I recently started using KaniWani, as I found that my recall when i wasn’t looking directly at the kanji/hiragana was pretty trash. However, I’m noticing that im relearning words that are ~1 month away from being burned, that I’m not sure i would have gotten correct during the burn review. Is using KaniWani cheating the burn system, since im technically reviewing the words when im not supposed to be? Wondering if anyone has any opinions/feedback on using these two simultaneously.
I honestly doubt, that if you repeat some word exactly with wanikani review schedule you will know it better, then if you repeat it let’s say every day during the same 6 months.
On my practice I have a lot of “cheating”: kaniwani, learnbooks, anime, manga, duolingo, and situation as for me opposite: words I see often I know much better, they are like already burned, I recall them instantly, when rare words are hard, I recall them slowly with considerable cognitive efforts.
However SRS is very good when you want to burn 2000 words in those 6-8 months - you either do 2000 reviews every day or ~100-150. The difference is huge. So SRS delays words to be time effective as for me, not burn effective.
PS: I still do kaniwani after wanikani every day to reduce that “cheating” effect, also configured it to show only guru+, and I “suspend” a lot of words in KW, leaving only those I’m sure I need it in active vocabulary.
Back when i used things like “self study” and plugins similar to it, there was a setting so it wouldn’t quizz me on things that are due for review in less than a month.
I’d recommend to filter out items that are currently enlightened if you can, that should help you against false burns.
Also, WaniKani does have a resurrect button for burned items. So if you have kanji/vocab you aren’t sure about, you can go to its information page and hit “resurrect”.
In a way there is enough redundant material on WK that WK ends up cheating the SRS a bit a little in itself. As the previous post mentioned, don’t be scared to resurrect items where this might have happened. I forget vocab and kanji all the time and my first step is to see if it was a burned item and add it back. Still getting my money’s worth out of lifetime!
It’s not “cheating”, it’s “doing more”. SRS isn’t supposed to be the most effective way, it’s the most efficient. Biggest bang for the minimum effort. If you want to put in more effort, it WILL make your study more effective (you’ll remember the thing better), just cost you speed (you won’t remember as many things).
Theoretically, you’re spending time on an old thing that you could be spending on a new thing, thus wasting time. But again, it doesn’t set you back any on the things you ARE spending time on. Those will always get better with more repetition.
So ideally, for maximum efficiency, you would do the reviews when they’re due AND ONLY when they’re due. The time you spend studying extra is time you could spend on something else like reading or grammar, or, you know, your life. The time intervals will adjust to give you reviews when you need them and lessons when you’re ready.
Now, most people don’t have the patience for that (myself included). You really have to let go of the idea that failing a review is a bad thing and stop worrying about it. You also have to not be in a hurry to do more, more, more, which is hard when you’re excited. I know.
But that’s the theory, anyway. As noted above, doing more doesn’t hurt, but it is more time spent.
If your end goal is to know the material, then anything that helps you reach that point is not “cheating.” IMO, it’s kind of silly to think that you must adhere strictly to the SRS schedule, and avoid encountering that material in other sources until you’ve burned it. And burning is a decent way to judge your retention, but it certainly doesn’t mean that you know an item 100% and will retain it forever.
SRS is an effective tool, but of course it has its flaws, and there are lots of other effective tools out there as well. As ctmf said above, “doing more” is never a bad thing.
Personally, I’ve recently hit a point where I find I’m not remembering the kanji out of context as well as I did on lower levels. Generally if I see a word or example I can recall them, but on their own it’s as if I’ve never seen them before. I don’t know if it’s oversaturation or what, but it tells me I need to be reading more alongside WaniKani. Is that cheating the system? Perhaps, but if I’m not retaining the information, the system isn’t serving its purpose anyway.
