How has Wanikani helped you?

I have been using wanikani for about 2 months now and I am currently on level 5. Even though I am only on this level i feel that wanikani has helped me greatly with vocab and reading Kanji combined with Memrise. I wanted to see how those people who have reached level 60 have benefited in using Wanikani in their Japanese studies in terms of Reading, Speaking and Writing.

Looks like you’re level 5 actually :thinking:

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he is level 5 twice = 10 obviously :roll_eyes::roll_eyes::roll_eyes:

lol my bad

I can read newspaper editorials about North Korean missile launches to my heart’s content.

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Oh wow! that took less than a year?

What I’m really pleased about is the ability to pick up and read anything that I want. It may seem silly, but even if I don’t know all the words in a page of Japanese text, just the fact that I can recognize and look up the words that I don’t know is a huge improvement. For speaking and writing, wanikani hasn’t particularly helped me there, other than the occasional vocabulary boost. Going to Japan and actually conversing (haltingly) with people smashed any illusions I had of being able to have complete conversations without having to resort to hand gestures or the occasional English word. Definitely do not neglect grammar. Wanikani is just one of many things you have to do…

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Well, the kanji portion did. I had been studying Japanese since 2013, so my overall Japanese is more than one year’s worth, but yeah.

I’m only level 17, but I love how I don’t get overwhelmed by kanji anymore. It’s so much easier to look up and learn new words when I try translating something. I’ve been focusing on my grammar studies for the past two weeks and I can actually just focus on grammar points instead of fussing around with kanji/vocab most of the time.

However, there is one really big disadvantage. My WK lessons eat up most of my learning capacity in a day so I don’t really bother adding new words to anki anymore. I’m pretty much avoiding anything that frequently uses specialized vocabulary terms during my semi-serious japanese time.

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I like that I can pretty much read anything that’s given to me. Like lessons plans, newsletters, schedules, notices, etc. Not going to lie, my eyes still glaze over when faced with a page of writing but if I just buckle down and look at it, I can usually get through most of it. There’s a few times when I don’t know some kanji and I’ll have to look it up but I find that helpful because that gives me a bit of an edge on wanikani when it comes up later. Wanikani really helps solidify it for me especially because I usually only learn one kanji reading or the kanji in the context of the word. For example, I knew over half the kanji in my last level (32) but I only really knew the kanji’s meaning and the kunyomi, but because I recognized the kanji I was able to memorize the Onyomi really fast. When wanikani introduces entirely new kanji to me, it takes a bit longer for me to get it but I still do eventually get it, whereas using flashcards, I’ll just forget it two days later.

Also! I really love that wanikani gives you words using the kanji, so when I talk to coworkers/etc and they use a word I’m not familiar with, I can check the dictionary and ask if it’s (for example) "頑張るの頑” (がんばるのがん) or something like that, which makes my dictionary checking a lot easier.

I really hope that made sense! Sorry for rambling.

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WaniKani has taken me to a level where I can open a light novel or manga and read it enjoyably.

Of course, it’s not full comprehension(specialised words, the remaining common kanji remaining), but it gets me through books without having to skip much kanji at all. Though for light novels, I am using the kindle app to select and check words I haven’t learnt.

It is a recognition tool, so it will just target your reading ability, everything else is another journey. :slight_smile:

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