500 frames and counting! ROOOOARRRR!!!

Index » RtK Volume 1

Wisher
Member
From: Los Angeles
Registered: 2008-04-24
Posts: 65

Alright, I hate to be the spoiler, but I see a few of these threads where people congradulate themselves by hitting a benchmark. In this case 500.

My question is this: Did you just hit the 500 mark in the book or do you have 500 learned? There is a difference. I am not celebrating because although I am above 700, I have a stack of about 90 cards that I missed in the review area.  Yesterday I printed out a sheet with a list of all the ones I learned so I could write them out and missed a few more. 

So, How are you counting your victory?

Wisher

QuackingShoe
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2008-04-19
Posts: 721

Do people need their accomplishments validated by you?

yukkuri_kame
Member
From: Florida US
Registered: 2008-05-30
Posts: 185

Wisher wrote:

So, How are you counting your victory?

Wisher

500 is an arbitrary number anyway, so I don't think it matters much how one counts their victory.

Tonikaku (regardless)
As of todays review, I am working with 508 Kanji...

I have 14 failed Kanji...
131 are in the "one review" box
86 in "two reviews"
119 in "three reviews"
158 in "four or more"

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kokeshidoll17
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2008-07-17
Posts: 15

i would just like to say...ahem...ROOOOOAAAARRRR

yaaay!  508 today : D

Wisher
Member
From: Los Angeles
Registered: 2008-04-24
Posts: 65

QuackingShoe wrote:

Do people need their accomplishments validated by you?

No, they don't. I was curious as to what system they are using to validate the victory for themselves. There is no right or wrong, better or worse since this is all subjective and arbritary anyway. 

I asked a question, not set a standard.

Polly
New member
From: United States
Registered: 2008-08-29
Posts: 3

Firstly, I'd like to say I love the site. 

Secondly...

Passed the 500 marker today, ending on 512.  Started my journey on August 29th.  Feels great.  I'm in love with how Heisig's method works, simply because I'm learning and having fun at the same time, two things which typically don't go together. 

I'm retaining around 92-96% so far, but this is only the beginning and I expect that number to drop off a bit, but it's no big deal. 

And to answer the question at hand, I count a kanji after it has been seen, story written, studied, written, and tested at least once.  I guess that doesn't really count it as "learned," but that's how I'm counting them. 

Onward to 1000!

yukkuri_kame
Member
From: Florida US
Registered: 2008-05-30
Posts: 185

Polly wrote:

Firstly, I'd like to say I love the site. 

Secondly...

Passed the 500 marker today, ending on 512.  Started my journey on August 29th.  Feels great.  I'm in love with how Heisig's method works, simply because I'm learning and having fun at the same time, two things which typically don't go together. 

I'm retaining around 92-96% so far, but this is only the beginning and I expect that number to drop off a bit, but it's no big deal.

Nice job kicking butt.

smujohnson
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2008-03-13
Posts: 92

AndamanIslander wrote:

I hit the 500 mark today, and I'm so into it!

I am actually also at 500... I did all the review and I didn't make any mistakes that I couldn't correct after 2 or 3 reviews...  Going strong.  Keep up the good work

cerulean
Member
From: Ohio
Registered: 2008-05-09
Posts: 127

Polly wrote:

Firstly, I'd like to say I love the site. 

Secondly...

Passed the 500 marker today, ending on 512.  Started my journey on August 29th.  Feels great.  I'm in love with how Heisig's method works, simply because I'm learning and having fun at the same time, two things which typically don't go together. 

I'm retaining around 92-96% so far, but this is only the beginning and I expect that number to drop off a bit, but it's no big deal. 

And to answer the question at hand, I count a kanji after it has been seen, story written, studied, written, and tested at least once.  I guess that doesn't really count it as "learned," but that's how I'm counting them. 

Onward to 1000!

Yikes!  I just realized I've been doing RtK since May and I don't quite have 700 kanji!

You're destroying!  ..  I've only been adding kanji once or twice a week  >.<

Tobberoth
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2008-08-25
Posts: 3364

Finally hit 500. Been using this site since the 25th of August.

