Feels Like I Did It Wrong

[91ly]

So, just as the title implies, I feel like I went about Wanikani the wrong way. When I was starting off with the program, I tried to get through it as fast as possible before my subscription ran out, and tried to brute force my memorization. As a result, I feel like I learnt… way less than I should’ve. Now, my subscription has officially ended, and I am now re-evaluating the way I went about it.

I reached level 8, but I wonder if it would be worth restarting my progress and starting from scratch, rebuilding the skills I didn’t learn in the beginning. It’ll also give me a jumping off point to work on until I can afford my new subscription. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Any better ideas, etc?

[Jirachi]

Well, at lvl. 8, it’s fairly difficult to mess up everything permanently lol.

Just by the way the SRS is designed, you’ll catch up eventually on the stuff you didn’t get, and the things that were only in your short term memory will come flying out of nowhere a few months later and appear more frequently if you forget them.
The ONLY real reason to reset this early would be if it’s been a really long time between some levels. And I mean like 9 months-1 year of no wanikani.

Other than that, the best thing is just to keep at it. I was away from wanikani around the same level as you, it was hard re-learning things, but it DOES get better.
Just keep it up, you got this!
がんばって！

[Lewby]

I agree with what @Jirachi has said 100%.

Level 8 is too early to reset unless you’ve been away for a large period of time, and the way SRS is designed is that if you get stuff wrong it’ll come up more often, so even if you feel like some words are “weaker” or less understood, they’ll just pop up more and eventually be in your long-term memory.

It’ll also give me a jumping off point to work on until I can afford my new subscription.

If you can’t afford a new subscription right now, I suggest using KameSame alongside WaniKani, even though you’re not subscribed right now, as far as I’m aware that just means you won’t get NEW lessons, but you should still be able to do reviews of lessons you’ve already done.

(Am I wrong? or is he unable to get reviews now, please someone confirm).

KameSame will help you cover all of your stuff from level 1-8 anyway and reinforce the learning.

Don’t give up, you’ve got this. The worst thing you could do right now is completely hit pause on learning Japanese*.

If I am wrong, and you cannot do reviews anymore because your sub has run out, I HIGHLY recommend downloading the “Anki” app, it’s free and you can input all of your Kanji / Vocab into it or find a WK deck.

If this is the case, please don’t leave WK, the forums are always here with open arms to answer any questions and help with your Japanese language progression.

Edit:

As a few individuals are trying to villainize me and accuse me of encouraging piracy I will clarify the meaning of “WK deck” here:

Summary

A WK deck is a Anki deck which follows WK structure (specifically the words / vocab) used at a specific level.

I have created this as an example:

(Imagine that, there are no mnemonics, crazy huh, not all decks contain mnemonics.)

The reason it’s called it a WK deck (which seems to confuse some people @gyroninja) is because it specifically follows the vocab / kanji that WK use for each level, the reason you would not call it a generic “Kanji” deck is for categorization, if you have multiple decks you don’t want to confuse them, and you want to make it clear to people who may want to use the deck of its contents.

TLDR: a WK deck follows the structure of WK’s leveling system, WK does not own the Kanji or Vocab used, so this is perfectly fine.

[sergiop]

@Lewby

or find a WK deck .

Why are you promoting piracy of Wanikani’s intellectual property on this forum?

[Haios]

Creating/Finding a deck that has the same Kanji/vocab as WK is not Piracy. WK doesn’t own the Kanji or Vocab

[Vikestart]

@sergiop

@Lewby

or find a WK deck .

Why are you promoting piracy of Wanikani’s intellectual property on this forum?

That’s not piracy.

WaniKani owns the systems used on this website, but not the Kanji or vocabulary.

[sergiop]

But if the deck has the same mnemonics, ordered by the same levels, it is piracy. If you search for WK deck, this is what you will find out there.

[Lewby]

WK level 1 has specific Kanji / Vocab / Radicals right?

I’m certain without a doubt there are decks that have those specific Kanji for each individual WK level.

WK does not own the Japanese Language, take a look at the rules again, rule 2:

Like I said, I’m sure there are Anki decks that exist which you can use alongside WK to further your language, that will follow the same level structure so that you aren’t getting a bunch of Kanji that you haven’t learned yet.

If you feel that I’ve broken a rule go ahead and report me, but I can assure you I have not, and am not encouraging rule breaking. .

