I think time restriction on learning curve is horrible

links lead to the threads here on the forum where you can find full descriptions

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I used to feel exactly like you and kanji.garden seemed really appealing to me. It is still an SRS but it allows you to skip kanji and srs levels as you see fit. You can also study as many kanji as you want.

I recommend checking that out. It’s very flexible but I learned nothing from it. It’s free for one month.

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Are you sure you want to multiply your workload?

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So much this. It’s hard to see at level 1-3, but the workload can rapidly get out of control if you let it especially if you do all of your lessons as soon as they pop up. And if you miss a day? Prepare to be buried under reviews.

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That looks great! :smiley: It’s just on early levels there’s literally nothing to do. I guess I will focus on other things, like typing or pronunciation… I really hope it picks up soon and fast.

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Just wait a few levels… you’ll see it start since you’ll have a couple items in the queue.

Read section 2 of the Ultimate Guide to WK… you can easily get in the hundreds of reviews per day and seven-days per level if you really want to go for the record speed! :stuck_out_tongue:

But, honestly, remember that tons of reviews would take hours per day, so it’s really not that great (remember that 1000 reviews is almost 2000 questions: meaning & reading)

If you go lightning-speed on them and only take 6 seconds per half, and never get anything wrong, then:

(We’re assuming radicals aren’t a significant factor - out of these 1000 reviews, only 37 are radicals, so we can just ignore them to make math easier)

2000 halves * 6 seconds = 12,000 seconds = 200 minutes = 3 ⅓ hours

But, let’s be real, you won’t go that fast, and you will get things wrong, so:

2000 halves * 1.5 (for re-answering) * 10 seconds = 30,000 seconds = 500 minutes = 8 ⅓ hours

Maybe. If you’re lucky, since you just built up 1000 reviews…

The point is that you don’t really want that much!

At maximum speed with perfect accuracy (credit goes to whoever @jprspereira got it from):

image

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I just skimmed the thread due to lack of time but I didn’t explicitly see someone mentioning that there are scripts and third-party-apps (on Android for example it’s Flaming Durtles) which allow you to put some extra study time in. Some call it cram (BunPro), others call it self-study (Flaming Durtles). So maybe that’s an option for you which would require some research to see if you like it though.

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good point! i guess this would be the best link to start with then:

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I think we’ve indirectly covered it before…

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I think that’s a Discourse bug to be honest; if you link a thread that has already been linked, you get a warning before you post, but if you quote that post, I don’t think it does.

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Athletic coaches talk about “weekend warriors,” who sit on the couch all week and try to make up for it on the weekend. They get injured a lot. The body does better with frequent bouts of moderate training.

Your brain is the same way. 30 minutes a day, every day, is likely to give better results than trying to jam it all into the weekend.

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image

:thinking:

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I have been trying to learn Japanese, painfully, slowly, incorrectly, and terribly for 20 years.

Here is my advice to you MesJ:

Try Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Course and a custom Anki deck built for KKLC.
Anki lets you study. Then study. Then study. And more. You can work on it for as many hours in a day you can put into if you so desire.

I preferred KKLC over Remembering the Kanji as they removed learning the readings from the process when you start RTK. Some people like it but I recommend people try KKLC over RTK with Anki from a “try it and see how it works for you” perspective.

If you can’t stick to the WK SRS timing, you can’t. They give you no options for skipping content, skipping intervals, or otherwise re-arranging the content (other than some scripts that let you sort the order of reviews).

When I first started, it was painful waiting for the next things to pop up but now that I’ve gotten a semi-schedule going, I am jumping up a level every 8-11 days according to wkstats.

For me, WaniKani is what I needed. It is the ONLY thing I have been able to stick to consistenly. My last attempt at learning Kanji lasted about 35 days when it became easier to put it off for tomorrow and every day after became tomorrow.

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I think we’ve indirectly covered it before…

Yeah that’s the thing - indirectly. Put yourself in OP’s shoes: There are so many resources, so many possibilities. It surely can be overwhelming, so I gave them a pointer that directly answers their question so the chance of OP not even being aware of this possibility gets reduced. Also, just being aware of say, Bunpro, doesn’t automatically mean that you know of all the possibilities that come with it.

I just skimmed the thread due to lack of time but I didn’t explicitly see someone mentioning that there are scripts and third-party-apps (on Android for example it’s Flaming Durtles) which allow you to put some extra study time in.

So, I genuinely want to understand - do you think my post was insignificant, redundant or unnecessary and if so, why? No hard feelings btw, feel free to criticize.

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I don’t call people insignificant…

No, you were expanding on and adding to what was already here. I was just showing what had been mentioned and saying that we had somewhat covered the topic.

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Reading more thoroughly through the replies and seeing you (MesJ) looking at getting into typing/pronunciation, that is a fantastic way to supplement WK.

Too much of anything can burn you out and being able to use SRS for Kanji while also digging into other aspects of the language will help fill in the hours between WK reviews.

Depending on your motivation for learning, you can even use watching a Japanese TV show/Anime/Movie without subtitles as learning and studying. I can understand a crazy amount of spoken Japanese but can’t speak more than shorter sentences because I…“studied…” Anime more than actually putting in any other work. It’s awesome to read a Kanji on WK and know what it means simply because you’ve heard it in a show/song/movie/etc.

I started reading through Japanese the Manga way and while it is a bit elementary from my spoken level of understanding it is eye opening see how to put the Kanji I’ve learned in WK to actual use.

And like I said, if you REALLY want more Kanji, pick up the Kodansha Learner’s Course or Remembering the Kanji and a good Anki deck and just go wild. I still think there is merit in sticking with WK in supplement but it wouldn’t be necessary with either of those programs.

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ahh yes i can see the issue… I feel like the target audience for wanikani is learners who happen to have more of a “little and often” study style. I can’t spend much more that 20 mins a day on wanikani, so I go slow and level up once a month on average (during exam season it can take me nearly 3 months to level up, but during holidays i can go as fast as two weeks), so there is some limited flexibility. But if you prefer to study in larger chunks, i think WK and similar flashcards apps probably aren’t going to be the most effective tool for you. There are certainly other ways to go about it, though i haven’t tried them myself. It would probably be easier for you if you live in japan or have japanese friends or family? I can’t think of any way around simply using it a lot - whether or not you choose to use WK for that purpose.
Sorry I can’t help more… I hope you find a solution!

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In the end, the best tool to learn a language (or anything I guess) is the one you can stick to.

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Quite right =)
it’ll be many times more difficult if it’s not something that fits with your lifestyle …

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That’s right. WK really wouldn’t work with that schedule.

However, you’re in luck I know just the technology that is perfect for your needs

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=kanji+workbook&crid=1J2LSDT59Q37K&sprefix=kanji+%2Caps%2C227&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_6

Paper! It’s this amazing invention! You can skip to any page IMMEDIATELY! It’s so awesome. :slight_smile:

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