I just reached level 20 today and it feels like a big milestone for me. It has taken me 5 months to get here and I have succeeded in studying every day since I started back in September.
I have made attempts over the years to start studying Japanese but it was really difficult for me to find a way to get over the big difficulty curve at the start. Trying to study grammar was frustrating because I knew barely any words and this slowed me down significantly. Trying to study kanji using other flashcard methods relied on me organising my own pacing and schedule, which I could never get right.
When I first heard about WaniKani back in September I tried it out straight away and found it really easy to get into. The fact that I didn’t have to create mnemonics or think about which order I should learn in or what readings are important removed a lot of the barriers that made studying kanji seem like an impossible task. The most important thing that WaniKani provided was a spacing system that you don’t have think about. Just study when it tells you to and progress will happen. The second most important thing is that it teaches you vocabulary alongside kanji. I remember trying in the past to learn kanji purely on their own and it simply makes remembering everything much harder.
I have since a couple of weeks ago started to get back into studying grammar, and the difference is significant. I don’t feel like I need to battle with entire sentences not being understandable just to focus a specific aspect of grammar I am trying to learn.
I am really happy that I have been able to easily make WaniKani a part of my daily rituals, it feels very rewarding. Thank you for being the thing that has actually got me to properly start on my Japanese learning process.
