So I studied Japanese for a year at college and have already memorized quite a few Kanji and Vocabulary. Is there a way I can take a test to see where Iam at and skip ahead to that point like there is with Duolingo?
1 Like
There is none, the wanikani system relies heavily on knowing the previous levels the way they teach them to match the mnemonics and such.
Itâs best to just enjoy the ride while itâs easy.
22 Likes
I can give you my perspective: I spent about three years in college studying Japanese and then did a study abroad one year, so I had a lot of knowledge coming into WK. The first 10-15 levels were almost entirely review for me, and after that your average level would be 50-60% kanji and vocab I already knew. Now that Iâm pushing level 50 I find that the majority of words and kanji are new for me and my reading ability has improved dramatically.
It was a bit annoying spending the first couple of months mostly reviewing stuff I already knew but it was worth pushing through to reach the parts where I started learning new things. If youâve only been studying a year, it probably wonât take you that long to reach the level where youâre learning a lot of new kanji and vocab.
11 Likes
if you know the kanji and vocab already, you get them right on every review and then you level up very fast in the end.
I wouldnât worry about skipping.
6 Likes
Yeah. The only thing he has to memorize is the radicals. If he already knows most of the beginning kanji it should be a breeze.
4 Likes
Not at all. I was in the same boat and I was irritated for the first 10+ levels. But now all of that previous knowledge from classroom learning is finally weaning away, and unfamiliar things are coming in. Itâs worth the wait. 60 levels is a LOT and itâs good to just relax while itâs still easy, and get a hang of how WK even works and play around with scripts youâd might need.
6 Likes
As a perspective, take it as you want toâŠ
I studied Japanese on my own with little or no focus on kanji for 15 years, and then I got on board with WaniKani to make the trip into kanjiland. I made lv 60 and Iâve never regretted it! I would never have made the trip without WaniKani (my personal belief) 
6 Likes
I also took a year of Japanese at university before I started WK. It is well worth it to go though all the levels
2 Likes
No, but 1 year of school study is very short in WaniKani levels, so youâll be past that very quickly. Besides itâs good reinforcement and the essentials to keep learning with WK are necessary and are built up from level 1.
5 Likes
you dont need to memorize radicals, I dont do it.
Since radicals are relative to a methodology, if he quits WK and goes to another methodology, for sure they will show radicals in a different way. So it would be a waste of time memorizing them.
When radicals appear in my reviews (I use anki mode) I just set them to right and move on.
Recently I was even talking to a coworker, japanese descendant, and I showed her the wk reviews and she was reading the kanji with TOTAL different radicals reading. I was like âda hellâŠâ 
I donât understand. Are you using your own names for the radicals? How are you memorizing kanji without knowing what the radicals mean?
Not sure what you mean here, of course she doesnât know the wanikani radicals. As for different readings, wanikani doesnât teach us all the readings of a kanji, just the most common ones.
the wanikani radicals are a mnemonic aid made to help us remember the meanings and readings of kanji, theyâre basically half of what weâre paying for:p Without them you could just brute force the information in Anki for free right?
I concur on the enjoy the ride while itâs easy part⊠bud, I studied Japanese kanji since I was 17 years old when I found Kanji Gold back in the day. I had a Japanese course in College and then a couple years ago I went to school in Japan for almost 2 yearsâŠ
Iâm gonna recommend just going through and⊠donât just rely on WaniKaniâs memes (sometimes they really do makes some good ones though, but I found that making my own has helped a lot!)⊠start making your own, it becomes itâs own skill. So you can start honing that skill now with kanji maybe you donât have something for or⊠a radical.
If you keep at it, you will understand the complete insanity of what you got yourself into⊠and youâll look back on these times and wish you could stop the monster from attacking you⊠ruthlessly every day non stop for 24 hours a day⊠DEMANDING you burn his children into charred pieces of coal.
YOU ENJOY YOUR CHILDHOOD GODDAMNIT!!!
1 Like
I just see the radicals for the first time in lessons, of course, but I dont try to memorize them, I memorize the kanji with mnemonics, thatâs the most important.
I started doing that right in the beginning because I was confusing a lot of radical ânamesâ with its kanji. My accuracy was bad because of that.
Works for me.
So you just read the story and memorize it but canât really dissect kanji into components? I still have a hard time understanding how youâre doing this Lol.
How does one look at a kanji of 3 or 4 radicals and be able to remember the story if you donât know what each radical means? Can you give an example of how you do this?
âSo you just read the story and memorize it but canât really dissect kanji into componentsâ
exactly this 
I dont have a lot of free time, specially after you enter hell levels, thatâs is woking for me.
Wish really hard.
That tends to work with WaniKani.
If it doesnât, then the Crabigator decided to not hear your pleas for Japanese fluency and will direct you instead to learn Japanese from the mighty A-san.
=== and more fun stuff ===
I got a scammer to take this picture many years ago while living in Japan.
Enjoy⊠and remember, Praise A-san!
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.