I haven’t yet started RTK because I was waiting for sixth edition. But I found out you can buy it right now, straight from the Hawaii Press website here:

http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu

Yeah, the price is a lot better straight off the press. I read about them on wikipedia too. It says they are one of the largest university textbook presses. That’s probably why they are so cheap. $34.00 before shipping.

I’m brand new to using RTK and I don’t know if what I’m doing is good or not.

I’m reading the information on each kanji (story and meaning), then I write each kanji five times. Each time I write the kanji I recite the keyword or meaning. After I’m done with a kanji I go back and I try to recall the meaning of each kanji on my paper. At the end of the day I import the kanji I did that day into Anki from a RevTK .csv file.

Is this the proper way to go about learning the kanji, especially since I want to be able to write well too?

Can people suggest any other methods to use RTK?

I’m using RTK 1 6th edition, and I will be moving on to RTK 2 and RTK 3.

Also, am I going to have to wait for an RTK 2 6th edition to come out, or will the current edition of RTK 2 cover what I’m learning in RTK 1 6th edition?

The 6th edition has the new Jouyou Kanji in it, so you’re fine.
But yeah, don’t do RtK 2. I wouldn’t even recommend doing RtK 3 either: at the stage you’re at, you’re not really going to encounter many of those kanji so it’s not really a worthwhile endeavour.

I’d say the method you’re using is fine, just a little slow. Either cut it down to writing the kanji only 3 times, or use Anki to “Cram” them (goddamnit, I wish there was a sticky thread so I didn’t have to keep explaining this and everything else >.Cram, go through the list a couple of times, clicking “Soon” each time so that it will show the card again. Not very good if you like keeping your Anki stats high, but they don’t really matter, right? If you’re really bothered about stats, just make a duplicate deck to Cram with. You shouldn’t need to do so much repetition at the start since that’s what Anki is for.

You should aim to do more kanji/day as you get better at it. Use kanji.koohii.com for stories since Heisig’s are a little… rubbish most of the time haha.

Also, I’d really recommend using Koohii for keyword->kanji flashcards and Anki for kanji->keyword flashcards – doing it both ways (giggidy) really helps with remembering them.

Cramming and two-way review are two things I wish I had done from the start. Try them out :)

Sheepy, if you’re reading this, get that goddamn sticky thread going! Or Cassandra! XD

If someone wants to do a definitive RTK info thread with stuff like general outlines , pros and cons, a little faq. I’d definitely sticky it. I wouldn’t mind doing one myself but im pretty busy lately.

@Brad: Want an easier way to add RTK items to Anki? File>Download>Shared Deck and the RTK 1+3 deck is the most downloaded one, right at the top. Et voila, a deck of all 3000 or so RTK entries (minus the new bunch that are in the 6th edition [which can be found in a separate deck, also in the DL section] and any RTK 2 content [but that sucks anyway :P]), with kanji, meanings, Heisig numbers, lesson numbers, stroke numbers and space to add on-yomi if you so choose (if you want kun-yomi, just make a new field for it). You’ll lose any progress you have so far if you switch to a new deck, but that will save you 9001 hours in the long-run :) Just select all the cards you haven’t done yet and click “Suspend” so they don’t show up as new cards until you unsuspend them.

On a related note, Bbvoncrumb really needs to move his “How to use Anki (like a boss)” thread over here – his thread, so HE should do it :P Plus, it has his screen-caps in it and his methods.

Edit: as for Koohii stories, go to the Study tab and put the frame number in the little search bar, up comes the page with lots of user stories, pick one, Bingo!. Also, use the Manage tab to add the cards you’ve done so far so they can be reviewed. Actually, the most important thing to do is to click the “Learn More” button at the top right, tells you how to do everything! If you’d done that in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to waste precious Japanese study time to type it out for you – a little common sense/intelligent guessing would work wonders for you! :P That sounds harsh, but it’s good advice: when you are stuck either turn it off and on again or consult an FAQ ;)

• This reply was modified 13 years, 5 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].

@ Mister

Yeah, that was a bit harsh. And doubly so, since I already used the things you mentioned and knew how to view stories for one card at a time. I just didn’t know how to add multiple stories at once (like you can do with cards) so I don’t have to do them all separately.

I do have common sense and can “intelligently guess”, and already knew every single bit of information in your last post. I already knew about the shared decks on anki, but I want one that already has 6th edition with the correct frame numbers. Since I can’t find one I’ll just create it as I go and share it after I’m done. That way I can contribute to others. I also already know how to suspend what I’m not using. I’m fairly clever Mister LOL. I guess you shouldn’t automatically assume that a person can’t figure out anything just because they ask for a little help.

I don’t mean to be harsh, especially since I mis-spoke which lead to this. Just a bit of advice like you gave me, if you don’t have the time to waste, or would just rather not, then don’t bother responding to forum posts. Or maybe you should be studying instead of being on the forum if you don’t have time to help, that is, without being short with other people.

Listen I think you are a great bloke, but being a little bit rude/impatient with someone can undo all the good things you’ve done. And you’ve helped me (and others) out quite a bit.

I’m sorry for ranting and for being a little upset. I just thought it was kind of rude to insult my intelligence, when the first thing I do is go through Helps and FAQs. Can we please just get along? I really like everybody here and want to continue to have meaningful discussions with you guys in a kind and Christian manner.