Disclaimer note : I am French (which means genetically bad at English) so there will be errors (grammatical and/or orthographic). So please, don’t take offense (else, I will put the post in French and laugh maniacally while watching you try to translate it 
).
“Investing in the “Lifetime subscription” was the best move I could do with WK”
Podor - 2025
Start Date: 2020-09-05 (1606 days ago)
Reach level 60 : 2025-01-28
This stunt was performed without a break, reset nor vacation mode.
While others try to finish WK in a year, I choose to take it slow and steady. So, for all of you who are afraid that you are too slow, I would like to say : “No you are not”.
TL-DR
I reach level 60.
It took me long enough.
I am glad !
Long story (short ?)
-
Who am I ?
As I said earlier, I am french. Other than that, I am in couple, without child (but a black panther cat) with an engineering job. So, outside of work, I have some free time. -
Why did I start learning Japanese ?
Like many, I developed an interest for Japan while I was young through drawing (manga and anime) which led me to be interested in the culture and ultimately in the language.
While I was 16 I had a grand plan to become an engineer, learn japanese and go work in Japan. And, well…, things got slightly mixed…
I did get my diploma, but didn’t learn Japanese before going to work there (for 6 months which was enough for me to realize that their work/life balance is not Podor-compatible) and 10 years after coming back to France, I finally started to learn japanese even if I have absolutely no use for it.
Why ten years after, you ask ?
Because, I was pretty stressed and pissed off by the project I was working on at that time and needed to concentrate on something else. I started by picking an app called “Drops” which makes you learn vocabulary 5 minutes per 12h. Although you won’t learn a lot with just these 5 minutes, it was enough to re-ignite my interest in the langage, make me search for more resources and finally discover WaniKani and … well, here we are ! -
What I went through during my time with WK ?
At first I wasn’t sure WK was good for me, so I took my time with the first 3 levels before deciding to take the lifetime subscription during the end-of-year sale.
Then I lurked a lot in the forum to grab every piece of advice I could get and finally got to a sustainable rhythm. At that time, I did 5 to 10 lessons per day.
In August 2021 life kicked me pretty hard with a serious case of work-related burn-out (I was still on the same project that made me start learning Japanese) and a depression (if you are thinking of doing something like that, I don’t recommend it… I still haven’t fully recovered
). Even with all that I only reduced the quantity of lessons to 5 per day when I started to take the treatments because I am too stubborn to let anything go 
. Afterwards, I would only increase to 10 per day on days where there were radicals or kana-vocabulary and 6 per day when the lesson picker was introduced.
I have seen WaniKani evolve during these years. Sometimes it was frustrating (I am talking to you “Sorry we have changed the meaning recently” message !!). Other times it was great, like the lesson picker (my brain can’t process more than 3 new kanji per day ^^’).
But overall, I like the tool since, thanks to it, I am not afraid of kanji anymore and I know some of them \o/
- Grammar ? what’s that ?
At first, while I was still young and innocent, I was thinking about studying grammar and reading and listening while learning Kanji. But I quickly had to admit that I didn’t have the necessary time / mental energy / concentration capacity. Sooo… we will say I kept it for later! Yes, much later… (the one who said “more like never”, I heard you !!)
Note that it didn’t prevent me from reading the first 4 volumes of ふらいんぐうぃっち though. Yes in Japanese ! God, why are you so skeptical ?!
What I wish I’d done differently
Learning Japanese 20 years ago might have been a good idea, but I don’t know if WK was already available…
Other than that, honestly, I don’t think I would change anything because I still believe I did the best I could considering the circumstances.
User scripts I used
-
Wanikani: Level Duration 2
-
Wanikani Heatmap
I mainly used it to make sure I did my lessons (you can call me Doris:tropical_fish:
) -
Wanikani Double-Check
Because, sometimes I get the idea but can’t for the life of me remember the exact word. And other times my fingers identify as “cooked pastas” and I can’t type a 3 letter word without at least 5 typos in it… -
Wanikani: Overall Progress Bars
Shiny colors fill the space !!
-
Wanikani: Reorder Omega
The back to back saved so much of my brain resources ! -
WaniKani Review Summary
To compensate one of the evolutions of WK
Other resources
- Drops - not that I would recommend it on the long term, but it kick started this journey, so I would feel bad not to acknowledge it…
- Assimil - for the 2 weeks I tried to learn grammar in paralele of WK
- Youtube - too many resources but I had a fondness for the オーディオブックKILab channel before he closed it and go to stand.fm.
- Smouldering Durtles - because I can’t alway take my PC with me.
And now ?
I will first finish the remaining lessons (it should take me a month or so…). Then, when I feel that the number of reviews has decreased enough, I will restart reading… and probably resurrect the kanji and verbs I burned 2 or 3 years ago and for which I forgot the reading because I didn’t used them.
