I’m loving WaniKani so far and have got all of the useful chrome extensions and tampermonkey scripts 
However, it seems to be waiting a long time to give me any Kanji, at full blast how long does it take to pass level one?
I have memorised the Kanji but just waiting to get given it via the system, seems like a waiting game for now haha!
This question may be a bit premature so excuse me if it’s been asked tons of times,
Thanks!!
Welcome @Tomuchan! The fastest you can complete level 1 and 2 is 3 days 10 hours each, after that it’s 6 days 20 hours per level.
Make sure to read the FAQ and the Guide, there is a lot of good info in these for new users. If you’re looking for further resources check out the community compiled list of resources. For extra features and fixes for those small things which keep bugging you consult The New And Improved List Of API and Third Party Apps.
I hope you’ll have a good time here with us and am looking forward to seeing you around!
Welcome! In this realm, you will find life forms that seek to reach the point beyond kanji enlightenment (The Burning of Turtles). Worshippers of the Crabigator come in all forms - lovely humans, mythical creatures, the brightest and most colorful fruits, vegetables to feed your soul, a poll option you should always choose… and even bittersweet chocolate disguised as めっちゃウザイ little pods.
Now, here’s what you need to know:
The WaniKani FAQ which gives you the 101 on
a) Before You Join
b) Common First-Level Problems
c) The Basics
d) Learning Method
e) Account
f) Sect Names Other 
The WaniKani Guide (…also known as “how I learned to learn ~2,000 kanji.”)
The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List! which is a long and thorough list of Japanese resources that the community has worked hard to gather together and is consistently being updated.
The New And Improved List Of API and Third Party Apps that enhances your learning experience with WaniKani.
See you around! If you have any questions, just ask. We don’t bite much.
P.S.
If you’ve come to play with us, head on over to the madness that is the poll thread.
Warning: Please proceed with utmost caution. There is no turning back.
Thank you for the welcome Kumirei!!
I did check out the FAQ but totally missed the part about when Kanji is released! I see it now 
It’s been at least 2 full days so i’m hoping it gives me Kanji tomorrow, i’m dying for it! haha
Thank you for the resources Appreciate it! I wasn’t aware of this community till I joined the site!
hahah I look forward to the madness that awaits, and thank you also for the thorough list, very useful!!
See you around guys!
Keep in mind that the SRS intervals listed in the Guide is incorrect. For Levels 1 and 2, the SRS intervals are as follows:
2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 23 hours, 7 days, 14 days, (1 month, 4 months?)
I haven’t tested for the last two intervals (I haven’t gotten that far in my second account yet), but that’s probably right.
After level 2, the intervals change to:
4 hours, 8 hours, 23 hours, 1 day 23 hours, 7 days, 14 days, 1 month, 4 months.
To unlock the next set of kanji or vocab, you need to get through the first 4 intervals.
Oh I see! I had entered a few wrong so i’m not sure totally how the SRS system works but i’ve been given many within an hour or so of each other, my last was sometime today and next is at 6am, then 7am, 8am, then 6pm!
Should be coming soon!
Thanks Rmizuno
May I ask, you’re obviously super high level! What do you personally use to study along side WaniKani? I’m keen to get myself speaking and listening as much as I can as well as studying, I keep seeing these videos like “Learning instead of studying a language makes a big difference”
haha, but they never suggest a practical way to attain this way of learning.
Personally, I started with Genki (textbook) - and supplemented with a few random textbooks and Tae Kim’s online grammar book. For additional vocab I used Memrise, and since then it’s just learning things “in the wild”. I’d check out the links that Kumirei and gojarappe posted, which has a pretty comprehensive list of resources.
I haven’t spent a very significant amount of time listening and speaking, therefore I’m not very good at it yet, but generally the advice is to just starting listening and speaking as soon as you can. Tofugu has a good article on learning Japanese from anime that I think provides you good guidelines on how to get started. Also, being able to find someone to talk to makes a huge difference.
If you are curious on how the SRS levels work, here is the formula:
Sum up the number of mistakes that you make on an item in one session. Round up to an even number. If it’s Apprentice, divide by 2. The result is the number of levels it goes down.
So…
For 1-2 mistakes, apprentice items go down 1 level.
For 3-4 mistakes, apprentice items go down 2 levels.
For 5-6 mistakes, apprentice items go down 3 levels.
For 1-2 mistakes, non-apprentice items go down 2 levels.
For 3-4 mistakes, non-apprentice items go down 4 levels.
For 5-6 mistakes, non-apprentice items go down 6 levels.
I think most of the time people only make 1 or 2 mistakes per item in a single session (e.g. once for meaning and/or once for reading), so the simplified rule is sufficient most of the time: down 1 for apprentice, 2 for everything else.
Very useful all of that! Thanks man So if I make a mistake it will be only that item that goes down a level right? The rest go up, that is how it seems to work visually 
Luckily i’m moving to Tokyo in about 10 days so I won’t be short of listening practise hahah, I’m progressing through Genki but it is very dry, I’m anxious as I feel I will eventually be able to memorise tons of vocab and kanji but when it comes to unlocking this in conversation I may not be able to access it. I’m also using Bunpro for grammar backup. Anki to review the content of Genki.
How is your conversation? After amassing a vocab of over 2000 words can you have a pretty decent flowing conversation? Or do you find it hard to summon the words instinctively
Thanks for answering all my questions! Really helps so much at this stage where i’m convinced I might study and memorise to no prevail when it comes to actually speaking in real life and constructing sentences naturally.
Luca Lampariello’s method makes me feel anxious about “studying”, he focuses on a more passive approach with listening and translating back and forth.
Without any other speaking (or writing maybe?) practice, it’s pretty much impossible to summon words instinctively. To help with the WK words, you can use kaniwani.com, which tests English to Japanese for vocabs that you have already unlocked in WK.
I’m not sure who Luca Lampariello is (I’ll look him up later) - but “passive listening” which I usually define as … like listening to the radio - is (to me) almost useless. It does help to get used to listening and to help get used to the rhythm/intonation and stuff, but unless you are actively trying to understand (and maybe even come up with theoretical responses)… i don’t find it very helpful. Just my personal opinion…
…or you could use the Self-Study Quiz userscript to test E->J radicals, kanji, and vocab (as well as J->E).
Great idea! thank you!!
This is his technique:
Of course here the example was Thai
Passive was a bad choice of word on my part but his technique is more about getting a larger context and just absorbing chucks without emphasis on grammar as this will be revealed through the process supposedly.
I have also found the radio to just prove useless, I would much prefer at least video for proper context to conversations
Oh, I see. Yes, there are two main schools of thinking, one is just learning through context (listening and speaking naturally) and one is by studying by… theory? where you look up grammar points and memorize vocab lists, etc. There are definitely pros and cons to each, and overall, I think the best way is definitely a combination of both. Everyone will have to find their own balance - and of course may be affected by your time constraints, opportunities, etc.
Yeahh true, a combination of both would be very useful! I’d like to go about using this technique however i’m totally unsure how even though this seems quite self explanatory, maybe I should just do one sentence at a time? Hmmm tricky
If you’re looking for conversational Japanese, I’d recommend the app LingoDeer if you don’t already have it. Amazing app for teaching basic grammar, sentence structure and words!
I will give it a try, thank you!!
No worries, I hope it helps. I was at a bit of a loss about sentence structures until I found LingoDeer. It even has a little summary at the start of new lessons to explain WHY things are structured that way, so you can understand the placement.