Curious cats were wondering the same thing in 2020. Hereās a post in thread where someoneās gathered them all. Canāt imagine itās changed.
so I think the last time I posted in here was around February 2022 (!!!) Over the last year, Iāve moved to japan and started a new busy job so wanikani totally took a backseat resulting in me becoming an EXTREME scenic durtler boasting level up times in the exclusive 100+ day club (shout out to @Need2Read @rilakkumacafe and @Karakayn for also being in this club!)
Iām probably going to level up in the next day or two and finally leave my longest ever level (and hopefully it stays the longest!) Hopefully Iāll be able to post more frequently in this forum because everyone is so friendly here and Iāve really missed it 
congrats on everyoneās accomplishments while Iāve been away!! Happy durtling 
Congrats on the move to Japan, thatās awesome! Iād say that counts as a valid reason for some slow levels. 
Welcome back!!
finally!!! first level up of 2023 - level 27 babyyyyy :>
crazy how in the first half of 2022 (january-april) i levelled up 10 levels and then in the second half i only managed 2 haahaha hereās hoping for quicker level ups in the next few months! donāt get me wrong, circumstances necessitated going slower on wanikaniā¦ but iād still like to try and avoid another 118 or 160 day level if i can!
anyway, hereās to level 27! letās goooo!
Level 55!
It was a standard fourteen day level, but there were lots of huge milestones for me! I finished Minna no Nihongo (the beginners series, at least) and took a full length practice N4 test, which I think I passed pretty soundly! So I am considering myself to have officially graduated out of the beginning phase!
I also technically finished my first novel in Japanese, if we count the MNN novel as a ārealā novel, haha. I finished the book I was reading in Spanish as well (an actual real novel), though itās far from my first book read in Spanish. So far, havenāt missed a day yet on the read every day challenge!
In addition to my normal Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling translation workload, Iām also in the process of translating a bunch of stuff from Big Japan Pro Wrestlingās deathmatch Shakespeare shows from 2008-2011 (my rare wrestling DVD white whale 
). Hereās a post with all of the info I managed to gleam about the first show (King Lear) and some stuff I translated, as well as a bunch of screencaps from the DVD.
After finishing MNN, I started Tobira! Havenāt got very far yet, but Iām hoping to do one chapter per WK level (so, finish one every two weeks). I guess Iāll report back on if this pace works for me or not, haha.
"Big Japan Pro Wrestlingās deathmatch Shakespeare shows " --whaat? Thought you could sneak that by us and we would not want to ask?? 
I am neither a pro wrestling or Shakespeare fan, but the two together sounds fantasticā¦
If you want to see/hear more about those shows, I recommend reading that post I linked, which has basically all that I know about the first one (King Lear), haha, including a translation of the back of the DVD, the cast list, and a bunch of screencaps! Romeo vs Juliet and the two Macbeths are still forthcomingā¦
One of my professors in undergrad actually specifically studied martyrdom in Shakespeare, so Iām planning on eventually emailing her and telling her about these shows, because deathmatch Shakespeare is really doing the whole martyrdom thing on another level 
. These shows billed themselves as the first Shakespeare productions to contain real bloodā¦
Iām probably going to put a lot of stuff about them up on my wrestling translation blog eventually, even though theyāre slightly off-topic haha (BJW isnāt under the umbrella of companies my blog was created to cover ). I guess I can say āhey, check out these shows featuring TJPW guest stars Jun Kasai and Abdullah Kobayashi!ā Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, which is what I translate for, is, uh, pink princess-themed womenās wrestling, which is a slightly different vibe than Big Japan Pro Wrestlingās gory deathmatches. However! Several of the TJPW wrestlers idolize BJW wrestlers (hence why Jun Kasai and Abdullah Kobayashi have both come to TJPW to fight the joshi wrestlers there), so there is strangely a genuine connection there, despite the vast surface-level differences, haha.
