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January 05, 2007
Remembering (Some of) The Kanji 2006
This year I'm nailing down those 2000 kanji, or 3000 if I have the strength. But first, I wanted to get an idea of where I stand now.
During the summer I reached 940 or so before I ran out of steam sometime in July. I started my 4th comprehensive review in October and reached 950 (the end of lesson 26) just after Christmas. Now it's new territory again.
Over the last few days I reviewed all 950 kanji and was pleased to remember 93% of them. I split off a stack of about 125 I need to review and/or relearn, but I think it's time to move on.
I hate to say it, but I have to give up on reviewing with the Reviewing the Kanji site. It's a great site and I like the forums, but the system doesn't really work for me. I need to have a stack of cards in my hand and judge for myself how well I know them and how/when to review them.
For that matter, the Heisig system itself doesn't work so well for me as-is either. In the Heisig system you are supposed to visualize an vivid story for each kanji which will stick the kanji in your mind; what works best for me is developing a catchphrase for each kanji and reviewing a lot. I don't want kanji in my head attached to images, I want to know them without any images or hooks at all.
Or something like that.
Permalink | Posted by Joe at January 5, 2007 04:13 PM