Quote:
Originally Posted by dougbrowne
Thanks  At least I got one positive response ;-)
And what do you mean by (at least volume 1) is very worthwhile. Your saying Volume 2/3 Do not teach the readings effectively? |
Only Volume 2 teaches the readings, and no, it doesn't teach them very effectively. It's more of a dry list of facts than a book to be read, lacking the clever mnemonics that makes RtK 1 invaluable. Even so, learning the readings in isolation isn't particularly useful, since many of the kanji you learn in RtK only appear in compounds. Learn the meaning of a kanji, learn vocabulary words, context and experience will help you connect the two on your own.
Volume 3 teaches some useful kanji that you will need to know eventually if you want to be able to read Japanese at an adult level, but due to its advanced nature, you probably won't need to learn the knowledge contained therein for quite some time.
So, for the time being, Volume 1 is the only book that's required.
EDIT: To avoid double posting, I'd like to add the following points:
* Thanks to Lucas28 for linking to the Koohii forum. Not only is it helpful when working through RtK, but it houses a very active and intelligent community that can answer any Japanese language question.
* Nyororin, although you are significantly more skilled in all things Japanese than I am, I feel that I must counteract your assertion that RtK provides no benefits. I'll be honest, it doesn't teach you much; it helps you look up kanji faster and break them down into primitives. It also removes the psychological barrier to studying kanji that is seen in many learners. Whether or not these benefits are worth the time spent on the book is up to the individual.
I'm not sure what you mean by "false etymology". The book selects a list of primitives, and assigns mnemonic devices to them; yes, these are arbitrary, but they are consistent, and they assist you greatly in identifying kanji. Isn't that all that matters? If you have a copy of the book handy, could you point out some specific examples you take issue with?
As for people never finishing RtK completely, I must point out that there are quite a few people who have: visit the Koohii forum to meet them. Perhaps they can articulate the benefits of RtK better than I can.