RTK Madness

I have decided to take a little bit of time here to explain my RTK method and why I chose to go this route, and how it works for me.

First, the reason why I tried RTK. Remembering the Kanji is primarily focused on remembering a keyword meaning for each of the 2042 Kanji in the book ( including 1944/1945 General use Kanji ) as well as how to write each of them from memory. Heisig uses a component analysis method in order to achieve a fluid system to remember how to write them. You utilize a "story" method to tie the component parts with the keyword meaning.

A word of caution, the keyword meaning in English is a great tool for us learners to use, but there are a few kanji where the keyword is pulled out of thin air simply for memory/story purposes. This makes remembering it much easier but you will be using it differently in written Japanese. The nuance between similar words is not all that important either. I, me, myself etc are used with different nuances in Japanese than english, so as long as you remember how to write each of these, and can recognize them, you are doing fine.

Kanji.koohii.com , which is linked on the side of my blog, is a community based on the RTK methodology. You can share stories, primitive alternates etc. This is a great tool to both keep your motivation up, and find other stories that work better for you. I still made quite a few of my own, sometimes taking pieces of stories seen on this site. It is one of the reasons I made it through the book.

Many people want to learn the on and kun readings at the same time as the meaning and writing/recognition. I personally went against this method simply because of the effort required to be able to have a 50/50 shot of sounding out a word with a 50/50 shot at the general idea of the meaning ( if you are BANG on with everything ) just doesn't work for me. I would rather learn words/vocab and compounds together, which I am better at anyways. I always have been good at tieing a sound to a word, or kanji I know, my biggest struggle being the mess of meaningless lines known as kanji.

My personal recommendation is for someone to try out RTK using the method outlined above, not adding readings etc. to the Kanji. It takes long enough to finish the book as it is, and readings in isolation are quite useless. It's similar to learning words without a sentence to throw them into which I will get into another time ^^ Using another source afterward such as Kanji Odyssey 2001 or the FREE iKnow online learning platform after this will introduce words and compounds for the kanji in an order based on frequency and usefulness.

Good luck in your studies.