Complete Remembering the Kanji in 2006

Whew! I’m impatient to finish now. I’m now trying to figure out what my next step will be. I’m considering a) following the JapanesePOD101.com lessons; b) studying Reading Japanese by Jordan; c) learning the Basic Kanji text; and d) continuing with Japanese the Spoken Language. It’ll probably be a combination of some of the above.

I decided I need a computer program to help me review. After a very frustrating time with Supermemo (a colossal mess of a progam), I found a page on 43 Things that recommended a program called FullRecall (see http://www.fullrecall.com). It’s very simple to learn and use, and it’s affordable ($20).

The way it works is, you enter or import your items to learn, flashcards basically. Then you rate how well you know each item. Based on your ratings, the program decides when to present you with the next repetition of each item. It waits longer for items you know and shorter for those you don’t. The point is to save time by not reviewing items you know very well.

I’ve imported all of the Heisig Kanji, and I’m looking forward to using the program. Unfortunately, I’ll have to start back at number 1. But the good part is that I’ll be continually reviewing them as I go, daily.

100 more, and I’ll have about reached the half-way point. Then I’ll have to start making more flash cards, so that might slow things down a little.

Didn’t have time to do 300 this weekend, so 200 will have to do for now.

It didn’t take as long as I thought to review: about 1.5 hours for each 100. I’m sure it helps that I studied them several months ago. Learning them from scratch would have taken longer.

This is a big pain in the butt. The thing about it is, if you don’t keep up with the kanji, you forget them.

Still, it would be good to get in the habit of reviewing at least some regularly.