Here is how I am currently studying Kanji
I'm using a combination of three software programs, one desktop computer, one personal data assistant, one commercial flash card set, a card storage box and pure gamen. If you want to follow this method, here is what you need to do.
Equipment
- White Rabbit Kanji
Japanese Kanji Flashcards 1
- Box (with dividers) to store the cards
- Personal computer which runs Windows 2000/XP
- Personal data assistant which runs the Windows CE/2003
- Gakusoft's KingKanji software
- Declan's Japanese Flashcards software
- Declan's ReadWrite Kanji software
- Pure, unadulterated Gamen
The plan
The basic formula I'm using for putting the Kanji into memory is based upon the "learning machine for everyone" that Morsbach, Kurebayashi and Heisig described in the supplement on learning how to remember in Remembering the Katakana (1990). My interpretation of that system involves dividing the box to store the cards into seven groups: yet to learn, the five stages of study, and completed. As the kanji go through each stage, they get studied with the software programs listed in the equipment list above. As the cards go from the yet to learn' group to the 'completed' group, they go through the five stages of study which are stage 1 (three cards), stage 2 (six cards), stage 3 (15 cards), stage 4 (24 cards) and stage 5 (42 cards).
I consciously study the three cards in stage 1. If the card is a new card, then I use the lesson editor in KingKanji to input the Kanji, reading and meaning into a lesson. Each lesson will consist of the six vocabulary items on the White Rabbit Japanese Kanji Flashcards. Then I will also transfer the vocabulary items into Declan's Japanese Flashcards by cutting and pasting the data between the KingKanji Lesson Editor and the Declan's Japanese Flashcards Lesson Editor so that there are identical lessons which correspond to each White Rabbit Japanese Kanji Flashcards. I use the Declan's Japanese Flashcards to present the vocabulary through it's exercises. The exercises include MultiChoice Kanji/Kana, MultiChoice English, MultiChoice Listening, Connect Exercise and Grid Search Exercise. The exercises are a fun way to get exposure to the vocabulary items.
Then, I study the Kanji by making a learning list which corresponds to the kanji in the vocabulary items on the White Rabbit Cards in Declan's ReadWrite Kanji. This software contains Multichoice exercises for Kanji meaning, On pronunciations, Kun pronunciations and Kanji radicals plus Kanji stroke order and Grid search exercises. It is extremely rare to get all the exercises right the first time by chance, so it allows me to learn by exploration.
The Personal data assistant is great for studying on the move. I use the KingKanji software to practice writing the vocabulary items which I practiced with the Declan software at home. My train ride of twenty minutes to and from work allows me just the right time to review the items twice per day. I also try to sneak in a review session once or twice during my breaks between teaching classes.
Once I get where I can draw the Kanji and remember the vocabulary meanings for the lessons on KingKanji, then I move the cards from stage 1 to stage 2. How I fill-up stage 1 again is an important step. Since stage 2 cannot have more than six cards , I need to clear out cards from stage 2 once it has more than six cards in it. I review the vocabulary items on the cards, by testing myself with the KingKanji software. If I get all the vocabulary correct, then the card goes up to stage 3. If I don't get all the vocabulary correct, then the card goes back to stage 1. The key is that all unlearned or forgotten kanji go back to the currently studying stage 1 and for a kanji to go to the 'completed' stage, it needs to be remembered correctly five times in a row.
Last of all, but certainly not least of all, ganbatte kudasai!
