Hi everyone! I started writing this post more than a month ago, and the issue is… I want it to be so perfect, that I never actually get to post it. It seems that I should just accept that perfection doesn’t exist and JUST DO IT! So here we go.
Introduction (I wanted to call it brief, but it's not)
I’m Ivy, I just turned 24 and I’m from the little country Moldova (sorry for my English, I’m trying my best). I decided to make my own log for several reasons:
- I need some interaction with other Japanese learners, because it always seems to go better when you feel connected.
- I struggle with game addiction, which sometimes makes me stop learning alltogether.
- Opposed to the previous one, sometimes I can shift towards studying too much Japanese. I tend to get very involved with whatever I do and this tendency leads to burning out too fast. I want to be more mindful of this.
- I like numbers, stats, charts and everything that helps with tracking progress.
My experience before WaniKani:
Studying languages has always been part of me, something I always did for my own enjoyment. I began my journey with Japanese when I was around 16 years old, but back then my approach used to be so bad. After years of trial and error with many other languages I think I learnt what works for me. I did not have money to pay for WaniKani or any other resources and I didn’t even know they existed. Luckily, now I can afford it and it’s a joyful experience for me.
Why Japanese?:
I studied multiple languages, but this is the one that I keep turning back to. Everything about this language is attractive to me, especially the way it sounds and the writing system. It generally sounds like a very appealing language for creative writing, which is something I’m looking forward to. One more reason is watching anime without subtitles. Anime has always been a source of inspiration for me, not only in terms of emotions or ideas, but also aesthetically. Those vibrant colors seem to always bring me back to life whenever I’m feeling down. And there’s also a secret goal for which I need a pretty stable N3 level.
My first reset (and hopefully the last one xD):
I was very consistent and leveling up at max speed until level 24. But then, I fell in love and I dropped most of my activities. It ended up being a very toxic relationship, which I recently got out of.
The resources I'm currently using and some rules to follow
Resources:
WaniKani (obviously)
KaniWani+GoogleKeyboard: I use this one specifically for learning how to properly write Kanji. Instead of typing the answers, I draw them. It helps a lot with writing, distinguishing similar Kanji and reinforcing everything I learn on WaniKani. I used to just type in the answers, but thanks to my friend (you’ll find out more about her later on), I discovered that these can be actually painted. So I reset WK to level 1, and began the journey of improving my writing. Absolutely loving it! I don’t know whether most people already use it this way, but if you don’t - just try it out. Even for those who are not interested in learning how to write, it reinforces your kanji recognition a lot more.
Kitsun: I prefer it over Anki. Can’t explain the reasons, it just feels better. I’m not using the standard decks because I generally dislike learning random words (WK is an exception, since it’s specifically aimed for Kanji recognition). I create a new deck for each piece of writing I use for intensive reading. Here are my current decks:
Japanese Stories for Language Learners (book): Here’s a review on it on Tofugu. Review: Japanese Stories for Language Learners — Bilingual Stories in English and JapaneseI got this one from the friend I mentioned before. It’s absolutely amazing. The vocab and grammar are a lot higher than my current Japanese level, but I still love it. Deck 3 and 4 on Kitsun are based on this book, and I’m planning to make a deck for each story in this book.
BunPro: Started recently (04.10.2022). Slowly introducing grammar to my daily practice. Actually I found out about this one long ago, when it used to be free. But because of my tendency to rush things, I ended up overwhelmed and dropped it alltogether. I just reset it and paid for the subscription, so it’s a new beginning.
Resources I don’t use anymore, but they helped me on the way:
- LingoDeer: Not as effective as WK+BunPro, but it definitely helped me to set a solid background.
- Japanese Conjugation City: Loving this one. It’s so good for drilling verb and adjective conjugations.
- Takoboto: Amazing dictionary. Not using it right now, because the book mentioned before has all the translations and explanations I currently need. I used to pair it with WK lessons to write down more appealing (don’t judge me, creators of WK xD) example sentences for the words I was learning.
The rules I’m trying to stick to:
- Not doing any new lessons before I finish my reviews.
- Limit my time to max 1h per app (WK, KW, Kitsun).
- Check my answers before submitting. (Accuracy>Speed)
I came up with these to stop myself from rushing. Maybe I should also introduce some rules for my gaming time, but that’s a whole different story…
And to add some color to the first post in this thread, here’s my WK wallpaper from 05.10.2022. One day it’ll all be completed. xD
I use my custom colors from Flaming Durtles.
Waiting for my first Burned Kanji to come in about a month, to have some red on this wallpaper.
I’m not sure yet how exactly I’m going to structure this log, but I’m happy to finally be posting it. Yaaaaaaay!
Timeline
| 15 Jan 2023 | LVL UP | WaniKani 21 |
| 4 Jan 2023 | LVL UP | WaniKani 20 |
| 26 Dec 2022 | DROP | Unsubscribed from Kitsun |
| 26 Dec 2022 | DROP | Unsubscribed from BunPro |
| 14 Dec 2022 | LVL UP | WaniKani 19 |
| 8 Dec 2022 | WIN | Finished BunPro N5 grammar |
| 14 Nov 2022 | LVL UP | WaniKani 18 |
| 9 Nov 2022 | NEW | Added physical activity to the overall routine |
| 7 Nov 2022 | WIN | Finished reading my first ever long story |
| 6 Nov 2022 | WIN | First Burned kanji |
| 4 Nov 2022 | LVL UP | WaniKani 17 |
| 14 Oct 2022 | NEW | Subscribed to Satori Reader |
| 4 Oct 2022 | NEW | Subscribed to BunPro |
Templates
In case any of them suit you, feel free to use them. <3
Reading
| Name | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parts | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |
| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | |
| 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | |
| 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 |
SRS
| Month | Rev | Less | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WK | KW | Kitsun | BunPro | WK | KW | Kitsun | BunPro | ||||
| Date | |||||||||||
| Date |
Additional activities
| Month | 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 | 日 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | |||||||
| Week 2 | |||||||
| Week 3 | |||||||
| Week 4 | |||||||
| Week 5 |
- Activity 1; - Activity 2