Feels good, now I know I will complete it.

Might raise my speed a little so I can get to 1000 soon.

Wisher
Member
From: Los Angeles
Registered: 2008-04-24
Posts: 65

I am trying to hit 500 a month so that I can complete this part in 4 months.  I was more ambitious in the beginning, but now I am realistic with myself.  By the end of Sept, I want to hit at least 1000.  Hopefully RTK2 will not take as long and I could do both in 6 months.

I get depressed when I think about my original goal and not finishing in two months.  But then I think, I am around 800 now.  When was the last time I learned 800 of anything? Then I realize I am doing well for myself.

Marta
Member
From: Italy
Registered: 2008-08-17
Posts: 12

I'm at 508 kanji too now. So I would like to congratulate who already reached this result. And for the remaining 1500... ganbatte kudasai!

Pete171
Member
From: England
Registered: 2008-08-25
Posts: 23

I hit 508 tonight!

It's taken me longer than most I think, but I've been working at a steady pace and am having pretty good results when I review.  Slow and steady seems to be working! smile

vxnine
New member
Registered: 2008-09-13
Posts: 1

i'm at 475 right now- almost up there in the 500 club but not quite. i feel a bit overwhelmed with all the kanji i have learned up until now and i'm a little under 1/4 of the way through. this sucks sad

Tobberoth
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2008-08-25
Posts: 3364

vxnine wrote:

i'm at 475 right now- almost up there in the 500 club but not quite. i feel a bit overwhelmed with all the kanji i have learned up until now and i'm a little under 1/4 of the way through. this sucks sad

Nobody said it would be easy wink

Don't worry, as you learn more kanji, old primitives come back and you reinforce them, so while you have 1500 kanji left to go, it won't feel that bad. Also, the good part about SRS is that while you may feel slightly lost when you look at current new ones, they will work their way into your memory by themselves, just keep reviewing and you'll see smile

Reply #66 - 2008 October 22, 6:32 am
Pulse
Member
Registered: 2008-04-14
Posts: 14

I just hit the 500 mark a day or two ago, and stopped for tonight at 570.

I've been at this with a very slow snail's pace for months because my health is not in top shape, and I get very sick or fatigued a lot of nights, so I only did what I could. Spent a lot of days (sometimes, weeks) without adding a thing, but I've always kept up my reviews.

I'm glad I kept going at my own speed despite feeling guilty in the face of all the 50-A-Day Wonders here (no offense intended, I think that's awesome :P). Once my health problems eased up a little, I was able to start crawling toward 1-frame-a-day goals, then 5, then 10. I've been at a steady pace of a comfortable 15 - 30 a day rhythm for a couple of weeks now, and I'm pretty happy to finally be able to post in this topic.

I wasn't sure I'd ever get to this milestone, so the number means a lot to me. With all my reviews, and making sure to keep my failed stack cleaned up, even if I wasn't consistently adding kanji, I've gotten pretty comfortable with RtK, and the goal of over 2,000 (or even 3,000) kanji isn't nearly as threatening as it used to be, even if I lapse back into my old speed of 5 kanji a week or something. It's great knowing I can accomplish something like this even with my problems.

Onward to the half-way mark. :)

Reply #67 - 2008 October 22, 6:39 am
CaLeDee
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2008-08-31
Posts: 149

That's great to hear pulse! I don't know if I could even bare studying while being ill. Well done to you and hopefully your feeling better. You'll get to half way in no time smile

Reply #68 - 2008 October 22, 6:45 pm
kitsu
Member
From: washington
Registered: 2008-09-09
Posts: 52

I just noticed I have a little over 500 in the four or higher box big_smile
I'm actually at 960 closing in on 1000 in the book...

It is an interesting experience!  I went faster and faster in the beginning, until I ran into a harder section and found out what people meant 'getting hammered by reviews' wink
I've made sure I add at least five cards even on days that I have no motivation.  It is funny, lacking focus while learning/reviewing my first tested rate has dropped to 50% or below (30% average).  Looking at kanji I missed or flipping back through pages of the book it feels like kanji aren't sticking at all, But then I review kanji from as little as a week ago all the way back to the beginning and everything is as easy as pie. It seems SRS encounters and refining mnemonics is effective even if my initial learning isn't!

