Heisig's learning Kanji method

How do you guys use this method? I'm going through the book writing down the kanjis and stories and reviewing Kanji every day in Anki (SRS) Meaning front Kanji back but I was wondering if it was the most efficient way of using this method.

I think some people put the stories under the meaning at the front when reviewing them and other things but I wasn't sure if that would be to easy and make the method in effective what about you?

Also does anyone know where you can get a ebook of the 6th edition? I can't find it anywhere to buy. They offer a sample pdf file so they must sell it some where.

Yes, I used it.

I found Heisig's method too much work to learn the stories, and then I learned that without the stories I was at a loss to match the meanings to the kanji (and with no good way to wean me off of the stories, which you will eventually have to do). So I learn kanji now in context of vocabulary.

I use Anki as well, and sometimes I put hints on the front of the card. But I put the hints in the same font color as the card so that it is invisable. It will show up only if I highlight it. If you continue to use Heisig's method, you might want to try that.

dwcarless said:

I found Heisig's method too much work to learn the stories, and then I learned that without the stories I was at a loss to match the meanings to the kanji (and with no good way to wean me off of the stories, which you will eventually have to do). So I learn kanji now in context of vocabulary.

I use Anki as well, and sometimes I put hints on the front of the card. But I put the hints in the same font color as the card so that it is invisable. It will show up only if I highlight it. If you continue to use Heisig's method, you might want to try that.

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I suppose if you have a hard time remembering the stories (i suggest making them up yourself the ones in the book are dire and really long) you could add the story under the kanji to also help make you remember the story when you fail.

It was not hard, it was just too much work. And adding more stories to the kanji on back would be even more work. I just found it easier to learn vocabulary and then associate each kanji to an actual Japanese word instead of a story in English. An added bonus is that in this way I learn at least one of the readings for each kanji as well (usually the most common one). YMMV so I hope Heisig works well for you.

I can only highly recommend this website: Reviewing the Kanji
It's very motivational especially when you're just starting out. You can see the stories other users made up to remember a Kanji.
There's also a VERY helpful forum!

I love Heisig's method, but as you can see, it's extremely devisive. What I did was go through the book, write each Kanji down once, come up with a story in my head and move on. On the same day, I would then go through the cards in Anki, using one of the premade RTK decks. All I see on the cards is the keyword and from there I "draw" the Kanji in the air and then see if I was correct.

However, I don't think putting the stories on the front of the card is detrimental at all. People say it's too easy, but I don't think they get the point. Whether something is easy to do or not doesn't change the effectiveness at all. If you can draw the Kanji from the story and repeat that the right way often enough (which is what the SRS helps you do), then that's great. At some point the stories will fall away on their own. I haven't found the need to "wean" myself off them, it just happens naturally, no effort required.

Here's my Anki graph if you're interested in my study habits: bayimg - image: anki-stats-2012-11-08@10-06-52.p - free uncensored image hosting

The "relearn" ones were because I didn't realize how to use Anki the right way and so I kept pressing the "good" button while learning new cards, pushing them back 4 days, which was too far. I could've been a bit more efficient had I not done that.

Anyway, you can see that I went pretty fast. Most people don't like to do it that way and take maybe three to six months to go through the book. I think that is fine, too, however, I have found that it gets easier to do the more you do at once, since Kanji keep reinforing each other because they use the same elements again and again.

Edit: Here's an up-to-date graph after I finished my flashcards today: bayimg - image: anki-stats-2012-11-11@11-57-24.p - free uncensored image hosting

Zlarp said:

However, I don't think putting the stories on the front of the card is detrimental at all. People say it's too easy, but I don't think they get the point. Whether something is easy to do or not doesn't change the effectiveness at all.

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I agree it's not like some one with no Kanji experience would be able to produce the Kanji from the story but it's like we're trained to think studying isn't working if we're not bored by it or having a hard time.

Subculture said:

I agree it's not like some one with no Kanji experience would be able to produce the Kanji from the story but it's like we're trained to think studying isn't working if we're not bored by it or having a hard time.

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....What?

The thing that put me off mnemonic methods was the idea of having to recite a little story or mnemonic for every kanji I came across (at least, until I had "really" learnt it). I think it would drive me nuts. As a learner, trying to read Japanese is slow enough as it is...

Well if I see a Kanji I've done the meaning comes to me instantly it's just in trying to write the Kanji that the story is helpful for me.

Subculture said:

Well if I see a Kanji I've done the meaning comes to me instantly it's just in trying to write the Kanji that the story is helpful for me.

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I don't think it's worth trying to convince people to use Heisig. People seem to just hear the idea and dismiss it without trying it or without giving it a chance. It's quite strange, really, but there you go. Just have fun doing it yourself

I used this particular method to study the 2000+ kanji. It is a fantastic method but by no means a complete method. It should provide a framework in which will aid and speed up further study. In regards to the critics about the neumonics involved in the process it is not an additional memory chore. To visualise information is totally natural for the brain. Furthermore the neumonics are just one step in the method once your brain becomes accustomed to it you won't need them at all the information just sticks. Personally I used this method learning to recognise the kanji in blocks of 100 otherwise it can become information overload turning 1000s of flashcards

mnemonics