Woo! Youāre almost to 60! Have you been thinking about what you want to do after wanikani? Youāre already doing so much, so enjoying be able to not take on a new thing is also exciting 
Hey guys, I think I gonna join. Iām realy slow at leveling up right now. Using many other ressources at the moment, so I take my time with the lessons and stuff. I have around 150 open lessons after my level up at the moment XD This will take some time.
Oooh, interesting! If you have a chance in the future, pls post back about Tobira here once you get a āfirst impressionā sense of it.
I remember looking at it a long while back but it was way ahead of where I was (and was one of the inspirations for me to learn kanji first), so I would be interested to hear what itās like from someone whoās just starting out with it. Just a basic impression would be great, nothing too detailed needed (unless thatās your jam, I guess! ).
Iāve done Genki I and started on Genki II, but switched over to just using BunPro, and Iāve gotten roughly to mid/late-N4-ish I would guess. Iām wondering whether trying Tobira again would be a good match for me at this point.
Welcome back!! Itās good to see you post again. Congratz on the move and other life things going on for you. Cheering you on your durtling journey 
I have thought about it a lot, actually! Iāve honestly already started transitioning into the next phase of my studies. Iāve been using Anki to learn additional kanji and vocab from my immersion for over a year now, though Iāve kept the number of cards Iām adding pretty low so that itās not too much along with the WK cards (in addition to my textbook vocab, which Iām also learning via Anki). I only just recently broke 1,000 wrestling words added, haha.
So my main plan is to just transition more to Anki. As the time Iām spending on WK decreases, Iāll be ramping up the number of new cards Iām learning there, and just increasing the overall amount of time I spend daily on Anki. Iāll be learning textbook vocab there from premade decks (first Minna no Nihongo, currently Tobira, probably eventually N2/N1 Shin Kanzen Master), but I am largely moving away from premade decks and moving toward mining vocabulary from immersion.
So I donāt think Iāll really be getting my free time back after WK 
. Though my schedule will open up a lot more because Anki is much more relaxed in terms of scheduling. I only do one Anki session daily, compared to the minimum three WK sessions.
Iām hoping to be about a third of the way through Tobira by the time I do my last set of WK lessons, assuming a two weeks per chapter pace is doable for me. I think a big part of the reason I was so successful with MNN was because I built my schedule for it around my WK leveling pace, and the pressure to complete at least one textbook chapter every level kept me from slacking, so Iām going to try to do something similar for Tobira even when I donāt have the framework of the WK level system anymore. If two weeks per chapter works, then Iāll keep holding myself to that deadline and probably transition my study log update schedule to match haha.
The things that will remain the same are: 1) my wrestling translation workload, because TJPW will keep doing shows regardless of whatās happening in my studies, haha, and 2) the read/listen every day challenges, which Iām planning on continuing as usual.
Iām not sure if Iāll exactly move to spending more time doing immersion than I already am, but Iām hoping that as I get better at Japanese, I can make better use of my time to get through more material with less time/energy required for it. Right now, the translations are the biggest time suck for me, and to a certain extent, theyāll always take up time, but I definitely get faster at them the better my Japanese gets, and the question becomes āhow do I word this in English?ā instead of āāwhat does this sentence mean in Japanese?ā and then also āhow do I word this in English?āā
So thatās the goal, basically! Getting good enough at the language that I can casually read and watch a lot more stuff on the side without having to devote more time than I already am spending on Japanese each day. But at least right now, and probably for the next few years, itās unlikely that the total amount of time Iām spending each day will decrease.
I sort of have a tentative five year plan, which Iām currently about two years into. My goal is to get through about one JLPT level every year, and then assuming I make it all the way to N1, at that point Iāll stop doing intentional study with textbooks and such and will be able to just read and watch stuff for fun and do Anki. By that point, Iāll probably have burned everything or nearly everything in WK, haha.
Sorry for the long answer! One lesson I feel like Iāve learned throughout all of this is that itās really helpful to transition in and out of new study habits gradually, so Iāve spent a lot of time basically laying the groundwork for my post-WK intermediate studies so that it wonāt be a very big transition for me. Iām not planning on taking any real break, or quitting and starting a bunch of different things at once.
