisu for even creating this site. Without him there would definitely would have been no way (well not one that was as efficient and cool as this website).

Also this community is simply amazing and so very helpful and i know for sure I'm going to be sticking around. I just wanna say thank you again everyone, not even once did i ever feel alone on this journey, and yes i know there is still another 160+ from the new joyou kanji list i gotta learn but let's not think of think of that as of yet ok ^^.

For those still pushing through, good luck just do as much as you can each day and OMG if you do nothing else at least maintain your reviews never ever let your reviews pile up and gobble you up or you'll feel discouraged before even trying to learn the new cards.

I don't know what else to say but 万歳、万歳、　万歳　：）

I finished RTK1 (2,200 kanji) on Friday. It took me 90 days. During weekend I added some more kanji from RTK3 related to words I know already so I've gone through 2,356 kanji in total :-) I've never done anything like that before, feels good to finish. It wasn't easy though. Congrats to others! Now I'll continue reviewing RTK.
Doing JLPT5,4,3,2 vocabulary, than probably start Core6k.

I am an exchange student and I have been in Japan for 10 months and I managed to finish RTK1 ! After staying up many hours, it finally pays off and now it's time to practice remembering the Kanji and reviewing the stories!
Finished right now! Yay!!!