You call the fable bollocks, then go on to reinforce the point of the fable. “Slow and steady wins the race.” You literally say that “hares self-flagellate to the point of burnout. Their very obsession with the “race” and “running” it better, faster and longer causes them to come to hate anything to do with “running”.” This is exactly the point of this Aesop’s Fable. Slow down, enjoy it, and don’t kill yourself in the process.

Other than calling a good fable “bollocks,” this is a great read! Kudos.

I recently wrote a blog post about “fast” and “slow” in language-learning: www.learnlangs.com/blog/2012/02/20/the-controversy-on-learning-fast-and-slowly/ 

So relating back to your situation, what’s more important to you? Getting all your kanji down for your internship, or getting the kanji down correctly so you can continue to build and gain fluency?

Also, I wouldn’t worry about the differences in the 5th and 6th edition right now. If this issue is slowing you down to the extent where you actually aren’t doing kanji, then just don’t worry about the the extra kanji in the 6th edition. Just skip them for now, and just check them out at the end with the 5th edition’s supplemental pdf (which is legit and free).

It doesn’t matter how many kanji you do a day/how many sentences you’re learning/how much vocab you’re picking up, all that matters is that progress is being made. I know that sometimes it can feel like we’re lowering our standards by just striving to make progress, but then again, if you are like me, who had month long gaps in the initial stages of RTK study, maybe it isn’t a lower standard after all.
 
I hope this helps!

I know exactly what you mean. After studying Kanji everyday for a couple months it just becomes part of you and something you do without stress. It’s a lifestyle change and if you’re willing to make it, the language is yours.

“Winners forget they’re in a race, they just love to run.”

Ultimately, if you make the experience as enjoyable as possible and keep from focusing on getting it over with, you’ll be better off in the long run. The thing is just to get lost in the language, to enjoy running for running’s sake. Everything else will take care of itself eventually.

I usually don’t even get through even ten kanji a day even though I spend maybe three or four hours per day at minimum immersed in Japanese (and enjoying it). So after about a year and a half I know around 700 kanji, which seems like not much at all after reading what you guys say. Most of you are using Heisig right? I’ve tried it a few times, but I find it ineffective for myself. I think that I’d much rather learn word compounds then kanji strictly by themselves.

I don’t know so well, but for myself using an SRS and Heisig have bored me, so I just spend time now reading books and news articles, and looking up new words 😛

Hopefully there isn’t anything wrong with this (>.<)