Hit level 60 a few months ago and moved to Japan! Here are my thoughts

I hit level 60 back in may and have just moved to Japan doing JET for at least a year. My thoughts on Wanikani after having used some of the words/phrases and also kanji on a daily basis:

Wanikani is an awesome tool for learning kanji. It truly is. I’m so happy I bought my sub.
The problems I have with it, though, are that

  1. A fair amount of what it teaches you is not what Japanese people use in daily conversations. This means that when you’re having a conversation with a Japanese person and you feel super hyped up to use a word you learned in Wanikani there’s a 50/50 possibility there’s a more natural/better word/phrase for it. Not to knock Wanikani since it can’t possibly teach colloquial phrases, but maybe add a misnomer for words/kanji that will really only appear on tests/reading.
  2. I found it more beneficial to download yomichan and the wanikani override plugin to check some answers before answering. Some people may consider this cheating, but it works for me. I still remember the kanji’s reading/meaning but sometimes I can’t remember the EXACT word wanikani wants even though in English there might be several other correct answers. I feel like this is the correct path to take because a lot of the times there are no direct translations between Japanese and English. It’s very much based on what “feels” right. If there are kanji that I don’t know the reading/meaning then I will of course miss those. But I feel like it was holding me back to miss a kanji just because I said “To put shoes on” instead of “To put on boots” for 履く. It was so frustrating lol.
  3. That’s really all :slight_smile: Wanikani has been a great study tool besides those 2 things :smiley: Gj Wanikani. I pray you always stay up and running :pray:

Also I guess I should offer up some words of encouragement for people who are on their way to the summit of this mountain called Wanikani.
Lvl 60 isn’t the end game :slight_smile: just enjoy the kanji you do learn and find practical applications for them. lvl 60 is where you get started.
Whenever you’re feeling like you can’t study anymore, it’s ok to take breaks. It’s ok to miss kanji. It’s ok to not be perfect. Do what you enjoy, and know that you’re making yourself a better person by studying kanji/japanese!

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