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Um yeah.... as the title says. I've already posted things about not being able to remember kanji but I seriously can't and nothings working.

HOW THE ******** DO YOU LEARN KANJI. I just need help remembering the READINGS. What good is knowing the meaning if you can't READ it, and that's why Heisig completely fails.

NO HEISIG.

I'm going to give a short answer here, then probably edit with a much longer one (or make another post, depending on if anyone else posts).

This is all my opinion about Kanji, but:

-Don't focus on stroke order too much. So many people learning kanji actually take time and effort to focus on the readings, stroke order, and meaning when only the first and last are of importance usually. Unless your writing skills are really terrible and your Japanese teacher is requiring focusing on the stroke order a lot when you do kanji in class, then you really should focus on reading first then meaning. You'll be typing kanji on the computer or for making a report someday (if Japanese is in your future), and that's where reading and recognizing that is the correct kanji would be of importance. That being said however.....

-Take the readings separately. There are two readings and most books teach them together, which for some kanji is a lot. Some kanji are also are used in verbs. I'd start with working on the chinese reading (the on-yomi) because it is the one likely to be the most used and give you the most trouble. Then after that learn the kun-yomi or Japanese reading. This however, is very different from how I learned to read and recognize kanji, but it is how I go about learning new kanji most of the time because I will see a kanji in a compound and I am more focused on its reading than I am on its meaning at first (which is why I never use Heisig because I just don't find it all too useful).

-Use whatever is best for you to use the kanji. I use a crazy, nonsensical way of remembering kanji that could be more organized. But, it works for me. The secret and focus of kanji should be reading and recognization, then attach meaning.

Side note: Stroke order is important to look up a kanji in a kanji dictionary. Some say rememberize all 200+ radicals, but I say take them as they come. You deal with kanji long enough you can point out radicals in kanji you don't know without having to name them (yes, they all have names). Some radicals are also basic kanji so seeing them ANYWHERE in a kanji should be a tip that they are a radical of some sort.

Sorry if this doesn't really have any tangible methods of remembering kanji.

Well, if you're wanting to learn kanji, I hope you have a lot of time. There are thousands of kanji characters, but the Japanese goverment states that you have to know at least 1,945 kanji characters to understand written Japanese. Most Japanese students learn them when they're in elementary and middle school. Here's a link to what each student learns, depending on what grade:

http://japanese.about.com/library/blkodarchives.htm

Have fun ^^

Wow, such language... x_x But despite that I will share how I learn Kanji... hopefully someone will find it useful...

Step 1: Meaning and Writings with Heisig

Yes, I can tell you hate it but the first thing I did was a completed the first volume Heisig's Remembering the Kanji (RTK). I completed the book in about three and a half months. No, you don't "master" kanji by completing RTK but it makes the next step easier. Some nice benefits of of completing RTK include...

1. Knowing how to write kanji and having a keyword for each kanji helps to distinguish them. You won't confuse similar looking kanji.
2. Knowing stroke order helps when using a dictionary.
3. Kanji keywords are another tool (along with context) that you can use to predict the meaning of new words.
4. Since you are already familiar with the kanji learning to read is not so intimidating. Meaning and writing for individual kanji is already taken care of...now you can focus of vocabulary and grammar.

Reviewing the Kanji is a very helpful site for those who choose to use Heisig's book.

Step 2: Vocabulary

You shouldn't learn kanji reading with isolated kanji. Learn new words instead. And when learning new words I recommend learning them in the context of sentences. There are many resources designed for Japanese learners to improve their vocabulary but here are a few of my favorites.

Smart.fm has a Japanese Core 2000 series where you can learn the 2,000 most common Japanese words arranged by word frequency. The iKnow application that quizes you will test both the meaning and the reading of the words. Plus each word come with an example sentence and I love example sentences. If you complete the Japanese Core 2000 there is also the Japanes Core 6000 which has the next 4,000 most frequently used words. Users can also create their own lists. Some are based on themes such as food, onomatopoeias, or words with similiar kanji. Others are based on music videos so that you can watch the video and then study the words in using iknow.

Another free site that you can drill vocabulary on is Read The Kanji. You can choose pre-made decks (based on JLPT level) and start reviewing right away. You simply type in the the readings to the word that is highlighted in the sentence. It's simple but I really like it. Read the Kanji has roughly 7,000 JLPT vocabulary with example sentences.

2001 Kanji Odyssey can be ordered here in either book form or on CD. 2001KO has 2001 Kanji arranged by frequency. Every Kanji has its most common readings and vocabulary. The first 1,110 Kanji have three example sentences per kanji that use common words with that Kanji. There is a free online workbook for 2001KO that can be printed off. There is also a user created smart.fm list that is based off of 2001KO.

I suggest you use one (or more) of these to improve your vocabulary and kanji reading skills.

I also recommend that you find something fun to read in Japanese. I personally like reading raw manga. When I find a new word that I want to learn I look it up in a dicionary such a Yahoo辞書. Then I make a new flash card in Anki using either an example sentence from the dicionary or using the sentence from the manga.

One of the ways I would recommend would be to read some very easy children's books. Most children's books have the readings written next to the kanji, so they're perfect for learning the readings.

The way I was taught, you try to remember the character as a picture. We also had to write them over and over. It really helps.

Practicing talking to Japanese people on the PC has really helped me. They would use kanzi and I would look it up using a website that would show me the readings ect. . . It's not great to start off like this, but after you get the general understanding of how it works and you're used to it. This is an easy way to get used to Japanese grammar as well as kanzi at the very same time. Also learning new words ect. . .

I like to emphasize though that you should probably learn from a reputable TEXTBOOK first, to get yourself a sturdy foundation. Don't want to end up with broken Japanese.(which is hard to fix, as you can see foreigners learning english from scratch end up with really bad english habits)