Hi I have 30 minutes a day, 4 days a week to do Wanikani. Should I give up? I’m all up for going slowly and enjoy the journey as I’m not in a hurry to learn Japanese, but I’d like to see ‘some’ tangible progress down the line, you know, after a year or so. Right now, I only see stacks of reviews I cannot finish in one go. And I assume it will only get worse over time…? I mean, will it? I’m not looking for words of encouragement but rather for honest opinions/advice from more experienced users. Thanks in advance EDIT: I am humbled by the number of responses this post has received and how civilised they all are. I am also impressed by the quality of the responses. Thank you all so much for taking the time to write your responses. All I can say is that I’m not giving up yet. It seems that with apps like Flaming durtles I should be able to squeeze in some reviews, even on weekends, and maybe even on weekdays, who knows. It’s also true that although my time is limited now for personal reasons, it might change in the future. Thanks again for sharing your opinions with me. I’d better stop writing now and do some reviews. Have a good week!

30 minutes a day is doable. The problem is the 4 days a week. Reviews will accumulate during the other 3 days and in turn increase the time needed for the other 4. If you can do 15 minutes a day every day that would be better overall even though it would be less total time per week. Like @mitavo mentioned that’s going to be somewhere around 6-12 levels a year but you’re going to make progress. The only way to do a split schedule like you have is to spend extra time on that Monday catching up on reviews.

Super secret tip. Take your phone to the washroom with you (everyone does anyway), and get those extra review minutes in!!! (Tsurukame is a really good app)

I would second a lot of the advice here, particularly doing the reviews on your phone as you have time. Typing on the phone can be a pain (I have entered plenty of typos on my phone), but you can either double check everything or download a user script to override WK when you make typos (I believe one exists).

Just go slow. There are times where I can only spend that long on WK… I just keep my apprentice really low and just do a lesson or two at a time. I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made so far.

An interesting question…lots people have already given you great answers…and ultimately it’s up to you…however…devil’s advocate here… (forgetting everything else for a moment - crabigator look away)… If you said to yourself I only have 30 min a day 4 days a week to study Kanji, would you still do it? If NO, then heck yeah quit…why torture yourself…Japanese is a super easy language to learn isn’t it :wink: Reevaluate your long term goals and decide what’s right for you. If YES, then consider would you be ok with it taking several years to learn all the kanji? You’re call…(for me I have to go slow, studying grammar and other things and then leeches etc…only can go so fast)…but if you are ok with that and then yeah don’t quit. (I didn’t say use WK yet…) Now you have to decide if WK is the method you want to use … if you want to learn them quicker there are other ways of learning that might be faster, not gonna derail…you could even use an anki deck and grind…PAINFUL! but certainly doable. If you want something that you can learn, that’s turnkey, then WK will provide one possible solution for you. Another consideration…you say now you only have 30 min a day, 4 days a week to do WK…what does a year from now look like…and are there times you are neglecting where you might be able to squeeze in a few minutes in the evening…with the android/iphone apps you can adjust your lesson/review counts to be a max number, i.e…you can set it to 1 lesson or 1 review if you really wanted to. There are lot’s of ways to manage it just takes a while to figure it out… learning this language will take a long time…if you aren’t ready to commit heck yeah quit for now and come back…if you aren’t sure stick it out for a few weeks and see if you can recommit…but don’t torture yourself…try to make it as fun as possible (yeah there will still be torture…but don’t forget to look back on how far you have come as well). One last recommendation, try not to compare yourself with others (I’m horrible at this…so not one to talk)…but it can be frustrating feeling like you are moving slow when whatever speed you settled into WK or noWK…feels slower than ‘everyone’ else. 頑張って！

If you only have 30 minutes 4 days a week, is your time so limited that it would be better spent NOT studying Japanese? If not, I’d say continue. I ended up taking around 6 years to reach level 60, part of that included significant periods of time not unlike yours. Even doing it only 50% of the week wasn’t that bad. You WILL have to actively manage your apprentice/guru levels though and that just means letting lessons be at times.

[image] sansarret: Do you study Japanese beyond WaniKani? This is an absolutely valid question. I really like that you’ve brought it up. @nickburner san: technically, 30 minutes / per day on WK (even only half of the week) could work. Couple of days during the week I only can do one session a day I try to limit to 15 minutes or ~50 review items. But with your proposed schedule you will need to accept to take several years to finish WK in case that is you goal. On the other hand you may can approach learning Japanese with (a little bit of WK) from a different angle. Therefore I’d like to recommend two study logs for you: Hi. I am a log or something I’m doing a thing! Both durtles are on an incredible journey and incorporate a lot of immersion into their Japanese language studies. @magsl san started reading kokoro when they were on WK level 12, I think. And when it comes to @QuartzCrow senpai they can give you the whole spectrum… books, games, song lyrics. @nickburner san please feel free to ask them as well when it comes to speed or commitment :slight_smile:

[image] Tanne: the Do-10-Approach While 90% of my reviews are at a desk, The Flaming Durtle app has made a big difference with my ability to catch up when I get behind. Especially after I found the option to limit each review session to 10 items. Before that, less so, because the sessions seemed unbounded.

[block tendou haikyu] Nope. A year of 30 minutes a day, four days a week is still better than none. The key is to not overdo lessons. Maximize what you can do in those 30 minutes. Hopefully you can increase it later when you have more time. All the best. :nerd_face: :steam_locomotive: :upside_down_face: keep chugging along!

Hi! Yes I did read kokoro at level 12~13, just the first 3 chapters. A bit of a masochistic move, but it really caught my interest at the time! I hope to continue it in the future with more grammar points/vocab under my belt. @nickburner - I probably spend about the same time a day total on WK, not all at once, but I go on every day. It’s pretty doable and you’ll still see progress after a year. The only problem I can see is the missing 3 days the rest of that week - reviews will accumulate and you’ll start forgetting, leading to failed items. Sometimes if I’m even 2 hours off the SRS schedule I have a hard time, especially if they were fairly new items. I hope you find a way to clock in some time on those 3 days, even if it’s just reviews and no lessons. Good luck! :blush:

I've got 30 minutes/day to do Wanikani, Mon-Thursday. Should I give up?

WaniKani Requesting Help

anon45962687 March 25, 2021, 12:58pm 32

Topic		Replies	Views
How to Finish WaniKani on a Busy Schedule?! WaniKani	14	1507	July 16, 2021
How do I finish Wanikani in 2 years or so? WaniKani	33	4461	April 20, 2022
Advice on WaniKani schedule Requesting Help	43	4297	October 21, 2019
Just can't keep up WaniKani	43	4136	May 29, 2021
Am I too slow at Wanikani? WaniKani	40	4794	March 30, 2021

I've got 30 minutes/day to do Wanikani, Mon-Thursday. Should I give up?

Related topics