To start us off, I’m gonna show my stats.
Advice
A lot of the advice I could really give is already covered by Mashakit’s level 60 post. The main bit of advice I agree with is this: Don’t aim for perfection. You don’t need to learn every word’s definition down to the letter – or mora, for that matter. It’s better, really, to get a rough idea of the word via SRS and then get the details and nuance down by way of immersion. SRS is a tool for reminding you and giving you the framework in which to place each word mentally, rather than giving you the end product.
When did I start? How did it go?
I started WaniKani a little over a year ago on August 1st 2022, a month after I started learning. I was still pretty low-level back then, barely even N5 as I had just looked into proper learning methods after quitting Duolingo, a phase which I was fortunate enough to not spend much time on. I started Bunpro a week later, a great boon for my learning grammar.
WaniKani to me felt like a good supplement to the vocabulary I’d acquire from sentence mining – making Anki flashcards from new words in immersion material. While I learn vocabulary specific to my primary genre of immersion, I learn more general vocab on the side too to fill up what is lacking.
About sentence mining
For any interested parties, here’s the number of words I’ve mined so far:
I started out sentence mining anime, but stopped doing so in early May when I started sentence mining the Mushoku Tensei webnovel via Syosetu. I definitely recommend Syosetu if you want reading material, as everything on there is accessible for free. It’s not graded, so I’d recommend it more so for intermediate and advanced learners. Since what is posted there is written by average Japanese people, you’ll be getting more vocab that they’re better acquainted with rather than more obscure literary words. I think that’s a big advantage of it.
Once I finish reading Mushoku Tensei, I’ll be switching to monolingual dictionaries to search up words and learn about new vocabulary. I’d like to have a more comprehensive dictionary as I begin to immerse more, and ideally output.
Output when?
I really haven’t spent much time, if any, on output. My learning thus far has been made up of SRS and immersion. My current plan is to start working on output after the JLPT, most likely by way of Discord and video games.
The future
As for what I intend to do after WaniKani? Well, since December I’ve been doing sentence mining and will be continuing to do so for the foreseeable future. My intent is to, once my review counts go down some, resume immersing via YouTube. I had invested an hour a day into doing so previously but my graduation from high school messed up my habits so I unfortunately had not gotten back into the habit. Since I’m aware of that now, I’ll be looking to correct things and figure out my routine with college work as well.
Goals
I’m taking the JLPT N1 in December. I’m kinda worried about it, but I worry about every test I take – even the ones I pass easily. In any case, once I finish WaniKani I’ll be working on more YouTube immersion in order to help prepare for the Listening section.
For a more long-term goal, I’d like to study abroad in Japan. I want to live there in the future, so I’d prefer to use study abroad as a sort of trial period and get used to the place and culture, as well as make use of what I know to get what we all want: output practice.
Sushi!
I haven’t made my own cake before, but yesterday I made sushi for the first time, specifically California Rolls, and would like to share. I’m gonna be doing another run of them later today to work out the flaws I’ve noticed this time around.
If you enjoy sushi, I’d definitely advise making it at home. Much cheaper, and you can make it just the way you want. Plus you can impress people, I suppose.
