With these new MCD posts on AJATT, I've been thinking about Japanese learning methods a bit lately. I've even started experimenting here and there with MCDs, but I'll save those results for a later post. For now, I want to go back and make a note about how I'm learning kanji now.
When I wrote my first post about kanji a few weeks back, I briefly mentioned that I'm now studying with a method called Lazy Kanji. Heisig explains that the best way to review kanji after coming up with mnemonic stories is to make flash cards with the keyword on the front and the kanji on the back. When you see the keyword it should remind you of the story, and the story should remind you of the kanji.
Could kanji learning get any easier?
That method is good and all (in fact, that's how I learned the 2000+ joyo kanji from RTK 1 the first time around), and there are pre-made decks on Anki ready to go. Unfortunately, there are certain flaws to this method that didn't become apparent to me until I had used it for a while:
- I'm forgetting the stories. This is mainly my fault, since I wrote them on paper flash cards that I left in the states rather than typing them into Anki from the beginning, but Heisig's reviewing method doesn't require it.
- Even the stories I did make note of are often crap. They don't help me remember the kanji vividly.
- The single keywords can get confusing, and I sometimes get them mixed up with other similar keywords even though the Japanese meanings are completely different.
- When I'm reading real Japanese, especially with lots of kanji I don't know the readings of, I'm not going from keyword to kanji -- I'm going from kanji to keyword.
- Once you're used to seeing thousands of kanji, you'll realize some pretty interesting things. Like did you guys know that the left side of a kanji usually denotes a general meaning and the right side usually denotes the Chinese reading? Try searching for all kanji that are read へん and I think you'll be surprised. Wait... that's not a flaw...
Syk3's Lazy Kanji Hack (with props to Kendo)
As you can see, stories are now the FIRST thing that come up in the question. With one difference: the keyword is left blank. The point is to give you the clues to figure out the answer, which is the meaning.
Having a good story is the foundation that will ensure that you'll never forget the kanji. If you're using the actual RTK books, I'd recommend reading what Heisig says about the kanji, and then checking out the user-made stories on Reviewing the Kanji. Not only do the stories on the website flesh out the meaning of Heisig's keyword, but some of the higher rated ones are pretty ballin'. What counts as an "ballin'" story? One that:
In the answer field, we have the stroke count (so you can check yourself when you write it) and the RTK number for reference. Below that is the Heisig keyword with a link to RevTK, so you can find a new story fast if your initial one gets dull.
- Revolves around the keyword's meaning
- Creates an image that's just crazy or has an emotional aspect (since emotional memories are most likely to stick, though obviously this depends on the person)
- You've had a hand in making (allow me to stress this point: even if you take the idea from another source, you should re-write it for that personal touch)
- I like short ones too ~_^ (insert dirty joke here)
The other clue in the question field is the kanji itself. Like in a real context, we're essentially going from kanji to meaning. We're training ourselves to see a kanji and break it up into its components, so that we can put the pieces back together again to lead us its central meaning.
In the answer field, we have the stroke count (so you can check yourself when you write it) and the RTK number for reference. Below that is the Heisig keyword with a link to RevTK, so you can find a new story fast if your initial one gets dull.
Lastly, we have the Japanese readings and other English meanings. This is an important difference between Kendo's method and my own, though he does say synonyms count in the reviewing stage. Like I said before, the problem with only 1 keyword is that you could get a flash card like this wrong easily even when its in the general ballpark. Now the answer is any of the readings or meanings. If another meaning is easier to remember, great. If you've already learned a reading or two, even better. But don't bother trying to memorize the readings. They're only there for reference and to assist in understanding the Heisig keyword -- the real objective is to use the kanji/story to get to the meaning. That's it. Simple right? Just fill in that blank, son!
How do I set this shiz up?
You know, I was going to walk you through changing decks and altering card formats and all that (EDIT: FINE, HERE YOU GO! Stop your whining!), but I decided typing all those directions and taking screenshots would take too much time. So I made a deck for you - download this. I'd like to upload this to Anki's public decks sometime, but if you haven't guessed already I'm pretty lazy.
