In a year, you can get significantly far enough to be able to get by. You can get to like level 40 or so at a fairly comfortable pace. That is still a lot to have learned. Plus at that point you will have gotten significantly better at learning new kanji, so you should be more able to tackle new kanji on your own. Still though, obviously the ideal would be to finish it all the way out. Since it sounds like your situation is less than ideal, maybe settling for 40 is good enough. Not sure though, just my 3 cents. Best of luck.
Psssst. Hey, kid, I got the goods . . .
Donāt share codes.
Edit: I think it works for monthly and yearly subscriptions but sadly not the lifetime subscription.
@anon20839864 I see what you did there, but itās still possible to check through the edit history. Maybe you want to do something about that? (I donāt know if itās possible though)
Do you have plans to maintain your Japanese once you begin studying Arabic? If you cram hard in Japanese for a year and then do the same with Arabic, youāll probably forget all your Japanese during that year of Arabic.
I studied French for 3 years, then Japanese for 1.5 years, then Arabic for 2 years. Now I canāt speak any of those languages.
If you get to level 60 in a year on wanikani and then stop reading Japanese, Iām sure you lose your kanji real quick.
Also, I would agree with TamanegiNoKame. You could easily get to a lower level on wanikani and that might be a more meaningful, realistic target.
Iām pretty sure itās possible because Iāve been on another discourse forum where checking edit history is disabled (at least for normal users).
There is a wonderful guide about āThe fast wayā in WK. I do it and itās very manageable. I level up every week (7 days), donāt feel stressed and Iām leaning SO MUCH!
Cheers to @jprspereira for that. Great guide!!
And if you are asikg: when will I be what level? When do I know X percent of N3 Vocab / G6 Jojo Kanji /�
Here you go:https://www.wkstats.com/
(You will find your API Key under https://www.wanikani.com/settings/account)
~T
Edit: there is a wonderful website where you can watch anime with japanese subs. Perfect for learning japanese at an intermediate level
Donāt want to post it here, but google something like āanime with japanese subā should lead you the way.
My one-year anniversary of registering on WK is May 27, if that gives an idea. You wonāt reach level 60 but you can certainly learn the great majority of kanji youāll see in a year.
But keep in mind that it doesnāt do much good if you donāt also study grammar, and itās extremely time consuming to do both grammar and WK full speed. I havenāt been able to myself!
And I also share the concern youāll forget it all within months of starting Arabic. SRS can only work so much, 4 months is good but burning an item doesnāt guarantee retention (especially if it was a fortunate guess).
He said he has being studying grammar for the past 14 months, so he should be alright. Reaching level 60 is not necessary, and if he really wants to he can just buy a couple of months after the end of the yearly subscription. Itās not an ideal situation, but I think he can learn a lot in one year, so itās worth it.
Do you at least passively know the languages?
I recently spent about 2 years in France [more than 10 years after my last French classes]. I donāt believe my high school French helped me. I more or less had to start over from scratch. Itās possible that my earlier exposure made it easier to learn a second time but I never felt like I āunlockedā my previous French level or was able to do any bootstrapping.
While I was studying Arabic I studied abroad in Egypt. By the time I left, I was very comfortable in day-to-day interactions and basic conversations. While living in France I spent a week in Morocco [about 8 years after studying Arabic] and by the end had recalled a few expressions (āI want to drink some waterā) but that was about all. Arabic script is pretty easy to read and I havenāt lost that abilityāalthough Iāve forgotten all but some basic vocab and grammarāeven passively.
And the same with Japanese. I didnāt think my Japanese level was very high, but after self-studying genki 1 and a year of wanikani, I was unable to read an essay I wrote near the end of my Japanese studies [in university].
At least for me, the matra is true: use it or lose it.
Speaking of which, my somewhat conversational French is about to take a dive into the toilet, now that Iām living in Japan.
Thatās so interesting, though! Must have been amazing to live in so many countries, visit different places and speak those languages.
Use it or lose it is definitely true. At least for me. I studied Swedish for like 10 years and while I can understand a lot, trying to hold a basic conversation is a struggle. :'D Same with German, I studied it for three years in high school, didnāt use it at all in uni and have forgotten most of it.
Very interesting, glad Iāve learned this the easy way.
Lesson definitely learned, thanks for sharing your experience.
I agree. I spent lots of years in school having to learn French since I live in Canada, but since nobody around me actually speaks French it just kind of sat in my brain and disappeared. My goal with Japanese is to be able to read most higher level texts and watch anime without subtitles. Iāve got ahold of some manga thatās actually in Japanese (Fullmetal Alchemist) and I have a few books in it too. Iām determined not to forget what I learned in Japanese because I actually have a passion for it, unlike French, which I always kind of hated because I could never get my mouth to make all the sounds.
I mentioned to someone else above that Iāve been studying grammar, sentence structure, conjugation etc. for over a year now so I think Iām good.
Whoops, that was a pretty major fact to miss. Sorry OP.
Basic answer - you can definitely learn enough so go for it! Just make sure you get enough exposure after.
And yes, despite growing up in Montreal my conversational French has been fairly limited since Iām mostly around anglos, which is a shame. My friend otoh grew up in a French speaking house which made a big difference.
Thereās lots of bragging about 7-11 day level ups⦠it hardly makes it average. (Average people just give up and never reach these levels) One time I checked a few people in the archives who bragged about fast leveling up and found that, they had progressed very little compared to what they were bragging about. Yes, there are people who can muster this pace, but this is only doable if you are a very good memoriser and keep on top of leeches AND can dedicate the time. At some point, your burn rate must at least equal your lesson rate or workload will grow.
Speaking personally, I let leeches get out of control and my last 20 levels probably took a month each. I am NOT what I would consider a good memorizer, and have somewhat limited time to dedicate to getting things done. I am, however, very tenacious. Level 60 took me 3.5 years to reach, but I did it. Now Iām in the process of resurrecting kanji and re-learning the ones Iāve forgotten during that time period - itās much easier the second time through! For me a lifetime subscription was worth the money - Iām still using WK daily and about to cross my 4 year anniversary.
That is cool bro! I canāt wait to finish my Japanese myself I love it
You can reach lvl 60 in about 355 days at the fastest pace; so you could actually have everything at least gurued by the end of a year, but itās just insane, that pace demands you to wake up in the middle of the night to do some reviews.
What most people with a fast pace do, is doing normal levels in 7 days (so you have 4 hours leeway) and fast levels in 3.5 days (2 hours leeway) that pace also guarantees you reaching level 60 in about a year⦠With the difference that you get to choose exacty at what time you level up so it doesnāt compromise with your current lifestyle. So if you follow said routine, youāll be at lvl 60 in May next year, yet youāll need at least 6 months to burn everything, but this is something that shouldnāt be a problem even if you begin learning arabic, because youāll have the means to help yourself.
Iām myself trying to get to lvl 60 in exactly a year, so far i still have 3 days free⦠i imagine them like timeouts⦠and you shouldnāt use a timeout in the first half of the game⦠since the last 12 levels are short, thatās where i believe pressure builds up.
Anyway, go for it. Youāve time
Hey @tmahrt itās your cakeday soon. Howās the move to Japan, I hope youāre enjoying your new country of residence, your job, your colleagues, the local food, but most importantly, the local language!
Is this necromancy I spy >_>
@plantron HEEEEEELLLLLOOOOO!!! Thank you for the kind words.
Itās hard to believe Iāve taken a 3 month hiatus from the forums! I think my days of actively posting are over. :ā(
But, I have so much to share! Iāll make a new post about it.