Hi
I am reading "Remembering the Kanji" and for 口 I am told to associate "mouth" to it.
I was wondering if I could instead associate "Kuchi" to it, since my vocabulary is ahead of my writing
#Methodology: what to remember in "Remembering the Kanji"
tawdry karma
This of course was an example. My actual question is if I could follow this variation in method for the rest of the book and if there are any negatives or benefits in doing so.
It's also possible that my question just doesn't make sense and I can't see it. If that's the case please point that out for me
sonic basin
Generally, we don't recommend RTK at all to beginners because it's such an up front time commitment for questionable benefit and can easily lead to burn out and quitting the language for most people.
We recommend the learning vocabulary approach and gaining knowledge of kanji passively
tawdry karma
I don't plan on spending too much time on rtk but I feel more comfortable starting with some Kanji learned that way.
I'll check out the approach you mentioned tomorrow but I'm still interested in the answer to the original question if possible
Also thank you
sonic basin
If you're following the RTK approach, the answer to your question is to associate the kanji to an English keyword like "mouth" instead of 1 specific reading like "kuchi." Because a kanji can have many different readings depending on the word it's used in. This is also why just learning words is recommended
tawdry karma
My reasoning was based on the assumption that the keyword proposed would always be one of the meanings, and so the translation of it would always be one of its readings
Is that not similar to learning words as you suggested, but starting with the words that happen to be keywords in RTK?
torpid totem
If you’re set on rtk, use the English keyword. Every piece is used to build another, and if you’re using mnemonics like Heisig’s method intends you’re going to get very confused when you have no good grasp of the language. For example, for 語 = word, you’d have to try to string together something strange like “go kuchi say words”. That’s not only an abomination of japanglish, it just defeats the purpose of rtk. The stories should be memorable and, in Heisig’s own words, shocking to your brain so that it sticks.
Also, there are many kanji that are rarely used on their own, so you’ll have to throw in English in places and it’ll become a mess
Or in the case of primitives, there’s no reading at all because they aren’t words.
tawdry karma
I'm not set on rtk, I will give a fair consideration to the method suggested by Shiki, but I was trying to avoid discussing that method here since I haven't researched it yet so idk what it entails exactly
Your explaination was clear. Thank you very much
I'll stick to the english keywords while still on rtk
torpid totem
No worries. I’ll give my personal opinion—I did rtk, and it was incredibly painful without payoff. It shines for learning to write, but until you’re fluent enough to use the skill you’ll be forced to spend an hour or more to maintain it every day which will drain you and eat at the time you have to actually learn how to use the language. I’ve kept my book and will use it again someday, but I lean strongly towards the general refold advice to just learn to recognize them as you go through a vocabulary deck.
That said, a few high-level people on here like glasswings who had difficulty with reading and distinguishing kanji for various reasons found rtk useful as a remedy for that. I believe glass still said they don’t think the whole book is necessary to achieve that gain, but now we’re stepping out of the realm of concrete experience.