As your ć
茩 for likely a pretty brief amount of time considering youâre speedrunning it and Iâm going at a pathetic 7-8 days per level, I will take this opportunity to encourage you as a good ć
茩 should! (That is, in a long, intimidating block of text that literally no one is going to read but I promise contains some encouraging words!)
Learning languages in general kinda sucks. That was a given from the start. Especially Japanese, which is among the most difficult languages in the world. So having a difficult time, especially with Kanji, which is already one of if not the most difficult part of learning it, is completely normal and expected. In fact, considering youâre speedrunning WaniKani, which is in and of itself a pretty cutthroat, extremely fast-paced program, you also happen to be doing even that in one of the most difficult ways possible. So donât be surprised if youâre feeling like youâre on the verge of burnout. Itâs not a reason to give up though. Youâre approaching 2/3 of the way through the 2,000 necessary kanji for literacy. Congratulations! Japanese schoolchildren do that through years of intensive study. You did it on a website online with no immersion practice in less than a year for 10 dollars a month.
Having difficulty now is absolutely normal and expected. I mean, itâs not easy to do what youâre doing. Youâve picked up one of those hobbies that make other people say, âWhat? Why? Isnât that really difficult? God, I could never do that.â But youâre doing it because you want to go to Japan and have an interest in the language, right? Well no one expected you to finish WaniKani and be perfectly functionally fluent before your trip. Thatâs insane. Learning languages takes thousands of hours of dedicated study, which wonât even really be set in until youâve actually been immersed in the language and culture. Learning languages is difficult. My question is, why stop now?
Youâve been on this program for several months already and have learned some 1,300 kanji. Your goal is 2,000. Youâve figured out what works for you, youâve laid the groundwork for learning the rest of them, you already have done over half and can read the majority of kanji you come across. To finish WaniKani, all there is left to do is a few more months of exactly what youâve already been doing. Sure, itâs not easy, but it isnât challenging, either. Itâs rote memorization. Learning grammar takes time to wrap your brain around and get used to understanding and using in the correct situations. Learning Kanji takes sitting down and doing your reviews on time. Thatâs it. Youâve been doing that for months.
The lifelong benefits of buckling down and finishing this now are so much greater than the actual effort youâd have to spend doing it that I honestly donât understand the logic behind quitting. Itâs been harder than you thought it would. Youâre struggling to do your reviews on time. Sure, but youâre still in full control of your review count. Do your lessons slower. Complete the program slower if you must. But donât give up. Because why would you? Youâre saying that the rest of Wanikani just sounds so difficult, but really itâs the opposite. Youâve already done the hard part. The hard part was settling into the routine, dedicating yourself to do it, figuring out what style of learning works for you, and, of course, doing the first 2/3rds. The vast majority of people on Wanikani are on levels 1 and 2. They didnât even finish the unpaid levels. Look where you are. No, you canât use Japanese functionally. That takes years of dedicated study, no matter how you tackle it. But all you need to do in order to make that happen is to keep going. And even if you arenât where you thought you were in time for your trip, that trip is in and of itself a learning experience. Thatâs the immersion practice thatâs so important when it comes to learning a language. Youâre past the point of no return, that is, past the point where people quit in droves because theyâve learned that they cannot, in fact, learn Japanese in 6 hours by watching this YouTube video. Youâre at the point where youâve sunk hundreds if not thousands of hours into WaniKani and your other learning tools. Quit now, and remember the time you sunk into this hobby only to give up when the finish line was in sight, or keep going, and obtain a skill that will benefit you for the rest of your life and the ability to brag to your friends that you learned one of the most difficult languages on the planet. Theyâll ask you if it was hard. Youâll say, âUh, yeah, of course it was difficult, what were you expecting?â
(I apologize for this extremely ugly block of text that no oneâs going to read, I get carried away sometimes)