I’ve been creeping on the forums for a while, reading a lot about various peoples’ WaniKani journeys. I read somewhere on here that level 20 is the real halfway point which is very encouraging and I hope it’s true.
To explain my journey to whoever finds their way to this post, I’m gonna post my level-up stats from https://www.wkstats.com/ even though it is a bit embarassing.
As you can see, I’ve had two times where my WK motivation has faultered and I wasn’t able to keep it up. During the first hiatus (238 days) I kept paying every month in hopes that I would somehow convince myself to start doing it again that way.
Similar to a lot of you peeps, RL stuff and things have lead me to stop with my reviews, and getting back on track after a long hiatus is really difficult. Trust me, I’ve done it twice. The first time was when I did 5 months of exchange in Tokyo (yes I loved it) and I didn’t “have time”. Then when I found time again, I had to do over 1000 reviews to get back on track. The second time I quit I just had enough and unsubscribed, I changed my job and spent all my time studying for the new work, I didn’t “have time”. I bought WaniKani lifetime this time and I pray to the crabigator that I will keep it up to the very end this time. If I keep up the pace that I had these last two levels I’ll be done before next year(!!!).
The reason why I put “have time” in quotes is because it’s never true. To “not have time” is the same thing as saying I had things I’d rather put my time on. Sometimes it was justified but sometimes I’d regretfully rather spend my time staring at the ceiling than doing anything productive.
I’m going to be honest, my newfound motivation is from a new years resolution and just like gym memberships bought in January, is notoriously unreliable motivation. With that said I am really proud of finally getting to level 20 and wanted to share my journey. I am 33% of the way to the finish line, getting there slower than the other poeple I’ve seen on here.
For me my New Year’s resolution actually took hold! My sister and I took on a personal trainer, and I started running. Maybe taking on a tutor will help you get up some steam on your goals as well!
Here’s the thing @oribaa… you started. You came back. Twice. And now you have come back and admitted why you “failed” (it’s not really failure if you come back…). But you haven’t actually stopped. You just had a couple long pauses.
Thing is, we are all here for you. If you feel the motivation falter again, stop by. We will help you waste some time… er, I mean, we will help push you through your faltering dedication. I do know I spend more time on the forums than I should but given how long I have failed at moving forward, I want to try to help the folks I can, if I can, when they start losing their way. Others here are the same in terms of wanting to help.
A thing I have done is I created a daily schedule. I check off, every day, that I do Japanese study (boxes for reading, kanji, grammar). I have hit WaniKani every day for the last 212 of 212 days because, as stupid and silly as it sounds, I really like seeing those check marks on my weekly schedule. I like wiping the sheet clean at the start of the week and seeing it fill up again. I have also been “learning” Japanese for 20 years and finally sticking on learning kanji. I was tired of being tired of failing at kanji, and here I am.
I’ve had long hiatuses, too! I wish I’d kept the stats before I reset, but I went right back down to 1 after coming back to a pile of reviews I just couldn’t face after my last hiatus. Everyone has their own speed and their own life circumstances.
I’m in a fairly similar situation to you where I had a couple of long stints where I couldn’t find the motivation/time to keep up with Wanikani, but now I’m up to level 35. I really think the most important thing is to just keep moving forward, and not to get down on yourself because of past “failures”.
@oribaa Don’t worry, I’ve been going for somewhere between 5 and 6 years now and I’m only level 31 (after 4 or 5 very long hiatuses, and a couple of resets).
I’ve also continued to pay the subscription that whole time in the hope that it would motivate me to come back, but it ended up just making me feel guilty.
This time, though, after living in Japan for 6 months - I really feel like I’m going to make it to lvl 60. Let’s both keep doing our best!
Hello @oribaa I think you should be really proud of yourself!
Don’t compare your speed to others, everyone has their own pace, circumstances, struggles, learning habits and such.
I think many of us have days when doing nothing is actually the best we can do for our mental health or various previously mentioned circumstances.
You are still in the race <3
I wanted to rush because I do have a lot of experience with the language but really suck reading kanji, but my reality is that, I have to slow down after level 20 because the kanji is just not sticking as easily as before… So I became a lifer and it has really helped me pace myself as I know my end goal is to read kanji, not to rush trough WK.
I think maybe joining a group here could really help to keep the motivation up?
Or setting a new realistic goal for yourself where you can slowly manage and not burn out?
My new goal is to do maybe 2 levels per month and just started lv 22… So like level 44 in January of 2022.
I’ve been keeping up the pace since level 20, halfway through my 20s now. I hope that I’ll be able to keep this pace to the finish line . I’m starting to feel the heat and it’s definitely more difficult now compared to when I had my newfound motivation. Although I’m still motivated and excited to learn more kanji! Lets burn those turtles!
. I’m starting to feel the heat and it’s definitely more difficult now compared to when I had my newfound motivation. Although I’m still motivated and excited to learn more kanji! Lets burn those turtles!