Well, the link there is my Kanken thread. I’ve passed levels 5, 4, and 3 (last week).
Why wait for level 2? Just out of curiosity?
2 Likes
For some reason I’ve always had the Joyo kanji as my main goal when it comes to kanji reading and writing so anything below that would not satisfy me I guess 
On a serious note though, I’ve never really been into Japanese language tests. I have very little interest in the JLPT or the Kanken in general. I think I would have to become extremely comfortable with the language before I ventured out into the world of Japanese exams. I would want to focus on becoming fluent before spending energy on studying for specific tests 
I do admire and envy your Japanese knowledge, congratulations on passing Kanken 3! 
Edit: Ok I saw a more detailed list of what the different Kanken levels include and I’m scared and can’t see myself attempting anything near 2 anytime soon…
5 Likes
Totally, totally, totally agree. I only started seriously focusing on writing after my reading comprehension got better. Kudos to you for getting up an hour earlier, btw…I’m thinking about trying to become a morning person (by choice rather than necessity) because there’s a lot I could accomplish (including kanji practice), but the pull of my futon is always greater than the desire to be productive. Still, this thread is really motivational.
5 Likes
It is a little intimidating at first, but you can get used to the kind of questions over time.
But yeah, the vocab covered at level 2 seems pretty intense. I’m studying for level pre-2 now and I see new words all the time (but often I can read them).
3 Likes
You said it’s easier to learn to write once you can read. So I meant that while we are learning to read, do you think it would be beneficial to practice writing out the radicals as we go through WaniKani?
So instead of actually focusing on learning to write at my level (10) I just practice the 1-10 radicals and the new ones I then get when I level, so when I do hit level 60 and start to focus on writing, I will have already accumulated some knowledge/practice by writing out the radicals a bit.
As for the stroke order, I meant that there is no stroke order listed for radicals on WaniKani and many radicals are made up, so if I were just practicing writing out the radicals, it could screw me up when I start writing whole Kanji as they would have stroke orders I hadn’t learned.
1 Like
Just to preface, I never practised writing radicals separated from kanji. I only practised stroke order of kanji.
I would personally not worry about feeling the need to practice writing out radicals since once you start practising handwritten kanji, a lot of the early kanji are actually radicals as well.
一、乙、二、人、入、刀、力、十、又、九、口、土、夕、大、女、子、etc
Learning how to write these sort of fall into the category of “radical practice” without you noticing. You effortlessly gain a sense of “ah this is a radical cause it keeps appearing here in a lot of kanji”
女、好、始 all have the woman radical.
There is no harm in practising the radicals to lay a foundation before starting handwriting but I would only do it if it was something you found interesting and exciting 
Sounds really awesome! Congrats! Still on my “someday” list, though who knows when…
3 Likes
@heisamaniac Can you send me the your kanji deck please? as I would like to add wanikani sentences to my kanji deck as well.
Thank you 
1 Like
hey Japan too! In summer you can enjoy the daylight from 4 a.m. 
This makes me want to do the same thing. Thank you for posting!
1 Like
I will think about it a bit more and if I decide to make it public, it’ll be up sometime during this week
4 Likes
This is awesome >:0000 When I get to level 60 (I say “when” very confidently) then I wanna learn how to write at least most of the common ones as well! :DDDD
4 Likes
As you should! You’ll be there before you know it!
5 Likes
you can find them on wkstats
I started my journey writing and eventually discovered this was a low priority item in terms of my overall language goals. I do write letters to friends/extended family so it is a practical skill and certainly strengthens reading. However, unless I was making a long term move/stay in Japan (which I am not), I don’t think I could justify the time given the gaps I have in other areas. I imagine one needs a semi continuous outlet for writing as well, even after mastery/kentei passing.
1 Like
* cough cough *
Then & Than
* cough cough *
2 Likes
Oh, right. The new one…
I should say thanks to WaniKani mailing list for providing this thread on the top of the summary given in the email, and @heisamaniac for putting up this awesome post!
This is truly inspiring for me who is only using keyboard to type kanji. Despite my 60 lvl and reaching the point at being able to read most kanji used in business mails with internal coworkers and counterparts at my workplace, I have almost ZERO skill in writing kanji.
Yes, it’s almost down to 0.
Reading this thread finally enlightens me that I have to start learning to write at any cost. Even if I don’t start right away, but I will have to try someday. Hopefully that ‘someday’ will come as soon as possible.
Wish me luck!
4 Likes
I’m so glad that you found this helpful and encouraging!
Start when you are ready and excited about it. I wouldn’t even say that the necessary goal should be 2000+ kanji either.
I thought about something for a while and maybe I’m wrong but "if you are able to read kanji… the longer you wait until you start practising writing, the easier it is going to be."
The more comfortable you are reading and the more exposure you get to the language, the easier it will be for you to connect the written kanji to the words you already aquired. I don’t know how to explain it but it makes sense right?
For example:
If you are dead sure that the word “green” is written using the kanji 緑, then you pretty much just have to learn the stroke order and that’s it + an optional mnemonic if you feel like it.
Since you are able to read and have had experience encountering multiple similar looking kanji, you know that 緑 looks similar to 縁. Instead of the feeling of “oh no they look so similar, how will I remember?” I instead experienced the feeling of “finally, I can see the difference so clearly now.”
I guess my point is, learning how to write kanji can always wait and by doing so it will get easier instead of harder so that’s a nice thought for all of you procrastinators out there, right? 
5 Likes