Finally at level 10

10 levels down 50 to go

I think I want to keep a journal of sorts in the forum. One without a ton of posts but maybe every 5 or 10 levels. So I can better track my progress.

Since I know Im making prgress, and I think it would be nice to share and mostly for myself.

I started WaniKani back in mid May after deciding I wanted to learn Kanji since my japanese studies were slowing. Well theyd always been slow since I have a tutor once a week and have difficulty motivating myself to ‘study’ outside of that. I’d made alot of progress over the years but I wasn’t getting any closer to my dream of reading a visual novel or watching an anime.

For context I took night school classes in high school then tried self study every once in a while for the next couple years. After visiting Japan I arranged for a tutor online and continued studying for 1.5 years. I learned a fair bit of grammar but I was always putting off the kanji.

It was when I decided to google learning kanji that I started coming accross new ways to study. Anki, Cure Dolly, Tae Kim all seemed superior to what I was doing.

I had a solid grasp of the basics but these resources help make things easier. Then came wanikani which I decided to try.

These past 3.5 months have seen me make more progress than all of last year. I still like having a tutor once a week but the amount of time Im spending outside it has significantly increased because its fun.

The advice to consume native content and find things you enjoy was great advice. Why try learning to read news articles when I can watch subtitled anime with a kanji look up feature and anki export.

Learning Kanji has actually made so many things easier since the language is setup for kanji. I really only relized this when I saw 月光 and could instantly read it and know what it meant.

I now watch anime with subtitles, try reading web novels with yomichan. And while it was painful in the beginning Im making progress and I can feel it. Well its still painful… Reading a chapter of reincarnated as a sword takes time, but Im doing it faster with less looking up words and phrases.

My goal is to reach level 17 by the year’s end. 20 might be hard but 17 should be doable…

Also I was on level ten so i posted the above then saw the 9 and realized I was on the tenth not having completed 10. Now that Im properly on 10 i wanted to post here. I’ll likely come back everyonce and a while to track my thoughts and progress.

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おめでとう!You can make a study log to update your progress and keep you motivated.

I completely agree with your statement:

“Learning Kanji has actually made so many things easier since the language is setup for kanji. I really only relized this when I saw 月光 and could instantly read it and know what it meant.”

I’ve found the same thing myself … have been studying Japanese off and on for about 10 years but never seemed to move past upper beginner level. A lot of it is to do with not reading enough I think and part of that is I kept putting off learning Kanji properly and thought I would get to it later.

Since starting WaniKani and actually committing to it I find that not only has my vocabulary has increased immensely, my retention of those words has improved as well.

Previously I would pickup something to try and read but if I had to look up every 2nd Kanji I would get bored and quit … now (yes even at level 8), it’s not such a chore to look up meanings and from the radicals been drilled in I find to more fun to try and guess the meaning before looking it up.

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Both (Dongaro & ninjabassonline) of your posts are very relatable to me – especially these parts.

‘For context I took night school classes in high school then tried self study every once in a while for the next couple years. After visiting Japan I arranged for a tutor online and continued studying for 1.5 years. I learned a fair bit of grammar but I was always putting off the kanji.’

‘I’ve found the same thing myself … have been studying Japanese off and on for about 10 years but never seemed to move past upper beginner level. A lot of it is to do with not reading enough I think and part of that is I kept putting off learning Kanji properly and thought I would get to it later.’

I too have started studying Japanese around ten years ago in Japanese classes which spanned two years. After that I’ve been studying Japanese on and off including many long breaks, one of them even lasting 5 years because I had been prioritising other things in my life.

Due to all these irregular and long breaks I estimate my Japanese only to be somewhere around pre-intermediate level as of now with speaking and Kanji still stuck somewhere in the beginner levels. My struggle with remembering Kanji turned most of my reading attempts into a bothersome experience as I had to look up several Kanji in almost each sentence I encountered which demotivated me even further.

As I was fed up with my Kanji struggles, I decided to try another method (yet again) and started using Wanikani. I like it so far and I too feel like I’ve been able to learn quite a bit already and that my Kanji recognition has become better (thanks to the (amusingly absurd) mnemonics). Once I progress a few more levels and have some more Kanji under my belt, I’ll try reading some simple short stories or a beginner friendly manga again.

@ Dongaro: I hope you’ll be able to reach your goal of progressing to level 17 by the end of this year. 頑張って。

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Yep. I first took Japanese classes some 15 years go, then didn’t touch it for years until I had a renewed interest that only lasted about 8 months, then didn’t touch it again for years. Learning kanji with WaniKani has really given me a new perspective on the language and has motivated me to try and go through with it once and for all.

We’ll see how that goes I guess lol.

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Putting in my update for self reflection. Seems like I will reach my goal since im on level 16 now so should be on 17 by years end.

Advances
-now using Tobira as Ive mostly outgrown Genki 1 and 2
-Took JLPT N5 and i think i passed it, though the listening was problematic and will need work for higher levels
-watching more childrens anime and understanding enough that I enjoy it, though theres a long way to go before I can watch something like GTO nativly

All of these are despite a broken arm and all the challenges that caused. Ive only missed a handful of wanikani days (less than 7) since I joined.

So on the surface thonga are great but it hard not to get discouraged somedays. Trying to read visual novels or even shounen manga leads to lots of ambiguity.

But other times Im surprised how much I know. Other times when Im reading Aria I wonder how much Im readong and how much im jusy infering from the pictures.

Still this year was productive and Ive made head way. As long as I keep studying kanji so I can read more and practicing manga and visual novels Ill eventually get there.

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家庭教師がいる聞くことがうれしい。それが一番大切な勉強方法です。鰐蟹で学んだ言葉を本物の会話に使てください。頑張ってね。

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You reached your goal (Level 17)! Congrats!

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Now at level 20. Just before entering death levels.

Im now able to read more than I was. But now the annoying this is when I come across words where I know one character but not the other.

Its like so close, and I can see it but not yet.

Im reading aria and demon slayer as well a vry slowly going threw a visual novel.

But Im also learning kanji outside of wanikani as a result. Some common kanji wont apear untill lv 30+ so im learnong them in the wild. Something ill need to do eventually regardless.

Anyways just posting this update for future me to look back at.

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