Did all lessons for level 11 vocab!
On p.65 of Shinkanzen Master N4 grammar
On p.4 of the same series but vocab book
Edited my last reply because I’ve always assumed native speakers of English to be someone from a major western country. I was wrong, apologies for my ignorance.
About to beat my longest streak:
Things I can understand with level 12 knowledge:
I actually had to look up 上水. I don’t think I had that come up before. I do know 下水 pretty well so I should have been able to infer the meaning…
tbh I wasn’t thinking of the actual meaning much–just that I just knew up and water. I was more proud of knowing everything before that lol
Going on vacation mode. I’m going out of the country soon and burning out trying to get all vocab before level 13. Here’s where I’m at. Broke my longest streak today 
edit:
Also finished NPO Tadoku’s level 2 volume 2 stories! Was tempted to buy vol 3 (I’ve got the physical copies of vol 1 and 2) but I’ve already got other graded readers on my kindle.
I’m back and actually couldn’t stay away from doing lessons while traveling lol. I’ve done all the lessons for lvl 12 kanji and am working through the vocab.
I’ve only got under 50 vocab to unlock but–
Traveling has given me some time to think and I plan on slowing down using WK. Trust, it’s been immensely helpful. I’ll either be at work or somewhere else in public and I’ll pick up on a word I just learned through it.
For example, a student asked me during English class how to write 木星に住みたい in English and I never thought I’d hear planet vocab in my day to day (I’m nowhere near the science classes at all). There’s other situations where I’d hear or read more ‘practical’ words.
During my travels, I saw vocab I recognized:
kana is: せんのそとでおまちください
I don’t think WK covers 国内 but I can break it down based off the characters. kana is: こくないしゅっぱつ
What does slow doing on WK mean for me? I’ll probably be taking a month for each level. I enjoy actually getting the kanji right during reviews. I like doing recent lessons every now and then. I enjoy hearing and seeing vocab out in the wild and making sense of it.
Just as important, I start online language school next month. I’m leaning towards focusing on clearing reviews and then leveling up kanji. For vocab, I’ll only pick lessons of words I already know from outside reading or can guess based off what I know already.
Let’s keep it going y’all~
edit:
also was watching Offline Love on Netflix and recognized 出会う (to meet unexpectedly)
As I thought, language school has been taking up most of my time outside of work. It’s a bummer cuz WK has been so helpful in my class. Next to my classmate who grew up writing Chinese characters, I’m pretty solid with doing class readings aloud and knowing kunyomi and onyomi readings. It’s also become a part of my routine.
I’m transitioning to using Anki for kanji and vocab that we are covering in class from a textbook called 中級へ行こう. If… I happen to free up, I would still love to level up in WK via only kanji and radicals. I call it WaniKani lite
It’d be cool if the dev team came up with something of the sort!
This is the current functionality - you can skip vocab altogether by choosing only Kanji and radicals in your lessons. The thing is though: WK vocab is chosen as a supplement to help you learn the Kanji, so generally, it’s good to learn them with close timing.
Right, that’s the route I’ve been taking so far since starting class. But yeah doing the vocab up until level 13 is really what made things stick, so I hope to come back to it one day. Check it out lol only 1 vocab
I feel like I’m at a decent spot in communicating in Japanese to start immersing more, mining for my own vocab, kanji and grammar, and have a structured self study routine with a tutor after this language school class is finished. Not sure yet what route I’ll take when It finishes in July
This was my first time seeing Sakura trees bloom in Japan
Per usual, I’m becoming more aware of the vocabulary, grammar and Kanji that I am learning in my environment. It’s a rewarding feeling after all the struggle from navigation conversations and written Japanese in public and at work.
I also understand why folks say there’s still so much to learn when they reach N2 and N1. It’s early to say this but from wrapping up N4 and moving towards in N3 in my class, I can already tell there’s so much nuance and context I’ll have to learn with how Japanese folks actually use the grammar I’m learning.
That’s why I think JLPT proficiency can be a weird flex at times. I’d imagine it be similar, hypothetically, to someone who was really well versed in English grammar and vocabulary but was overwhelmed when having to communicate in it. I have some ALT senpais who have only tested N4 but have a good understanding of wtf is going on during interactions with locals.
I’ve encountered the other end, where someone said they were probably N2 but having their help in the conversation (with a Japanese person) just made things more confusing. Their speaking felt closer to N5/N4.
Not writing all this to completely throw shade lol just wanted to encourage myself and others to value ‘taking it slow’ with Japanese to have more depth with the language. It hasn’t been all easy being out here but I’m truly grateful to be out here doing this 
