Maybe it is just your memory not being on par? You will get better at learning eventually, so just keep at it.
Also the shortest I think you can reach fluency in is 18 months, and that is only because I believe that the founder of AJAAT’s story is true :)

I can do 20 words a day when I push my self, but I think 10-15 is more realistic, but sadly I can’t tell you how I do it, because all I do is to associate them with kanji, and then learn them through context and repetition… :/
I think amount of vocab one is being able to retain differs from person to person, so don’t let it get you down.

Still doing RTK, glad that I am soon done with it, because I am getting tired of doing kanji and only kanji…
Today I started my core 2k deck just for a change, and couldn’t stop, so now I am almost halfway through step 1 xD Most of it was pretty easy though, and by tomorrow I will have forgotten half of the words, because there is no way to retain 500(I think only 1/4 are new facts, the rest are other versions of the same card) cards in memory after 1 day :P
Also did some studying, and polishing on grammar, and I think I will make a lang-8 entry. Overall most productive day I have had in a long time, but it is also the first time that I have had some time on my hands to do other things than RTK and studying ^^.

RTK countdown: 14 days ^^ – just in time for my winter vacation :D

if any of you ever see ‘OL’ in a japanese sentence, be aware that it can be an abbreviation for ‘office lady’…

Love the new alert ^^

Learn by doing RTK, and choosing my own names, and stories for each radical(primitive). If they don’t stick then just make your own story ^^ – or rename the entire radical though that will require you to do some more work when it comes to the kanji and their stories.

http://www.faceorama.com/bluelight/perfume/omajinaiperori.html

1. Hax?♠♥

Radicals or “primitives” are used to break kanji in to smaller parts for example 零 can be broken apart in to easier parts if you know the primitives and thus making it much easier to remember the kanji.

On readings are commonly used when kanji are seen in compounds (almost all the time, though there are a pretty big amount of exceptions as well)

Kun is the reading you will use when the kanji is on its own(generally)

You can learn Japanese without knowing what primitives, and you can also learn Japanese without being able to distinguish on/kun readings – any path is the right path.