Lacking customization

Wanikani is such a good website for learning kanji, and I love it. But I can’t believe that there is almost zero customization, as opposed to every other SRS system that I have tried.

I have signed up for the JLPT N3 test this December, and I wish I could do only kanji and vocabulary related to N5-N3 level, but apparently there are no options to choose what items to learn.
Due to the very scarce time that I have to study for the test, I can’t spend my time to learn N2-N1 items. This kind of forces me to quit Wanikani for a while, and look for other resources, which is such a shame. That being said, I will definitely resume my progress again after December.

This is yet another request for the development team to implement more user options.

1 Like

Hi and weclome to the forum! Sad to see you go if that’s what you decide.

I don’t think customisation would work for WK because it builds up from simpler elements. I also can’t help but think it’s limiting to only learn N5 - N3 for the purpose of testing but maybe you need that N3 for your CV or a job?

I don’t know how fast you’re progressing but by december, you should have a lot of N3 kanji through WK and you could complement with ANKI for the rest?

edit: I see you started a couple weeks after i did, so you’re speed running anyway!

By dec, you’ll be 32 or more
image

That’s about 95% kanji covered. I imagine you’re doing grammar so the kana only vocab is covered.

You should keep going, it might be difficult after a long break. Well, it would be for me!

10 Likes

Hi Saibaneko,

Thank you for your for reply! You must be leveling pretty quickly yourself! :slight_smile:

I agree with you that it would normally be best to practice in the order that WaniKani set up the lessons, but as you guessed I need to pass the JLPT N3 to get a job in Japan. And every hour spend on kanji and vocabulary outside the scope of the test, is less time to spend on grammar, reading and listening practice.

I am also considering to use either Anki or Memrise for their customizable SRS systems, but to supplement with WaniKanis mnemonics (without actually doing lessons on WaniKani.

5 Likes

I’d recommend Kitsun.io over Anki, they have N# decks for vocab and you just get an Aniki N3 kanji list and import it in.

You could also just go on wkstats And work out which kanji you’ve not learned yet (you’ll have done about 75% at your current level) and add just those as cards in Kitsun. The Jisho dictionary integration makes it take about 3s to generate a card if you do it automatically or less if you import based on a list.

9 Likes

Well, that’s amazing you can go to N3 in less than 8 months! I can’t take any tests here, all are cancelled but I’m learning for fun so it’s very different.

All the best in passing the N3 and I’m sure you’ll breeze through the rest of WK when you come back!

What kind of job? Expat from yours, new?

5 Likes

I would second the recommendation for Kitsun.io

It’s probably the best way to get up to speed fast.

Just hit the vacation mode on WK and then come back later. :smiley:

2 Likes

I’m curious about this. I work in JP and have N3, but honestly it was fairly useless when it comes to job hunting. Unless you are actually at a high level in speaking and listening, N3 isn’t nearly enough to function in a Japanese work environment (at least not in an office environment).

Do you already have a job offer where N3 is requested? If so, that’s great :slight_smile:.

3 Likes

Welcome to the forums!

I know I took that a bit out of context, but you do know about userscripts, right?

Hi guys, thank you for the replies.

I just took the N3 test last week and I am expecting that I will pass it (crossing fingers). This would probably not have been the case if I had continued full speed on WaniKani, because my studies would be way too kanji heavy. WaniKani did exactly what it was supposed to do and most of the kanji questions was a breeze.

@Joeni @alo thank you for recommending Kitsun.io, I ended up using this to supplement WaniKani, by adding the kanji on the JLPT N5-N3 that I was still missing as per wkstats :slight_smile: I was very satisfied with it, although for my purpose the free version of Memrise might have served the same purpose.

@saibaneko I hope you will be able to test your knowledge on the test in 2021. I will be fun even if it doesn’t have a carrier specific purpose!! I am not looking for any specific job in particular, but I am working within the field of finance. I just really want to move to Japan and live there! :smiley:

@gavinr I do not yet have a specific job in mind. I wish it was as easy that I will get a job as long as I pass the N3 test. I did however find a couple of job advertisements looking for candidates with at least N3 level (or intermediate), while browsing LinkedIn. So maybe there is hope? Anyway N3 was the best I could manage this time around, and I am hoping that it will be sufficient :slight_smile: How did you manage to get a job over there that didn’t require Japanese language abilities?

@UInt2048 Thank you for the recommendation! I do know about userscripts, but unfortunately didn’t find any that could help me :pensive: But I agree there is a lot of customization if you take userscripts into account.

4 Likes

I work in software, which is one of the industries that can accept people without functional Japanese - of course it depends on the company (foreign companies or startups tend to offer most options).

ALT is the other default option for people that don’t speak Japanese.

When I said N3 was not sufficient, I was really thinking of office work - in these situations there tends to be a lot of meetings in Japanese, documents in Japanese etc (it’s unrealistic for someone with N3 to cope in that environment, especially if you haven’t had a lot of time to internalize everything at that level).

Manual labor, factory work, retail, hospitality etc are probably fine for N3 provided you can manage daily conversation.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.