Learning progress

[jstrout]

I’m level 24. I’ve been using WaniKani for almost exactly 4 years now, though I did take 6 months off to do my own kanji project.

Recently I was fortunate enough to spend 6 weeks studying Japanese pretty intensively in Tokyo. Towards the end of that, I got a bit overwhelmed between classwork and everything else, and didn’t do my WK reviews for about a week. When I got home and got my head above water, I found I had something like 400 reviews, with 50-100 new ones appearing every day.

That was about 5 weeks ago. Since then I’ve been ignoring new lessons, but pushing the review load down as much as I could every day. It was hard, because I’m still quite busy and simply can dedicate an hour or more to WK every day. But I tried to at least break even (i.e. not let the review load grow bigger than the day before) every day, and when I could, push it down by 20 or 30 reviews.

Just yesterday, I finally cleared out my reviews for the first time since Japan. Hooray! In the process I burned quite a few items; I have 2741 burned now. This has reduced the new reviews to a more manageable 30-40/day (which, being WK, really means 60-80 reviews/day, since it asks reading and meaning separately for each item).

I’m traveling this weekend for the eclipse, so I’m going to keep ignoring those new lessons a bit longer, though I intend to keep my reviews cleared out from now on. After I get back home, I’ll start doing new lessons again.

But man, be careful — SRS systems can be really punishing if you don’t keep up with them absolutely every day.

[KeikosNightmare]

I’ve had WankiKani for four years, and I’m only level 4. I didn’t really stick to it for ages. I used it every day for about a month, and then didn’t use it for 6 months at a time as I forgot about it/forgot about Japanese/was lazy and was really down on myself about it. I noticed my error, I spammed myself with lessons and let the reviews pile up until they became intimidating (250+ reviews at one time from being lazy). I’ve recently realised in a lot of areas in my life, I’m never more than half committed so I sat down and thought about why I really wanted to learn Japanese and how I was going to make it happen. I’ve turned it into a daily habit now instead of thinking of it as study time. The minute I wake up, I turn my laptop on and do all my morning reviews automatically, and it’s instinct now to do reviews whenever I turn my laptop on. I’ve progressed much faster since and hope to raise my level in reflection of that!

[mrsaturn]

A lot!

Been studying since Feb 2016. Didn’t know a single word of Japanese, but now I can comprehend the news pretty well!
I’m gonna be taking the N2 this year, and hoping to take the N1 in 3~ years later after getting my vocab to 20000 words.

[Hunny]

That’s pretty amazing!
I wish you best of luck
I’ve always been avoiding Kanji study as much as possible but now I keep studying every day.
And as I can see you’re already level 59!
You must have been really dedicated :o !

[formetobecomei]

Before doing WK, I made sure my hiragana/katakana was up to par. I started WK in June of 2016 and basically do it every. single. day. Even when I really don’t want too. lol It gets easier the higher level you are, because the closer you get to level 60, the more motivation you get to continue.

Wanikani has been a great source and it’s awesome to go and read things that you never were able to before. My favorite pass time now is reading NHK news.

I do, however, recommend supplement material, such as Genki and the like, because WK is straight up kanji.

I, myself, have been using Genki (off and on), and Japanesepod101 mostly. Along with a “Basic Japanese Grammar” book I picked up in an Asian market.

TLDR; Wanikani is a great starting place and it helps motivate you to learn ALL THE JAPANESE.

頑張って下さい！

[rmizuno]

Started May 2016. I didn’t turn on vacation mode during my 2 week vacation to Japan, and spent about a month recovering from that, but otherwise I’ve made pretty good progress.

Unfortunately, since I only have a limited time to study, I also gave up other Japanese studies for WK… so while my Kanji skills are pretty awesome, my other skills (grammar, listening, speaking) are pretty lacking. However, since I’ll be running out of lessons in 1-2 weeks, I’ll be able to work on those other areas, and kanji will no longer be the roadblock that it was a year ago

As for how often… whenever I can! I do reviews and lessons in the morning, do reviews during my lunch break, when I get home from work, and before I go to bed (and more lessons before bed). I often try to do a few reviews here and there on my phone when I get a chance in the evenings too. I find it easier to reviews in bunches of 20-40 rather than trying to tackle 150 reviews once a day.

[mrsaturn]

Thanks for the kind words

Forgot to answer your other question, but i’ve been using WaniKani every single day since March 10 (2016).

[mrsaturn]

Here’s my level-by-level breakdown of time spent. I’ll probably be on level 59 for another 4-5 days before hitting 60.

[sCreami]

I’m rooting 4 u ! <3

[sigolino]

these were the fastest 4-5 days ever

[hyakuen]

Wanikani has basically become my main way of studying Japanese as of right now. I’m too lazy to go beyond intermediate level Japanese, so I’m trying to just improve my ability to read for now. Once I can actually read most things comfortably, then I will be able to go further in my studies.

When I started learning Japanese, I used to try to memorize kanji and I did some textbook work like Genki or or free online stuff like Tae Kim’s guide to Japanese (was really difficult) to learn grammar. That initial startup of learning about the differences between kanji/katakana/hiragana, and the pronunciation and memorizing them was frustrating and took a little while.

When I felt comfortable enough, I started reading manga with furigana like Yotsuba&! It’s a very easy read and has a simple plot so it was good practice for starting to read.

Eventually I got A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar and practiced writing sentences in Japanese. I’m terrible at it. I prefer being able to read and understand spoken Japanese, anyway.

Anyway, I’ve been studying Japanese on and off for almost 5 years now and started using Wanikani 3 and a half years ago. I often leave for half a year and come back to it to do 2000 reviews, but I make progress nonetheless. I’m level 32.

[Hunny]

I want to keep doing WK every day too
keep me updated how the N2 went for you
oh btw what other study materials do you use for learning Japanese?

[Hunny]

I agree with you on Tae Kims guide it was pretty confusing to me. Especially because English isn’t my first language and that makes grammar even more confusing.

That’s actually kinda funny I also started reading Yotsuba! I love this manga it’s so funny

Keep going! Level 32 isn’t too bad

[Aemaeth]

was randomly watching VAs live dubbing their respective animes (just like, out of desire for entertainment, not for any sort of studying purpose) and realised I understood individual bits and bobs!!! that made me really happy

[plantron_RickMatsuri]

and realised I understood individual bits and bobs!!! that made me really happy

Yeah, tits and boobs also make me happy.

oh wait… I misread that…

[Aemaeth]

hehehe, Freudian nipslip?

o w8, I mistyped that

[plantron_RickMatsuri]

Why am I always out of likes!!!

[Aemaeth]

because you’re so full of love <3

[plantron_RickMatsuri]

[hyakuen]

Yes, but I think it worked out in the end for giving me the gist of Japanese through literal translation.

Yotsuba&! seems to be the first choice for manga reading material for beginners, after all.

Thanks for the support, I’ll keep powering through and I’ll make it eventually.