I just made an account here yesterday and today I’ve been through all the lessons and did a review. Now the review and lesson options both show zero and says I can’t do more until 1 hour is passed. Why does it make you wait and hour and is there anything else I should do in the meanwhile?
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What is WaniKani? | WaniKani Knowledge
WaniKani Knowledge | What is WaniKani? How do I do this and that? What is life? Find the answers here.
Both of those have the answer to your question. In short, reviews are spaced out in specific intervals to best help with your learning. It will be slow at first, but it will pick up with time. New lessons will come once you have learned previous items well enough.
In the meantime, you are free to do whatever you what. Since the start of WK is slow, you may even consider starting grammar studies, for example.
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New levels don’t unlock until most of the kanji and radicals have been bumped up to “Guru,” which means reviewing them several times at spaced intervals.
It can make for a slow start, especially if you have Japanese experience, but it’s also why the site works.
The quickest level-up time is just under 7 days, if you catch all your items up for review right away. If you just do it once a day or so, it should still be about a week if you’re able to nail them each time.
The site’s designed to increase your kanji literacy, which means being able to identify each one you learn quickly (as you would letters or words in your own language). There’s no real way for it to do that if it isn’t checking your recall/recognition even having not seen the kanji in a little while, so it doesn’t let you cram.
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Spaced repetition.
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took the same review multiple times now and I have to wait forever wtf. Is there any way I can just move on to the next lesson without having to wait a bunch of hours? This is taking forever even though I’ve already got it all memorized!
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You do understand what SRS is, no?
The FAQ and guide were linked for you, as well as receiving explanations. Guess you didn’t bother to read anything? Just liking to complain?
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This is seriously p*ssing me off… i learn really fast and i want more lessons. the “Start lesson” is greyed out on everything and i don’t know what to do! I deleted all progress on my account and completed the lesson one (3 quizzes) 100% in less than 5 minutes and i still can’t do anything else! Is there a way to move on or am i stuck with this programming for the way normal people learn?
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I understand the concept of SRS… when it works. My learning speed is much faster than what this site is offering and i finished everything in less than 5 minutes and i’m locked. This is a good concept, but it’s rendering the entire application unusable for me.
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WaniKani is slow for everyone at the start. I guarantee you, everyone here wanted to go faster their first day.
Keep in mind the slowness at the beginning isn’t to screw you over personally, it’s so that all users settle into a habit of learning. If it’s so easy now, there’s nothing stopping you from checking in with the site tomorrow, right? And then in a month or two you’ll have the habit down to a T even when things do get challenging. That habit is part of what it means to be a good learner.
Nothing is stopping you from looking up kanji on your own in the meantime. With the time you would be putting into more lessons, why not study a bit of grammar or vocab with a different resource?
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If you can find a way to learn 2000 kanji and 6000 words in less than a year, then go for it.
I was frustrated like you back when I first started in July, but as of now I’m on track to finish right around the same time this year.
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I just finished 225 reviews because I went out today and then took a nap, so they all stacked up over 12 hours. On top of that, I have 80 new lessons due to me leveling up last night.
Enjoy the slowness while it lasts.
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If you really think you can do it faster than WaniKani offers then go ahead. As much as most people here will say it’s great and all, it’s not for everyone. There are plenty of Anki decks out there for learning kanji as well as several other methods one that pops out of my head right now being Remember the Kanji. I can’t really tell you much about how any other method works or if they’ll be any faster since I’ve only used WaniKani but I wish you the best of luck!
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Never have truer words been typed…
After passing level 18 the amount of reviews I started getting was insane and I’ve had to rein it in somewhat speedwise otherwise I would’ve had to start cutting people out of my life.
Best of luck indeed. I’ve had a look at other methods. RTK is a cool concept but it only teaches you the meanings. Plus without wanikani you’ll never have the experience of scratching your head wondering what the hell is a longcat…
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If I may throw it in, I own this awesome shirt:
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If you can learn 2000+ kanji in less than a year some other way, go for it.
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Patience, grasshopper.
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That most certainly is awesome.
What’s the point in bragging about how smart you are, and how terrible you think this site is?
If you’re that awesome that you don’t need this terrible site, then just leave. No need for bragging and talking 
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If you were as special as you say you are, you’d be using your time in a more wisely way.
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By level 5 you’ll be begging Koichi to make it slower
Let’s have a fun little bet, if you can get to level 8, I’ll set my profile picture to anything you choose for 10 levels, no matter how embarrassing
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