400 Kanji! New Years plans! or lack of!

Well it’s over 400, since I am learning all the new Kanji from RTK version 6 due to my Anki deck (don’t worry if this is gibberish to you, in short I started with version 6 of RTK as there was a free sample online, which ends after 230 or so Kanji, and my Anki deck (flash card program used to review Kanji, see earlier posts for details) is calibrated to that book. Since the sample ended I reverted to version 5 of RTK published in 2007 (still quite recent) but it means I have to keep looking up the Kanji not covered in version 5 that Anki asks me to review. In short this means I have learnt more than my current progress (around 20-30 more). The reason version 6 has Kanji not in version 5 is that the Japanese government released 195 new Kanji in 2010. Maybe it’s the English equivalent of adding “lol” and “twerk” to the Oxford dictionary…I think there is a free version of RTK which only includes the new supplementary Kanji but I’m too lazy to look it up. I just Koohii (http://kanji.koohii.com/) the new Kanji I come across).

Phew…covered all that in brackets and I don’t have much else to say. Need to review current Kanji before moving on as I have had less time to learn them so the last 1-2 hundred are a bit sketchy. Stopped shy of 400 as it was a new chapter and there were 3 more primitives this time and there’s even more in the next chapter.

Tired, my gf making plans for us to eat out today for New Years, so perhaps I won’t see the fireworks after all. It would be a lonely experience by myself in London…still…

Well, enjoy your new years celebrations guys, I’m sure it will be a blast. I wonder where I will be this time next year? 

News years tomorrow, 370 Kanji done last night

DId not get to update yesterday but I squeezed another 30 Kanji into my head yesterday. There were a lot of new primitives, and I need a review day at the 400 mark to make sure I can recall all the Kanji. The ones with the most stimulating stories seem to be the ones I remember the most, some are due to repitition, and some I just know. I also become blank sometimes, so I really need to go over all the Kanji again. Also I the book has stopped giving fantastical stories and requires you to make your own, which is annoying even though I have a fantastical imagination, for some reason I cant think of amazing stories for Kanji like Heiseb..does. 

New years tomorrow, will I make it to London for the fireworks? Seems like a long way to go to watch 20 minutes or so of flashes and bangs, where there is a local show. But they are the biggest in the UK…

Interview tomorrow, and I’m not even sure what the job is about…need to prepare today.

Would be nice to see the fireworks though..

On and Kun readings of Kanji

Added another 30 Kanji to memory today. I hope 😛

Also discovered did some research on the Kanji readings. So there are two ways to read Kanji, On and Kun. On is the chinese pronounciation of the Kanji and is used in combinations and kun is the Japanese reading of teh word, which tends to be a standalone word. I.e.

水 is the Kanji for water, which I have covered in RTK.

It’s kun reading is mizu which means water and it’s on reading is sui. E.g. 水曜日 is suiyobi which is Wednesday. 水 is sui, 曜 which I have yet to come across is yo (I’m assuiming) and 日 is bi. Note these are just the “on” readings for the kanji, the kun readings would be 水 = mizu, 曜 = ?? and 日 = hi/nichi which means day. 

At least that’s my understanding of them. I found a site where I can learn then in Japanese grade school order (which goes against the RTK method but it would be nice to learn Kanji in a more useful way, sometimes I think…) http://japanese.about.com/library/blkodarchives.htm

The stories are starting to muddle somewhat and really require you to be incredibly clear about what you are visualising so you don’t mix them up. So using the koohio stories can sometimes be dangerous as the stories can sometimes be confused with other stories…

Some doubts, but done 30 today so should reach 400 in the next 2 days. Will see how I feel at 500, but memorising this much Kanji already seems like an astonishing amount in such a short time. So for now RTK will continue. Fighting!

310 Kanji – Kona Yuki

As I sit listening to Kona Yuki – Remioromen at 02:49 I realise how much learning Japanese means to me.

In a way I’m scared, that after learning it, and going there, what if Japan isn’t as magical and tragic as the drama 1 litre of tears?

But I guess there is only one way to find out! I did my 35 Kanji today, but since I’m using version 5 of Remember the Kanji now, it does not have some of the Kanji from version 6, hence me being on 310 not 335 liek I should be! Also my Anki deck is not configured to version 5, although I’m just goingto soldier on and use koohii to find the Kanji not covered in the book. When I have enough money I’ll buy the books but for now must keep going.

Also perhaps another interview next week Tuesday..I really wanted to go to London to watch the new year fireworks on Tuesday night but it seems harder and harder. Maybe because I hope I’m not here in the UK next year so it’s my way of saying goodbye. Let’s see what happens maybe I’ll be able to make it somehow.

This post has been more about me as opposed to my Kanji revision, but I guess it’s all linked together somehow. I plan to spend all tomorrow learning Kanji after a quick morning jog 🙂

Ja mata!

Links:
Kona Yuki – Remioromen  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc__4qxyM5c

Review day

So successfully reviewed  around 200 Kanji but my brain turned to mush just now so gonna review the last 100 tomorrow whilst learning 35 more as usual. Made around 5 or so mistakes, but just tested if I could recognise them from the character, which was kind of difficult since I have been recalling them from the keyword/meaning using Anki.

