HEY! I made a VIDEO:

At the beginning of the year I posted about a few books I wanted to read this year and Remember the Kanji wasn’t one of them. In fact I didn’t know about until around late February when one day I read someone talking about it then decided to check it out. At first I downloaded a pdf of it and read the introduction.

The concept Heisig presents is pretty simple to figure out… you get the keyword.. figure out the elements.. create a story.. put all that into ANKI and go on to the next one. Do that 2,042 times while also reviewing the kanji in anki and Bob’s your uncle– as they say in England.

In the vid I pretty much explain it out… but I thought in this post I’d add more resources..

Below are links to Jame’s Heisig’s book “Remember the Kanji” including a PDF sample of his book. Then ANKI the SRS program I was talking about. I suggest if you have time to watch the ANKI’s screen-casts watch them to get an idea about what ANKI is and what SRS can do for you. I really think it’s the best way to go! Then also below are links to AJATT or All Japanese All the Time… Great stuff… Read AJATT’s About Page and what he has to say about Heisig, Japanese Study, and everything.  I can’t guarantee it’ll all make you fluent like a native… But I can tell you that you’ll probably have 10x more fun with this then any textbook in Japanese can give you…

So… minna-san:

START HERE!!!!:

• I strongly suggest getting the book REMEMBERING THE KANJI 1. (@Barnsandnoble)
• Remembering the kanji info: @wikipedia @Official Link @EXAMPLE PDF 1-400Kanji
• Reviewing the Kanji is a Site that will help you with getting sentences and help you review using SRS the kanji you know. (I use ANKI more then I use this site so I suggest you get stories from here then put them into ANKI).
• Get ANKI– ANKI is an awesome Spaced Repetition System (SRS) program that will allow you to see your progress over time. The author is actively engaged in his project and keeps it updated often. Watch his screencasts… It’ll make more sense.

POST REMEMBER THE KANJI STUFF/INSPIRATION (Just look this over):
There’s a lot of post RTK options out there but here’s some suggestions:

• All Japanese All the Time- AJATT is pretty much immersing yourself in all forms of Japanese media that’s available through the internet, in text form, etc. By getting into Japanese all the time and knowing RTK- Picking up Japanese will coming natually.
• Wrightak– this is another method of just replacing the keywords you know in RTK with common used substitutes in Japanese.
• Kanji Chain- Is a great way to put Readings (On yomi & Kun Yomi) with the Kanji you just learned. It’s best to use this with Heisig’s Second Book Remembering the Kanji 2
• FEEDMEJAPANESE.COM: is a new site I found that helps you find sentences to drill in SRS. (Very post RTK)
• Tae Kim – Tae Kim is the ultimate guide to grammar. Sometimes it’s a little thick… but exactly what you want for reference.

MUST HAVE TOOLS TO USE:

• Polarcloud: If you use Firefox (which you should IMHO) you need Rikaichan! It’ll help you get through tough kanji and make it easier to look things up. Also on Polar Cloud is a PDF of RTK Flashcards you can take to Kinkos or look at.
• Lang8: Soon Japanese will come to you better and you’ll feel like writing it. Lang8 is a great way to get feedback on what you write. Just blog and someone will look it over and correct common mistakes.

READING MATERIAL
For those skeptical of Heisig’s method or AJATT’s method perhaps I could encourage you to read linguist and scholar Stephan Krashen’s work on learning language by input rather then through classes. Some links below:

So check these links out:

• Wikipedia Article on Krashen
• Stephan Krasher’s First Site
• Another site with some PDF’s to read

Thanks for watching & reading…

Cheers!

~Josh Aka R3dragon.

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