Now put it in Anki:
- Open Anki
- File (ファイル) > Import (インポート)
- Name the deck > find it on your computer
- Win
A little about how I chose this deck (feel free to skip this part if you want :p):
I basically took the most popular public deck on Anki - Heisig's Remember the Kanji (RTK) 1+ 3, with cards of all 3000+ kanji from the books so you don't have to put them in manually - and edited it to suit my lazy needs. This is an old deck, however, so if you have the new 2011 edition of RTK 1 with additional joyo kanji, there are some kanji missing and number differences (if you have an older RTK 1 addition, you can get the supplement PDF here). There are updated RTK public decks, but you're better off using the old one and adding more kanji yourself later. Why? Because this deck is set up to smoothly link each kanji to its corresponding page on RevTK (according to the old numbering system), which I highly recommend you use. There are also public decks that utilize Kendo's Lazy Kanji mod, but the problem with those is that they include all the stories for you. Once again, the best way is to create your own stories, and you don't need the temptation of these things being done for you. haha
If you look at the first 10 kanji in my deck, I gave some samples of how to go about setting up the cards.
I basically took the most popular public deck on Anki - Heisig's Remember the Kanji (RTK) 1+ 3, with cards of all 3000+ kanji from the books so you don't have to put them in manually - and edited it to suit my lazy needs. This is an old deck, however, so if you have the new 2011 edition of RTK 1 with additional joyo kanji, there are some kanji missing and number differences (if you have an older RTK 1 addition, you can get the supplement PDF here). There are updated RTK public decks, but you're better off using the old one and adding more kanji yourself later. Why? Because this deck is set up to smoothly link each kanji to its corresponding page on RevTK (according to the old numbering system), which I highly recommend you use. There are also public decks that utilize Kendo's Lazy Kanji mod, but the problem with those is that they include all the stories for you. Once again, the best way is to create your own stories, and you don't need the temptation of these things being done for you. haha
If you look at the first 10 kanji in my deck, I gave some samples of how to go about setting up the cards.
- Story field - see above.
- Info field - this is where you enter the Japanese readings and English meanings. For Mac I use JEDict (offline app) which works awesome; just copy-paste. With a little research I found JEDict Lite for iOS and Android, or you can use Kotoba for iOS if you like. But no matter what platform you use, Jim Breen's WWWJDIC website has a great kanji dictionary that, if I'm not mistaken, powers most of the dictionaries you see above. Just search for the kanji, and copy the Chinese readings (音読み), Japanese readings (音読み), English meanings, and possibly even name readings. Cool stuff.
- Example field - if you end up failing the card so many times that Anki deems you unworthy of its knowledge and automatically leeches it (this is, in general, a good thing since it's better to let go of items that are frustratingly difficult), try entering in an example sentence so you can get a better grasp of its context. Ideally, this shouldn't happen until you've already finished learning kanji the first time around and are used to seeing kanji in sentence format.
How to review
After you've learned your kanji for the day and made the necessary additions to the fields above for said kanji, I'd suggest waiting until the next day and then... you're ready to begin your reviews!!
Start up the deck and you'll be given the question side of the flash card. Read the story and try to write out the kanji without looking at the kanji. If you can do that AND come up with the meaning, you can grade yourself on Normal or Easy depending on how confident you feel. If you need to look at the kanji but can still remember the meaning, it's Hard. And if you can't figure out the meaning no matter how hard you rack your brain, that sucka's WRONG.
Remaining issues
Start up the deck and you'll be given the question side of the flash card. Read the story and try to write out the kanji without looking at the kanji. If you can do that AND come up with the meaning, you can grade yourself on Normal or Easy depending on how confident you feel. If you need to look at the kanji but can still remember the meaning, it's Hard. And if you can't figure out the meaning no matter how hard you rack your brain, that sucka's WRONG.
Remaining issues
The main problems with this method as it stands are two-fold. Firstly, since you're initially trying to write the kanji without looking at it, you have to kind of... cover it with your hand or something since it's in the question field. And that's annoying.
Secondly, while I am using this method for the time being to learn RTK 3 kanji (hit my 2159th the other day!), I can't say it's a long-term commitment. Why? Because it just uses too much English. English in the story, English in the keyword, English in the other meanings, English on RevTK, even using English programs and websites to find the information. *shakes hands vigorously* Uck, too much! The further I get into Japanese, the less I want to use English as a crutch. So you can bet I'll be looking for some all-Japanese-all-the-lazy-time solutions to come.
Until then, try it out, see if it works, and adjust it to fit your style. As long as you're learning those kanji, it's all good. If you aim for 20-30 a day, you should be able to get that done with an hour of work if your fast. Good luck!
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