I’m super slow

I started 495 days (1.36 years) ago and am on level 36. Is that slow? My worst time on WK was when the burn reviews started in earnest. I only use this one SRS and other self study materials.

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Hi Super Slow, I’m Cat :smile_cat:

I move at a rate of about 5-15 lessons a day. There are some days where I won’t do any new lessons at all due to needing to prioritize other tasks. I almost always do reviews every day, but not necessarily the whole thing. I’ve been doing this since September and I’m only at level 12.
The nice thing about learning a language on your own is you really do get to move at your own pace. Sometimes you can slow it down and sometimes you can speed it up but ultimately you call the shots depending on what you feel like you can handle for one day. Theres nothing wrong with changing the pace or going slow or needing to reshuffle your priorities on any given day and theres no standard overall pace you “should be” going. It’s so easy to get lost in those “shoulds” but they can create more anxiety than motivation so dont focus on how you think you should be doing and focus more on how you think you’d get the most out of learning. What is needed for you to have more fun and enjoyment, to retain more, to stress less?

And what’s wanikani going to do if you dont do your reviews for one day, expel you?!

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Welcome to Team Slow!

xD Slow and steady is better than not at all! I’ve been hacking away at this longer than you but I think you’ve gotten a biiiiiit farther!
Learning a language is an ongoing process that you never really finish, so we might as well all hang out and not finish together! :partying_face:

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Hey don’t worry you are doing great

I started here about 5 years ago…
Went to level 13 at max and couldn’t do it , too many reviews piled so I went back to level 7
Now it’s going well

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I’ve been doing this for over two years now.
I’ve done 87,214 reviews.
And I’m now at level 16.
Happy with my progress so far!

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Hi ^^
I also used to feel pressured by all the fast people posts…
I decided it’s just not a good pace for me.
I started WK on January 2019, and I’m not using Kaniwani, or anything similar, so I’m slower than you are ^^
Sometimes my reviews pile up because of life, so I stop doing lessons for a while.
If you focus on yourself and your needs, maybe you’ll feel less like comparing yourself to other people ? It worked for me anyways, and I’m happier with my studies now ^^
You’re doing amazing, keep up the good work… And the fun !

Take care ^^

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mee too, i’ve been here for years just taking my time. i tried to be fast at the start and burned out hard.

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It’s not about how fast you do it but about how much you learn!

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Congrats on continuing with it through multiple resets. I haven’t hit a reset yet and I’m hoping to avoid that by going even slower it seems than most other people on here, lol. Started January 2019, took about 8 to 9 months to do the free levels and then waited for the sale in December to start lv 4. I think my stats are showing it’s taking about 1.5 months to get through a level so I know I’m gonna be at this for a long time since I’ve unlocked lv 8 but am still learning through the vocab of lv 7. Even at level 7, I’m still having a good time listening/reading anime and manga and discovering what things I do know. Like hearing きょうだい and mentally breaking and going, wait that’s brothers but a brother and sister is using it, that’s probably because they mean siblings even though the translation is saying “brothers and sisters”. Before phones/wanikani I tried for over a decade to motivate myself with paper and pencil to learn even just hiragana and katakana by hand and could never stick the landing. Probably reset with Hiragana 3 times.
Anyways, I’ll wish you continued fun with your learning. Your not the only one going slower than Sonic speed.

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Uh, are you sure about that?

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Haha either this one or the next. In Sweden they only host one test a year unfortunately

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It’s probably a decent speed when you take into perspective other life events that have happened along the way. I mean I started mid November and I’ve only just entered level 6, but in those 5 months there was Christmas, moving house, and my pre-uni course, which were higher priorities for me. So I think it’s easy to look at when you started and the level you’re at and think that you’re going slow, when actually there were probably a lot of things going on that hindered you from going ‘fast’. That’s just from my experience anyway :slightly_smiling_face:

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:high_touch:

Started February of 2019, hoping to get to 25 in a couple of days. I only use WK but has started adding BunPro at the beginning of the year. Also doing Genki I textbook and workbook, and planning to watch more Cure Dolly videos.
All the best to us slow but steady WKers!
:nerd_face::steam_locomotive:
let us keep chugging along! that shiny golden 60 badge is within reach.

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WK would never do that. They benefit the longer you are on here when you think about it.

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Started June 2019. Hit a wall at level 7 in September 2019 and put on vacation mode. Bought the lifetime subscription in December specifically to reduce the pressure to “go fast to save money”, reset to level 2 because I was beating myself up over how much I had forgotten. Now churning through level 6 vocab and intentionally keeping my apprentice items below 50. I fully expect the 150 or so Enlightened items to drop back to Apprentice when they come up for Burn. But it doesn’t matter because I have a lifetime to finish (presuming WK stays in business without me giving them any more money).

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i dont know about that… they sent me a howler threatening to kick me out because i took 3 days off once. i had to write a letter of apology to the crabigator. i didn’t mind getting yelled at by the howler, but seeing the crabigator cry really got me

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I believe the most important part of developing any skill is deeply knowing that if you spend time every day doing something then you will get better at it, that is just the natural order of things. Concerning yourself with the pace of your progress only serves to hurt your progress. Take it day by day and eventually you will speak Japanese.

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Slow but steady. I care more about acquiring some knowledge rather than focusing on the time it is taking me to reach the next level. At least I am able to watch Japanese tv shows and understand what they are saying and reading what they show.

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I’m pretty slow I only got to level 1 and stopped for a year… I have sped up at the moment because I am furloughed but I dread to think about this blob coming through the pipeline for review when I am back at work.
I also don’t like wanikani on the phone, I use it a lot more on the desktop. I think that is why I stopped the first time.

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I’m also very slow. Made the mistake of using the holiday setting too much until it got to the point that I was scared to go back. And of course the longer you leave it the harder the reviews are. I’m at level 21 (after about 3 years !) and now have 832 reviews and counting. I decided rather than reset I would just carry on very slowly on the basis that eventually I will burn more and then the reviews will max out so long as I don’t do any new lessons. When I’m doing reviews I also use the “wrap up” button a lot so its kind of like re-learning them…

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