Ideas for learning readings: support transitioning towards native Japanese keywords and dictionary definitions

[lorenzo-attuned]

The Problem

The single English keyword idea is brilliant, allowing you to learn to write a massive number of kanji in little time. However, what happened to me is I reached a point where drilling based on the single English keyword became a hindrance.

After completing the book and having the majority of the cards in supposedly long-term memory (box 7+), countless times I would get confused over similar meaning cards (e.g.: protect vs safeguard) or forgetting the RTK keyword completely.

In these cases, I still know how to write the characters, but the triggers have slowly shifted from the RTK keyword and stories to the native Japanese readings and meanings.

If the keyword had simply been the Japanese reading(s) I'd easily be able to answer them. This is especially useful when the on-yomi gives a hint to the existence of a radical, as Heisig systemizes in Vol. 2.

In-review assist modes

The "story" button displays an onyomi reading in the lower left corner - however this allows you to see the story. I believe you should use one "assist" at a time, and using the story assist should be one of the last.

The "dict" button displays a selection of kun-yomi and on-yomi readings with compound words, but it also gives away the kanji itself. It also displays definitions in English, which breaks my "one assist-at a time" rule.

In any case, I don't think the solution lies with improving these secondary assist modes. Gradually transitioning to native Japanese as the primary review language is the fastest path towards attaining fluency, I believe.

My current solution

Over the past few months I've evolved a DIY solution with two parts: replacing English keywords with Japanese keywords and stories with language definitions and sample sentences in Japanese.

Japanese keywords

I've slowly converted my entire deck to Japanese keywords

For example, woman becomes: おんな•(処,彼,美,少,長)ジョ(王,子,性);ニョウ房

The format I use is [kun-yomi in hiragana]•[on-yomi compounds words in katakana]

Another example, where the kun-yomi has a "trailing" hiragana portion, I separate it with a period "." When there are multiple kun or on yomi readings I separate those with ";"

fondness becomes: この.み;す.き•(友)コウ(意,感,調,評)

Japanese definitions / sample sentences

I added another level of assist that I'm finding is accelerating my reading acquisition. In the story section I've been adding dictionary definitions and sample sentences in Japanese with only the kanji being reviewed replaced with the reading, as above with the keyword.

As a result, as a side effect of drilling the writing of the current kanji, when you need to look at the hint, you are getting reading practice for all the other kanji/words in the definition/sample sentences. Of course, you won't be able to read all of the characters, but with persistence, you can read more and more.

Sometimes, especially at the beginning of transitioning to Japanese keywords, reading the Japanese definition/samples aren't enough to trigger recall, so at the very bottom of the section I leave my story/keyword and only resort to looking at it if all else fails.

After enough repetitions, just as SRS was effective at learning how to write the kanji, over some time repeated exposure to the definition and sample sentences, a link from native Japanese definition to kanji will be formed, and the need for the RTK story, and even the keyword itself fades.

But of course, you will inevitably forget characters. The RTK story and keyword will always be there as a safety net.

I'm not aware of any open source Japanese to Japanese language definitions, so I am hesitant to share my cards which are derived from a non open-source source.

The Request

I believe the ultimate goal for all of us learners of Japanese, especially those of us dedicated enough to go all-in with RTK, is to be able to read and write the kanji like a native would.

I think adding native support for replacing English keywords with Japanese readings, and if an open source Japanese to Japanese dictionary is available, integrating definitions and sample sentences in Japanese (with the kanji being drilled replaced with the reading) would be in line with attaining that goal.

I believe giving an option to display these before the English story and keyword is the missing link that can keep your advanced users engaged with Kanji Koohii, allowing us to learn readings as fast as we learnt the writing, within the framework of the RTK system, where the ability to write kanji is still the # 1 priority.

The switch should happen at the card-level. It would be unreasonable to switch all of your cards to this new method at once.

Another idea is there could be a gradual "intermediate" state where both your keyword and Japanese readings are shown at the same time for a few repetitions. This way, for readings you are still learning you can build a link from English keyword to Japanese reading. At some point when you're comfortable you promote the card to Japanese-only. I've been using this technique manually with fair success for trickier cards.

Flow Chart

flowchart TD
    start --> A
    A[kun-yomi / on-yomi readings in 日本語] -->|recall| B(Success)
    A-->|assist 1|C
    C[definitions and sample sentences in 日本語] -->|recall| B(Success)
    C -->|assist 2|D
    D[keyword]-->|recall| B(Success)
    D -->|assist 3|E
    E[story]-->|recall| B(Success)
    E -->re-review

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