I think I was about intermediate level before I started RTK. I only picked it up because I couldn't write even common kanji from memory - very irritating when you can't even remember watashi or takai. One thing I've been doing lately though that seems to be helping reviews is looking up kanji with my denshi while 'learning' them. It's just great when you get some obscure keyword to look it up and find it is a word you are already familiar with! I even get surprised by some I 'know' but don't recognize for all the keyword and radical decoration in the book.

annabel398
Member
From: Austin TX
Registered: 2008-08-04
Posts: 80

Yessss! Passed 500 today! I got sidetracked (by life, not lack of interest) for a couple of weeks, but have started to add new cards again. Onward!

Dustin_Calgary
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2008-11-11
Posts: 331

Finally!!!  Got to the 508!!
It was a long hard road, full of bumps, highs, lows, wow...
9 days !!
I was hoping to be at this point sooner, but time limitations with the twin girls getting sick ><.....
I had a COUPLE of days where I added zero, but that's ok, because I had such large review piles anyway, it let me catch up a little big_smile

I am doing each lesson at a time ( or in 2 steps in the case of that 80 Kanji lesson... ) and once I have it down well enough in my short term memory, I enter it into the new card pile and test them into pile 1, usually getting 100%

My first pile review % is always lower than piles 2 or 3, but I don't mind because the SRS is doing it's job, passing the ones I either remembered easily on the first try, or the ones I have worked at and know well enough now.
My success with piles 2 and 3 are about 90%, nothing in pile 4 obviously, haven't been here long enough.

I don't mind large reviews, just if I have a LOT in the fail pile I will work on those rather than add new stuff, with the understanding that I am either "learning" new material or "learning" stuff I have failed to learn well so far.

I hope I can keep this up!

joxn_costello
Member
From: Seattle, WA
Registered: 2006-06-29
Posts: 59

Finished 508 yesterday; I'm constantly seeing kanji I know in places I never would have recognized them before, which is very encouraging.  Recently in the dojo I have seen westerners' names transcribed "金針" (="きんばり") and "児夢" (="じむ"), to which my response was, "gold needle?  baby dream?".  They had to tell me how to read them, of course...

(There have been discouraging moments, too -- I saw "砂漠" in a list of definitions as meaning "desert", looked closely at "漠", said "water ... graveyard -- why don't I know that one?", looked it up in my kanji dictionary (primary meaning "desert"), struggled to come up with a story where "desert" translated to "water ... graveyard", and finally looked at the other meanings listed.  Oh, right: VAGUE. :-\)

  I didn't want to make any predictions about progress until I'd finished my first month, but now it looks like I might be able to finish by February. At which point, it's on to Remembering Simplified Hanzi.  But I am thinking about trying the Movie Method for those.

Last edited by joxn_costello (2008 December 03, 10:43 am)

Dagur
New member
From: Iceland
Registered: 2008-09-30
Posts: 6

I hit 500 this week. I think it's going pretty well but I'm really slow, in fact I run into problems if I do more than 15 a day. It's not discouraging me but for someone as impatient for me it's a bit frustrating.
Anyway, I'm enjoying the ride and I'm confident that I will finish RTK1 even if it takes me a year or two smile

salvw
New member
From: Netherlands
Registered: 2008-11-22
Posts: 5

I just made it to 500!! But i'm expecting to slow down soon because My school will demand a lot of time and energy from me next few months. :\

Bryan_Saxton
Member
From: Eugene
Registered: 2008-12-15
Posts: 46
Website

I just hit the 500 mark. It took me a little longer than I expected (because of school and holidays), but I made it. Even though some days I didn't add any cards, I never let a day go by without reviewing, and I think that made the biggest difference.

I'm gonna make an extra effort to reach 1000.

Reply #75 - 2009 January 01, 1:54 pm
Haruki
New member
From: United Kingdom
Registered: 2008-11-24
Posts: 3

I hit 500 this week as well, yey! Had a real push over the holidays, but think I need to slow down again now. Happy New Year all.