Hello Fellow WaniKani Learners
(insert “Hello fellow kids” meme here)
Since this is became longer than anticipated, there is a short TL:DR on the bottom.
As is tradition, I am writing to commemorate me reaching level 60.
Or so I would like to say, but I already reached it two years ago… and still this is the first time I am writing about it. I always wanted to write, but then put it of again, due to work, or hobbies, or… well any other excuse really. I am a lazy person at heart 
Anyway, to tell you a bit about my story:
I started WaniKani when I had just startet to work, and therefore make money - money so I could afford to pay for this helpful site and not think about it too much. This was in Autumn 2019 and I quickly knew, I would be in for the long haul. So I bought the lifetime sub in December that year. My goal was clear: get to learn as much vocabulary (and Kanji) as possible and then visit Japan to try and see how far I would get.
I had already done a few courses in University and had the Genki I + II books, so I did know some Grammar - which I also revised during that time to get myself up to speed.
The target date: Mai 2020, when I had booked my trip to Japan. Or so I thought.
Little did I know at the time, that Covid would have such a big impact on travel.
So of course I had to cancel my trip and put these plans on Ice - but that meant I could pursue Kanji and Vocabulary from WaniKani even further and be ready, when I would eventuallybe able to visit Japan.
Fast Forward to 2021 November: I managed to reach level 60 and knew, I should write about it on the Forums. But it was also an extremely busy time at my work, since we just had started working on projects again, including visiting the facilities of our customers, so I put it off due to that. Also, there where still so many things to burn.
Fast forward again to today:
According to WaniKani I have been on this level for 714 days exactly, so just under two years. What have I achieved in this time? Well, I burned 8989 items so far. I have 36 Kanji remaining, though part of them have been introduced newly since then. And the other thing: I have been to Japan. twice. both times 4 weeks each. And it was amazing.
Funnily, I found that you can get by in most areas just fine with English (at least, unless you go out of the cities and into the inaka). However, I also found out, how surprised, happy and friendly the Japanese can get, once they realize you made an effort to learn their language.
I have been invited to dinner twice, I met up with a Language exchange partner I connected to on “Hello Talk” and I have been able to make some minor small talks, even jokes, in Japanese - much to the surprise and delight of both the people I met and myself.
Looking back, getting this huge pool of Vocabulary was an immense help in understanding and learning everything else - especially Grammar, which suddenly made much more sense, when you have something to apply it to.
It is still my weakest part, compared to Kanji and Vocab, but I realized you can say a lot, when you have the vocab, even if your grammar is very basic.
But now that I visited Japan twice, I needed a new goal - something that I could look forward to. And something I always wanted to try and do, is live & work there. Not as in “forever”, but as in “I want to try and see if this suits me”.
In the past, I had been to New Zealand, all blue-eyed thinking “I am going to the best country in the world, cause this is middle earth!”. I soon learned, that every country has its issues, and New Zealand was no exception.
But because of that, I approached Japan with more open eyes and ears. I know there are many issues that you cannot see on the surface. I know that travelling the country as a toursit and actually living/working there are two entirely different things. But I still want to try it out.
Not immigrate, but maybe spend a year or two and then see, where I take things from there.
And to do that, I will need to revise many of the Kanji and Vocabulary I burned again.
I will need to further learn other Kanji and Vocabulary, because Japanese, too, has more than the ~7000 Vocabulary Words and ~2000 Kanji or so that I have learned so far.
And I will have to revise and improve my grammar.
(not to mention reading and listening comprehension 
)
I hope I will manage to push myself out of the cozy zone, and to approach each of these tasks seriously, one at a time, step by step - so as to not overload myself and fall back into lazyness again. To that end, I will also have to create additional decks, (in Anki?) since unfortunately, WaniKani does not let you add cards yourself. Yet. (In the future maybe? no? yes? I am still hoping, since I am lazy 
)
And I do want to continue visiting the forums more often, as I did in the past.
On that note:
久しぶり でした ね。
そして 改めて よろしく お願いします！ 
And since that became waaay longer than I anticipated:
Here’s a TL:DR for all those who are lazy like me 
I got to level 60 two years ago, went to Japan twice after that, it was great.
I managed to speak and understand quite some Japanese.
Now as a next step, I want to try and live there for a year or two.
Therefore, I will continue with new vocab, Kanji, practice grammar and reading/listening.
And I will come back to the forums more often. hopefully^^
I wish all of you a beautiful Autumn Time (the best Season of the year) and I hope your studies prove fruitfull to you.
Yours sincerely,
the_whookie
Good luck on all of your future Japanese language learning endeavors!
