2000 Kanji. 6000 vocab. In just over a year. How much time per day?

[Ssqvist]

I get a little bit demotivated when I read that phrase because I will be nowhere near that after one year.

So, on average, how much time is needed per day to advance that fast? Are there any statistics on it?

[jprspereira]

Safe numbers: 90mins/day until level 40 and 120mins/day if you go for the fast levels (which saves a month, max).

But then again… u can do it in less time or in way more time (aka, visiting WK every hour bla bla bla)

At the end of the day, it’s a lot of work.

[gojarappe]

You can also read his guide.

My Journey of 368 days (+ The Ultimate Guide for WK )

The Ultimate Guide to Wanikani Become the best version of your Wanikanian self. For newbies: Please read the WaniKani User Guide first before reading this. WK’s User Guide teaches you the very basics. My Guide turns you from a newbie with basic knowledge to a master. However, first, you need the basics. This Guide is really longgggggggg. You can read it all in one go, but there’s no need to if you don’t want to. Think of it as the place to come to when in doubt/need of help. Thanks …

[Ssqvist]

Thanks. Yeah, it really takes dedication.
Wish I had a longer commute to work

[Ssqvist]

Thank you.
There are many nice pieces of advice there!

[gojarappe]

It’s my favorite father Koichi face. :3

[OmukaiAndi]

set yourself smaller goals, that’s what the levels are for. athletes start out small, too. not like in some shonen anime, where some brat announces they will be champion in sports x, and 23 episodes later they’re there.
go in 10er or 5er steps, or whatever.

my goal was to be 24 again after my reset. next is “30 till year’s end”, then i’ll formulate “40 next spring” a bit more precisely, and so on.

lvl 60 is a goal i didn’t really think much about yet. that’s still months away.

[aanhlle]

@Ssqvist

get a little bit demotivated

ohh, dont worry friend, I get demotivated quite…often too, then I start to get back to doing reviews, then I get demotivated, then I get back. You don’t have to stretch yourself. Everybody has their own timeline. Just remember you are still making progress

[Suziana]

If you try too hard and go for that 1 year challenge, you might burn yourself and become demotivated. Of course, it’s possible, but you have to have a lot of time and dedication. When I tried to do it the fastest way, and when I just finished 200 reviews, but saw another 100 on the way, it kinda strucks… So I would just recommend, GO ON YOUR OWN PACE. I have been doing WaniKani for almost 2 years, and I am nearly on the last level. I don’t rush myself anymore, just keep doing those reviews!

[Ncastaneda]

I don’t get how those numbers sound alluring… I mean if you aim for 2000 kanjis and 6000 words in 1 year. Fullfilling your quest (with all the hard work that goes with) will give you (guess what) 2K kanjis and 6K words, not a fun time, not an interesiting story or overall a practical approach to japanese… I think that kind of goal fails to meet expectations if you aren’t really actively using (like in a real activity that you actually have a geniuine interest) all those bolts and nuts pieces of knowledge.

You can put yourself a goal of reading certain amount of books in 1 year and you’ll get lots of vocab to add, fun stories to make connections with all that vocab, constant review of whatever kanji you know and a preview of those you’ll learn eventually.

So I would second the “smaller” goals mentality here. Learn some, see what good does those pieces of knowledge to actually make use of it… keep learning and keep seeking new activities that become more and more a possibility with every new inch of japanese wisdom

[Esceptico]

Just because you can does not mean you should. If I were studying Japanese full time as a degree then yes I would try to do that too. However I work full time and have a wife, daughter and dog to look after. So not spending every last second of my free time on learning Kanji and vocab.

[Ssqvist]

Thank you all for nice and encouraging replies!
I’m also finishing off my PhD which is quite intense, so I shouldn’t expect to be able to proceed at full speed here I suppose.

[bnheise]

You’re asking the wrong question. The right question is: how much time do I need to learn this material? Think in terms both per day and also how long you need total to cover all that material. Don’t judge yourself based on a standard someone else set. Just move forward at your own pace and accept that pace. If you don’t, you’ll push yourself too hard, you’ll get burned out, and then you’ll give up.

[Darcinon]

I think I took over 2.5 years to finish. Don’t feel like you have to do it in a year!

[loshgoobi]

I’ve been using WK for a year and some change now and I am about to hit level 24. I did not have any previous kanji knowledge, and very very little Japanese knowledge. I do reviews when I have time, and there have been a couple points where I stopped for a few weeks. (and foolishly did not use vacation mode coming back to 600 plus items)

I think it usually takes me about 15-20 days to finish a level. I see people on here who power through the levels, but quite frankly I’m just not that smart haha. Takes me more time to remember these things. So yeah, just do it at your own pace. The pace that you can use WK is the best pace for you.

[OmukaiAndi]

i’ve been studying japanese for 8 years now (start date: 2010/10/15), 6 years in japan. i’m not sitting down to “study” anymore, and i won’t. i’m through with that, and there’s no need, except for reading. i’m doing some reading throughout the day naturally, as i’m surrounded by kanji (which i found terrible until i started with wk), will do some thorough book club reading (looking forward to starting 時をかける少女 on nov 24th), hoping for other interesting titles afterward, but the “real” reading i want to do will take place when i hit lvl 40, because then it’s “reading for pleasure”, not “reading for study”, which i find unappealing.
plus, i’ll have the excellent kindle popup dictionary on my side, both ja-eng and ja-ja)

why this wall of text? to give you an idea of the dimensions we’re talking about. expect to not give a flying fuck about study worries in a couple years… but these years will be proper studies, and by that i don’t mean “hanging around doing some immersion like that-ajatt-dude”.

[Esceptico]

That is usually a pain (getting it over the finish line). What is the topic?

[Mononoke]

As many have said already, don’t feel the need to “finish” WaniKani in a year! Move at whatever pace feels comfortable to you, and only to you. As for challenges, only set ones that again fit your learning style and goals, not somebody elses. It’s a very subjective thing. It takes me for instance about 1 month to advance two levels because I can only dedicate so much time to learning Japanese (and new Kanji always take a little while to sink in - vocab by comparison is much easier).

I’d also recommend you check out KaniWani as well if you haven’t already - its an extra layer of SRS learning that teaches you to recall the Japanese vocabularly without the visual prompts of the kanji itself. I think its invaluable in helping really cement what you learn here on WaniKani and get you to actually start thinking in Japanese rather than just reading it.