If you’re getting overwhelmed by 50 reviews, that doesn’t make you lazy.
Some people are better at handling things than others. You may be good at handling Wanikani, but I’m sure there’s some things you are slower at, that others excel in. I hope I don’t sound rude, but I really don’t agree with judging people for going slow, or thinking you’re somehow better because you’re going full speed I’m sorry if that comes off as rude or I’m assuming something, that’s just my opinion.
Being slower at something DOES NOT MEAN you are lazy.
Anyway, sorry for barging in again, @SpookySpooks, let’s all please just remember that everyone is different and we can’t expect everyone to be able to handle the same stuff you can
“Fast” and “slow” are a bit subjective and relative. I do think it’s good to be cognizant of your pace and consider how it fits into your learning objectives though.
If your goal is to be at X level (of WK, or JLPT, whatever) in Y amount of time, it’s important to know whether or not you’re on track for it. If you’re going faster than anticipated then great, you’ll get done early or may have room to slow down and work on other stuff. If you’re not going as fast as your objectives would dictate, may consider changing some time allocation or study routines.
You are not responsible for what others say. You’re only responsible for what you say, and we are definitely judging you for what you’ve said throughout this thread.
Some life advise, you should avoid telling people how to live there life, spend their time/money, or believing their is a “correct/only way to do things”. Those paths can take you to extremes.
WK, is a product you pay for after level 3. As long as you respect the user agreement. What you do with that product is your own damn business!
+my personal opinion is WK is awesome because it is quite flexibel. Besides the set SRS, the set levels and surrendering your soul for eternity to the Crabigator you can pretty much use it to your specific needs.
There are even a bunch of user scripts to fine tune as you want
You did not ‘sign up to WK and then forget about it’. You did enough WK to reach 1400 active items, reset a few levels, and then apparently quit for 2 years.
Additional post worth reading, where you yourself say WK is a huge time sink:
I guess I’d agree that being slow isn’t something to be proud of, but it’s not something to be ashamed of either. Sometimes you gotta hit vacation for 2 weeks and recharge.
That’s exactly what this post seems to be for though; shaming people who take their time.
“You don’t have a schedule.”
“You do lessons on a whim. Meaning that most of the time “you don’t feel like it”, since you need to be motivated first.”
“Learning kanji is not really a priority in your life.”
“Yes you have a life, much like other wanikaners. Do you mean you are more busy than other lvl 60s (that got there in 1-2 years?”
“If you are comparing yourself to children lol”
“It’s more laziness than anything else. I’m sorry if you get overwhelmed by 50 reviews?”
Sure, encouraging people based on opinion and experience to do reviews at an individual’s normal speed rather than intentionally taking it slow is fine and makes for an interesting discussion/debate, but to say that people who are (intentionally or unintentionally) leveling up slowly are just lazy is wrong.
Very true - the only person you should be competing against is yourself.
And even if it were a race, it would be a marathon not a sprint. In a marathon you actually have to purposely plan to go slower than your max or you’ll quickly burn out or even hurt yourself. The same is true for WK and any other aspect of Japanese learning.
I DO encourage new users to go slower, as often new users are not used to the bombardment of work they’re going to find themselves with if they go at breakneck speed from the beginning. You seem to have a misconception that going slow is the result of “not feeling like it” and comes from a place of disorganization and laziness. For many users, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Like the marathon runner, they purposely plan slowness to work around their lives, or even to allow time for balancing kanji study with other Japanese learning (like grammar). Pacing yourself is an extremely important skill to learn for just about any aspect of your life.
Now, some people do slow down due to events in their lives. Priorities change, and that’s okay. We are not some cult that demands that all users must focus on Japanese above all else. We must encourage people to use the program in a way that is healthy for them, and help people get back on their feet when they fall off, not criticize those who don’t fit whatever ideal usage we think we have. None of us truly knows what could be going on in others’ lives. We don’t know anything about their mental and emotional health.
And, btw, for some people “not feeling like it” is actually a very valid and frustrating hurdle. Think clinical depression or even depression following a life event. In that case, it is certainly not laziness that stops them - it a very real and present struggle that can take a lot to overcome.
Does it really matter what speed people learn Japanese at? I can almost assume that a great deal of people on WaniKani are hobbyists, where the learning process is where the fun lies before consuming their chosen native material.
I intentionally try to space out my lessons specifically so they sink in before getting blasted with new reviews. I’ve found from personal experience that flying through as fast as possible makes me learn kanji faster, but I constantly found myself struggling to retain the older stuff. I actually reset around lvl 17 because of that.
Why is this a bad thing?
To begin with I am NOT doing reviews between midnight and 10am. Just not. Period.
So when do I do my reviews? Mostly when I am at work or when I commute or simply have nothing better to do for 10 minutes. Which means two things.
Sometimes I have time for wanikani at 4pm. Some other day it’s 6pm. And another day it’s 4pm and them 11pm too.
And yes, sometimes I just don’t do whole 120 piled up reviews as I only have 15 or 20 minutes for it.
I’m sorry if that comes off as rude or I’m assuming something, that’s just my opinion.