[jorge940283]

I agree with @jirachi
Definitely do not reset your progress, you still have 52 more levels.
Instead look for an app to start reading the kanjis you already burned.

[sergiop]

@Lewby

WK does not own the Japanese Language

Of course not and I never said that. But, as far as I know, these “Anki WK decks” that can be found online also copy WK’s mnemonics and that is a certain violation of WK’s IP.

[Lewby]

That might be true, but I don’t recall saying “Find a WK deck that uses the same mnemonics”, so I’m not sure what your point is.

There are actually threads and userscripts dedicated to “User-made” mnemonics that can be superior to some of WK’s mnemonics, I am sure there are WK decks that use those too.

But again, I never specifically said anything about mnemonics, so I’m not sure where you got that from? or why you would assume that, I don’t really think there is anything more to be said on the matter because you’re arguing against something I haven’t said .

Edit: Lets not derail the thread. I’m sure if I have done something wrong a mod can handle it.

[gyroninja]

If you were talking about a deck that doesn’t copy from WK, why would you call it a WK deck? If you were talking about a generic kanji deck there would be no need to call it a WK deck.

[Lewby]

Lets not derail the thread. I’m sure if I have done something wrong a mod can handle it.

If you have an issue with anything I have said, please report it. But please don’t continue to disrespect the OP by de-railing the thread.

Edit: Sorry @91ly

[EarleyGrave]

I was told to get one of those WK decks, myself, but after trying WaniKani I realized that no Anki deck, no matter how closely it held to the WK progression, was going to be as good as WaniKani itself. WaniKani expects you to type your answers, first of all, and secondly it won’t give you new material until you’ve mastered material it’s already given you.

I think Anki would be a serious downgrade, WK material or not. I plan to stick with WaniKani until the end, and I think it’s well worth the money!

[Lewby]

WK is awesome, it has so many benefits over Anki for sure. Although you can type in answers on Anki also. The WK’s progression system is a good motivator - I haven’t found anything similar + the fact the forums have a lot of nice supportive people is enough reason to stick around.

I don’t think I would be having as much success with my Japanese Language studies if it wasn’t for WK, so I agree with @EarleyGrave it’s well worth the money.

I know you said you might need to save up to be able to resubscribe, that’s the only reason I mentioned temporary alternatives , just don’t be gone for too long or the crabigator might come for you! ahh! (i’ve heard it’s scarier than the duolingo owl).

[EarleyGrave]

Yeah the forum is definitely a big plus. Also I didn’t even mention how WK can be sync’d up to your KaniWani and KameSame (and even Bunpro, which I’m now also using). They put a lot of work into this platform and they’re always improving it, tweaking or adding things. I’d like to get the lifetime sub when it rolls around on discount again; I just missed it.

[Lewby]

I would love to get lifetime membership also, but I think it’s important for me to get to a higher level first to prove to myself I’m capable of sticking to it before spending a large amount of money.

Maybe 15? or 20, hopefully it’ll be before the next discount rolls around anyway hehe .

[chantellis]

I don’t think you should reset your progress. The kanji you have come across already will come back up plenty for you to “re-learn it properly” once you are able to get a new subscription. If you would like to study the kanji outside of WK and look for related vocab you can do that too in your saving up time. There are lots of ways to do this (even just writing on paper works, or looking at free dictionaries online or as apps, whatever method you like). The beginning levels are too boring to restart and those kanji are really common so you’ll get plenty more exposure as you progress with Japanese anyway. Don’t sweat the small stuff! Just figure out a good method for you when you can come back for more levels

[91ly]

Ah, no worries! Sorry my question caused all that ;; I appreciate your answer, though! Thanks!

[Coyoteclaw11]

I was fairly early in my studies when I ended up getting the lifetime sub. For me, it’s really nice because even though I’ve taken so many hiatuses and fallen out of it so many times, I’ve always been able to pick it right back up again.

As for the topic at hand, I was originally at level 10 before I reset… but I think I’d had like a 2 year gap between when I’d last used the site and when I’d reset. I think, if I were you I’d just keep at it for a bit. If it feels like nothing is coming back or starting to stick, then it’s worth it to reset to an earlier level. But you might surprise yourself. As sporadic as my studying has been, I still recognize the occasional kanji that I’d learned from before I reset.