My immediate first impression of it is in my latest study log update! There definitely will be more detailed impressions given later in my study log, haha (ātoo detailedā is in fact my jam ).
I have a hard time evaluating the difficulty of it kanji-wise now that Iām coming at it from level 55 haha (Iāve found only one single unfamiliar kanji so far), so your mileage may vary there! Grammar-wise, Iād say that Iāve benefited from coming into it with a very solid N4 base. I just read the first reading exercise last night, as well as the grammar points for the first chapter, and there was nothing in there that I struggled to understand. My vocab is also very solid, largely thanks to WK and also thanks to MNN (and thanks a little bit to pro wrestling as well), but even so, there were a few words that were new to me that werenāt in the vocab list.
I think if youāre very dedicated and donāt mind doing lookups, you could probably try it again at this point! Itāll be a steep difficulty change compared to Genki, but if you take it sentence by sentence, itās really not too bad. It feels downright easy to me compared to reading pro-wrestling post-match interviews .
Have you been reading native material or graded readers or anything like that as youāve been doing BunPro? If so, youāll probably have an easier time with Tobira. If not, you might find it helpful to try reading some N4 level material first to sort of help solidify everything youāve learned. The first Minna no Nihongo novel might be worth picking up for that, honestly.
Iāll report back with more details after Iāve finished the first chapter 
!
Hi! I canāt remember if I ever posted here, donāt think so, but Iāve been reading this topic for a while since I fit here just fine, as you can see next:
Almost a year and a half and still on level 7 xDDD (didnāt study for about 8 to 10 months, canāt really remember, did a reset as the reviews where too much to bear for my couple of remaining neuronsā¦
My typical level up is close to 2 weeks, but I just checked that on WK level 7 you already have like 90% of the kanji needed for JLPT N5, and Iām thinking I might try it, that means focusing in all the other departments, and my listening sucks as my real goal is to be able to read, I just want to understand whatās written tbh, so kanji has always been what I fear the most, since memory, well, has never been one of my strenghts.
So, I might write once in a blue moon, lurking in the forums takes away waaay too much time once I start reading and reading and readingā¦
welcome !!!
I totally recommend going for N5 and throwing yourself into grammar now! It will give you a goal/deadline/incentive to actually encourage you to start practicing listening/reading/grammar as opposed to solely focussing on wanikani like I did whoops! I regret not prioritising grammar and native immersion at the start bc I truly believe the sooner you start the better!
My biggest reason for learning Japanese is also because I want to read. But practicing listening, speaking, writing, and grammar will all help you with reading! Theyāre all related!
that said, if youāve just come off a 8/10 month break, itās okay to delay this for a while until you get back into the habit of consistent Japanese study 
you donāt want to overwhelm yourself too quickly!
Welcome aboard the Durtle Train (Scenic Tour Line)! 
And welcome back to the forums!
Feel free to write whenever you feel like it. No pressure either way. Always glad to hear from a fellow durtler.
Good advice! 
5 days late to update that I got to level 19 after 16 days and 21 hours. The last three level ups were between 10 - 13 days which felt wayyyyyyy too fast for me. I think this current pace is good keeping my apprentice items below 100 at all times. I will probably durtle at an even slower pace because of some travel plans, challenges joined, a job hunt, and other language learning endeavors. 
Congrats on finishing MNN and your first novel @fallynleaf . As usual, I enjoyed reading your study log and super amazed at your sheer determination and will!
And welcome to the newcomers and returnees!
Iāve been lurking here for a while and definitely think I quality for going the scenic route lol. Iāve been on my current level for 12 days now and am not even close to reaching the radicals in the pile of old vocab lessons. These past two weeks have been rough for me due to school plus dealing with some health issues. My energy for language learning was zapped, but itās slowly coming back. I feel proud of myself for mostly staying on top of reviews, but itās hard sometimes to get out of that hyper productivity mindset.
Does anyone else have times where you only do reviews for a while because you donāt have the energy for lessons?
oh heck, yeah!!
Constantly. Thatās pretty much my journey so far