Also I “know” a lot of the Kanji simply because I have seen them used a lot in other Kanji but it means I’m not using stories to remember them any more. With RTK your meant to use the stories to help you remember them long term and eventually you don’t need them any more so I am a bit worried that I’ve already started to abandon the stories but I guess if I remember them then it should be OK, will find out later if the ones I recognise without stories have stayed in my memory.

Some Kanji I had forgotten as they have not yet come in my review, perhaps they would have done if I had done my regular schedule, but was good to go back and try and see if I could recognise them. Just need to keep visualizing the stories and maybe make flash cards I can flick through but need to buy thick white paper to make them.

In other news, got a job. Might be working for Asda soon, or/and a sushi bar as a cashier. Which is nice, so I could have some money coming in starting sometime next month. Also my basic Japanese class starts again after xmas break which is cool so I can continue learning grammar and stuff. Ikuzo! (let’s go!) .

Almost 300 Kanji!

294 to be precise. The sample book I have has run out of Kanji, I will now switch to RTK version 5 as I have a full version of the book, the full RTK version 6 is harder to track down. Tomorrow I am back home so I will work hard to review all the Kanji I have “learnt” to date. Lots to do with metal today…

Another thing is the etymology behind the Kanji seem quite fascinating, so I might start picking them up. Maybe it will help me remember them better. Also I think I understand the RTK method…

On http://kanji.koohii.com/study/  some people tend to play word games with the primitives in order to help you remember the Kanji, this is great for remembering the word game but does little to help conjure up the image of the Kanji, I guess the RTK method relies quite heavily on the imagination, as in you have to able to visualize these stories and not just make a catchy rhyme out of them. Although I still find the alternative stories on koohii a great aid, I’m careful not to choose stories that seem easy to remember but do little to tease my imagination.

I’m glad my portable Anki is working well so at least I did manage to learn and review my Kanji, even though I am away from home.

Oh and today was Xmas, but as usual for me, it’s just another day in the year. Looking forward to what the new year brings, 6 days to go!

~255 Kanji

Not a great day, at gf house so not getting much study done, or much of anything in fact…

only 253, behind, book says to review everything up till now before moving on. Guess I should do that tomorrow, fallen a bit behind, oh well, will try 45 odd kanji tomorrow…

The end of Steins;Gate! x-mas eve! oh and 230 Kanji…

OMG…Steins;Gate was soo amazing. Almost as great as Angle Beats, which just had more awesome music and was sadder, but for a sci-fi time travel anime, was beautiful. Loved it, can’t believe it’s over. The one anime I might actually watch the movie for. Ending reminded me of Angel Beats hence the comparison.

Also it’s x-mas eve, as of 1 hour 21 minutes ago. I don’t celebrate x-mas, (my family are brown), but our neighbours gave us a Xmas card, so I went out conflicted and bought them a New Years card. Why you might ask? Well it’s like me giving my neighbours an Eid card, when they don’t celebrate Eid…So I’ll just write merry Xmas inside. Also I couldn’t’ find any Xmas cards that weren’t in 10/20 packs and it was just the one neighbour.

And finally, 230 Kanji done. Liked this set, was all to do with wood so felt it was a bit easier, and seriously relying on the stories from http://kanji.koohii.com/study when Heisy fail me. My technique is to revise 30 or so Kanji (doing 100 every 3 days so), during the day and then do my smart card Anki revision just before bed, leaving a few hours at least before my learning and re-revision, that way I can see what stories stuck and what did not and see if I need to try new stories. The only problem is the stories don’t tend to help you line up the primitives n the right space, but at least I am remembering most of the stories which is good. My calligraphy is not great, but I am trying 😛

Another 30/35 tomorrow. Merry Xmas bitches XD

200 Kanji

As suspected I did not do very well with yesterdays Kanji and kept making mistakes on re-revision today, which sucks. But I found a RTK website http://kanji.koohii.com/study which you can revise Kanji on. I’m not using it for re-revision but you can search the word you are learning on it and you can read other peoples stories to help you remember. Some of the stories are great, so I highly recommend it. 

Also it seems it’s bad to do a long revision session with flash cards as you tend to start memorising them (and not the stories) and they go into your short term memory and not your long term memory (which is bad for recalling later) which revision them after longer breaks would help do. This is all hypothetical but it kind of makes sense. I do seem to be doing better with the first 100 Kanji or so, but no way to tell if I will remember the last 100 till I move on. Well I will try to revise them whilst I am out tomorrow as have a busy day job hunting. 

So far so good, fighting.

p.s. Only two episodes of Steins;Gate to go, what an amazing anime. 

Not much to say. 170 Kanji.

Well it seems I really know some of them, but learning ~ 35 a day is killing. Pushing my brain to the limit. Also a lot of the Kanji shared similar components (primitives) today which may sound like it makes it easier, but sometimes there are extra strokes or strokes omitted, will need to identify these. Also had to make some stories up myself to stay sane as I could not picture some of the things RTK wanted me too.

Sometimes I feel like I’m learning nothing and have forgotten everything and at other times I feel like I know a lot. These Anki sessions can be stressful! I did wish Anki would mix up the order for my days work as putting them in order is like cheating as I know the next one will feature some element of the one that precedes it. But it seems to be working in the long run with the constant re-revisions of Kanji from 2 days ago that keep popping up.

I’ll get to 200 tomorrow and celebrate with some porn.

Fighting!