This is how it feels for me having started Wanikani in Jan 2013.
It’s not entirely true though because I still talk to a handful of friends I made here.
Getting to the point:
At first I didn’t want to make a lvl 60 post because: A. I’m not that interesting and B. I don’t really like getting the attention.
That said, it occured to me that this post could be an inspiration for people who are really slow at WK, did lots of breaks, gave up and got back or whatever non standard path you’re taking.
Life threw a lot of lemons at me over this 8 years and a half and it’s part of the reasons why it took me so long to get there but I got there eventually.
As I probably have already said in these forums, I think I would have gave up on kanjis if it wasn’t for Wanikani and I’d like to thank the team once more for what they did with this website.
The community as well is incredible here. I hardly ever read an obnoxious message here even though we’re all coming from diverse places and times in our lives, at times I stayed motivated with the help of friends or friendly people here and I also want to thank you all for this. (shout out to @Dan-in-Japan and his study buddy thread, @jneapan, @Eternal-Illusion, @Time, @cimmic and all the crazy people that fought in the battle of the puppies against the evil @mayucchiEDIT: I can’t believe I forgot to mention my precious @Apraxas <3)
Now I still have turtles to burn here but at least the “race” is over. I wish you all remaining racers the best of luck and motivation whatever your goal is with this incredible language that is Japanese.
Hey, congrats! And thanks for taking the time to post this.
I sincerely appreciate the occasional level 60 post from the tortoises (we hear enough from the hares). FWIW, I’m more impressed with your story than those from people making the journey in 300 some odd days (with, I suspect, almost no vocabulary burned).
Some wise person once told me that persistence is the least common human virtue. You should take pride in having stuck with it.
You must have seen amazing improvements here since 2013! I’ve worked at far more highly funded startups in Silicon Valley for this entire millennium, and I’m flatly astonished at what Koichi and the team have built. Without exaggeration, WK is the most astonishingly well-designed, beautifully executed, and useful website I’ve ever come across (utterly unrelated, but mcmaster.com is my second favorite).
Thanks guys.
I do feel a sense of achievement especially since I have trouble keeping up with things in the long run. TBH I did skip vocabulary of lvl 50 to 60 but mostly because of time management that was pretty intense these last months (attending 2 unis + working full time) but I will catch up on them now that I’ve reached the end. Also, not my original plan but I do think it’ll be interesting to review kanjis from 10 lvls ago when learning vocabulary.
Also picked up a reading habit over last year so I will keep reviewing and learning stuff through books.
For my money, that’s just as remarkable as people finishing WK in a year.
乾杯!