Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Cloud Chamber

Wouldn't you know it, today I'm plowing through RTK reps with ease, while I can barely get myself to review 30 sentences. Just as well, though - as I said in my last post, I'm making a huge effort to get back on track with all the kanji I put so much effort into learning, part of my studies that is absolutely critical to my continued learning and cannot be neglected. Eeeeever. I wonder why I'm having such a rough time remembering onyomi, and then I realize that my RTK deck has over a thousand expired cards waiting for me!

I've already cleared through 100 RTK cards today, but damn it all, I'm doing another 100 after this blog post. I can feel the rust of a neglected deck slowly being dissolved away, and I feel like I'm really beginning to solidify these poor ol' kanji and mnemonics back into my brain. I can recall most of them, but a good chunk are vague blurs teetering between the edge of my mind and the black, bottomless abyss of forgetfulness. I'll be able to recall half of the elements, perhaps all but one... or part of the mnemonic, for example. Once I press the button and reveal the answer side, my mind almost always goes, "Ohhh, duh, I knew that!" So, the situation could be a lot worse... and I'm confident that I'll be able to "re-learn" everything comfortably in the coming days and weeks.

During my RTK Revisited period (I figure I'll give it until next Mon- erm, 月曜日), I'll be adding very few new cards to my sentence deck, focusing almost entirely on reviewing what I already know (or should know). What few I've been adding are mostly sentences reinforcing words I have trouble remembering, which certainly helps and is something I recommend doing for any trouble word.

At any rate... I've said it before, and I'll likely say it a thousand more times, but:

DON'T SLACK ON YOUR FRICKIN' RTK REPS.

Seriously. Don't do it. 

1 comment:

Burritolingus said...

I'm trying just that, and so far so good. I really need to get back into the habit of reviewing kanji regularly, and I think this is by far the best way to go about that.