Is WK addictive or is it just me?

It is addiktive. However, I still recommend finding your own rythm and a comfortable times to do WK so it wont take over you life. At this point I only priritize level up items. If I miss some vocab reviews in the morning due to being too tired to wake up early enough, I just leave them for the evening. This way my life is fairly comfortable despite doing WK with full speed :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Welp, I can’t stay away from the community :eyes:

4 Likes

Wanikani is the crack rock equivalent of kanji learning.

10 Likes

If it is the critical hour of the day where I am supposed to finish my reviews in order to advance on that level I often prioritize WK over anything. Whether I am chatting with a friend or got an exam coming in an hour doesn’t matter, I would just pick my phone and start doing reviews as I talk with them or until my exam.
Although it can become sometimes tiring, learning something new is always fun. Coming across a kanji you just learn and being able to read it is just great.

5 Likes

To me, it feels comparable to filling out a pokedex in Pokemon. I’m always eager to add another kanji to the list, discover its meaning and learn all about its associated vocab. Rot, bribe, prison, peace, exploits
 There are so many to discover!

10 Likes

How are you faring with life in Japan so far?

Those still sound like better Pokémon than Klefki, Trubbish, and Luvdisc.

Is Prison the evolved form of Jail?

5 Likes

It has been good and sometimes convenient as I live very far from major cities. Almost anything I need is a max 10-minute drive. Apart from everyday trouble because of not knowing the language, and difficulty in finding vegetarian food, I guess other things are fine. Learning some survival vocabulary kept me alive though.

1 Like

it stops being addictive once you deal with 250+ items per day.
i like it anyway, just not being a junkie.

9 Likes

Gotta catch 'em all!

2 Likes

It is; one of the first things I do in the morning is do my reviews and then do them throughout the day as they appear and/or when I have time.

If you have an iOS device, I highly recommend Tsurukame. It takes the addiction to a new level with the badge notifications and it’s in large part thanks to this app that I’ve gotten this far and stuck with it.

5 Likes

Yes, but you might as well not realise when WK starts teaching you slightly busier kanji (I mean the amount of strokes). At that point, you’ll simply identify the radicals and suddenly they won’t look that complicated anymore.

4 Likes

Definitely! I took a break and it felt super weird not to be looking at the time to get to the hour to do new reviews :rofl:

1 Like

It is 100%. They converted the dreadful and laborious task of learning kanji into a game. I find myself really wanting to do reviews the first thing in the morning. Not to mention that this forum is quite fun as well.

2 Likes

This is how WK is for me : The Enigma of Amigara Fault (caution: horror).

It doesn’t help that the forums are so friendly and inviting, making it a good place to waste time. It’s all you guys’ fault for being nice!

2 Likes

I must be addicted because today is probably the first morning since I started that I had nothing to do while eating breakfast and felt acutely like I was missing something. To the point where I actually went to get my kanji notebook to read through it :woman_facepalming::joy:

3 Likes

Basically, not only are you learning Kanji, but you’re learning to learn Kanji at the same time. Your brain gets better at the process like anything you do in life.

3 Likes

yeah, though on the other hand it’s just warn + guess, and ‘warn’ is say + poem + winter.
in a way, the more radicals you have, the more radicals you have, the more unique the kanji is, and the more chances you have to remember the mnemonic and meaning :slight_smile:

on topic, WK sure is addictive especially in the beginning, though as OmukaiAndi said, when you start getting 200+ items, it starts turning into work.
Still, somehow the initial rush turned into longterm motivation for me, and apparently many others. Clearing all your reviews and lessons, leveling up, unlocking new Kanji, it’s all quite rewarding and game-like.

3 Likes

I think that’s what they were going for with the game-ification aspect of Wanikani. I think a lot of people who first come to wanikani (from what I’ve seen) either have one of two initial reactions:

  1. They think it’s way too slow, hate it, and give up
  2. They think it’s super addicting and love it.

There are also people who have other reactions but those are the main ones I see on the forums. I became instantly addicted to it when I started also. I think it’s a great motivator to help you routinely study Japanese, and it makes kanji learning actually somewhat enjoyable, where most learners (who don’t use WK) unanimously condemn kanji as the worst part of the language. The fact that WK is able to turn something so feared and disliked into something enjoyable is an amazing feat.

The incredible community on these forums I think also helps contribute to its addicting quality. And the fact that it’s game-ified allows you to see very clearly how much progress you’re making. When you level up or an item moves to Guru, Master, Enlightened, or Burned, you know that you’ve made tangible progress. Seeing yourself progress like this can also be addicting.

6 Likes

I did think it was way too slow in the beginning and actually not immediately addicting, that came after the free levels.
But i’m a longtime gamer and have played many games with long countdown timers (some of them meaningless browser games), and have developed a patience for that.

2 Likes