Hello, everyone.
Guess who made it to level 60…
So, we’re here. Following the steps of many others. And at the same time I wanted to make this thread today, (Jan 1st here) and with such title because this is the time and the moment where newcomers arrive looking for advice and for the means to maybe, somehow, this time, get some momentum and start following their dreams
And I put it like this because this was how I was feeling exactly one year ago, for learning Japanese is a lifelong dream and so I came here with a goal in mind: to be able to win a scholarship to study a masters degree in Japan. So whatever your own reasons may be, I’d be happy if what I share can be used as the push you need to keep going.
My experience in WK
As I mentioned above, I started here Jan 1st 2018, and I reached level 60 in Dec. 25th, so it was 359 days total.
Now, regarding that first level… you see back in February 2014 I came across WK, I registered but I never actually used the site. why? you may ask… well, back then I was a college student surviving mainly on noodles and to me paying for anything was out of the question. But I already knew about the quality of Tofugu, and I bookmarked the dashboard page, looking to the future… So I came back, almost 4 years later.
Let’s dive in a little about what transpired here
I did the first 6 levels without even reading the FAQ page, so I was just logging in regularly to check for any upcoming reviews, At level 6 I read about the SRS and stuff, so I did level 7 as fast as possible, seems I lost an hour 
anyway… I felt like that speed might be too much, so I just keeped on moving forward logging in when I knew there were reviews available, until that damned level 13, where I lost a whole day because I got stucked at 89% gurued kanji… you can see that my speed became way more regular afterwards, because I felt really bad for not be doing things properly. I already knew that doing levels in 6d20h was perfect but that a 7d level was the most recommended thing to do… so i tried to follow that pattern until level 20.
I did the first 20 levels without any script, and by level 21 I installed the popular ones, because I thought that I could handle just fine doing levels at 7d and I wanted to do it better… that is, doing levels as fast as possible (6d20h) because of that I can remember doing reviews in any possible place you may be thinking of, that is walking on the streets, on the bus, at the gym while on the threadmill, in the bathroom, 5 minutes before a meeting at work, lunch time, waking up at 3am, while talking to people. you get the drill.
Now there’s still too much for me to do, but I’ll talk about it in the “Future” section
About WaniKani
I won’t lie to you, I came to WK a bit prejudiced, I read on reddit and other websites about WK to give me a better idea of what to expect, and what I found was basically talking me out to buy a suscription or even trying to use the website, of course there are people out there that tell you that WK is really good. I did my own balance, I ended up here because of the following
- I knew learning Japanese is not an easy task
- I already knew the quality of Tofugu, so something created by the same team, should be good as well
- There are 3 free levels
- For me WK was the most outstanding promise to give me the push to start learning
That being said, I kept complaining here and there about stuff I didn’t liked about WK, but after all I continued using it, right? I’m not saying that now I love everything about WK, rather that complaining was simply put, unproductive.
WaniKani is pretty darn good at doing something, and that is teaching you to recognize Kanji.
That is not even a portion of Japanese, it’s a portion of Kanji learning. Nevertheless of this somehow tiny scope, it’s wonderful because it’s within the core of the Japanese language.
WaniKani is not an all in one solution, it’s rather a powerful tool that enable people to do everything else on their own, that is learning grammar, reading books, writing and listening and so on.
Something not that obvious that is prone to be forgotten is that you, as the learner, are the only one responsible of your own progress, it’s your duty to find whatever tool is out there that better suit your needs and adjust it and complement it to cater to the reaching of your own goals.
Of course, if I made it to level 60 is because WK was that good enough tool, and I believe that if it was good for me it might serve you well.
Personal background
I’ve been in love with Japan and its culture since my childhood. But learning the language did not crossed my mind until attending to college. I took a few months of the language in 2011 where I learned some very basic things and I would have learned something in the order of 80 ~ 100 kanji. But in those moments I ended up abandoning my studies to prioritize English and my own career. I really think that I should have really tried to make it happen regardless my own excuses at the time.
Now, I don’t want to damp this thread in unnecessary drama, so long story short, back when I finished college (late 2014) I was living with my best friend, we both had two things in common, a beautiful girlfriend and a dream to be a worthy individual to our society and to the world.
Things went great for him, he married in 2015 and has a great job that allows him to travel around the globe and a beautiful daughter, things went not that great for me, firstly because I lost some contact with him, my girlfriend is now my ex, and I lost my only family to cancer so I found myself at 25, destroyed and with no reason to live, I felt that life had taken everything for me and spat on my face while laughing. That saying that “True adulthood comes when you graduate” was a bit too much for me to handle.
I ended up abandoning myself, but with some time and the help of my friends I somehow recovered, but when I opened my eyes it was already late 2017. And I found myself losing myself. I had to recover, put things together and try to make things good for the future instead of living in the past. And one of the dreams I found that was still there is learning japanese, and going visit all those places I read in magazines and websites, and live there for a while, and study there to attain some academic degree.
And that’s why you have me here.
My way of doing things
Life is inherently cruel, but even in the darkest of the times, I believe you can agree with me that there’s always an attitude that you choose to have regardless of what you are going through
I can’t help but to compete with others, and I can’t help but to look for the people that do things the best, most of the time i’ve found that those people that usually are the brightest are usually kind and helpful when asked for advice.
For my own experience here and with pretty much everything I try to make in an earnest fashion, I love to praise the ones that deserve recognition and i like to measure myself against such high-standards. Because I always feel like being pushing forward.
To the community
To be honest with you I consider myself a really lonely person, but here I felt that kind of warmth that makes you come back again and again, and I think if you allow me to say it that I made some bonds with some people around here.
So to everyone here that make this possible.
Thank you so much
https://media.giphy.com/media/ROF8OQvDmxytW/giphy.gif
The future
I hit level 60 with some reviews and lessons to be done, but although I could have choosed to do them, I really prefered to rest a bit after reaching level 60, that, and I haven’t done anything in this last week of the year so I expect a huge amount of reviews, but it’s ok. I granted myself to regain my breath before diving again into it.
I want to burn every item this year, and pass the N2 by december, so that’s my two main objectives.
I want to read a manga in japanese per month, and if possible I’d love to join the book club
I want to be able to listen to any show without needing the subtitle crutch
I want to participate more actively in the “Japanese only” subforum
I want to make a dream come true
I want you to make it too
So, I shall leave you for today, there’s brand new New Year resolutions to complete
xoxo
This is a huge milestone! Keep burning those turtles, and best of luck with all your goals for the year - not just the Japanese ones but any others you have an eye on! Always good to see another WaniKanian get the gold - happy for you~~~
I didn’t even realize you were going that fast, that’s so impressive! o:
(pretend the cat is more excited xD)
it’s ok, I know this kind of threads are a bit long, whenever you want to read it’s ok
