Hi there,
I wasn’t sure if I should write something here because probably everything that can be said has already been said, but … here is my list of things that I have learned while using Wanikani – or wish that I had known before using Wanikani. If you are not a speed runner and have a main job like me, maybe there is the one or other valuable thing for you.
Capacity estimate Think early on about how many reviews you can do per day every day. Then divide that number by ten (nine Wanikani/WK stages plus some level of mistakes). Use the resulting number as number of new items served up every day. While initially, you will be below your capacity, you will be spot on around half a year later given the WK SRS timings.
Lifetime subscription Use the regular Christmas offer for lifetime subscription if you are serious about learning. If it’s not your main job, it’s close to impossible to burn 60 levels in two years, plus you may want to keep WK even afterwards. For example, if your sustained capacity is 100 items per day (which is a lot for a side job!), you can take 10 new items per day. But that means ~ 9000 items in WK / 10 items per day = 900 days ~ two and a half years plus nearly half a year to burn ~ three years. Keep also in mind that the items get a lot more complex and abstract after the first twenty or so levels.
Native language dictionary If you are not English native, use a dictionary in your native language along with WK (or, e.g., Doitsukani for German). I was all too often surprised what words really meant when I saw them in a straight translation in the Minna No Nihongo German compendium. (Yeah, I know that some people prefer monolingual dictionaries, but I prefer getting a straight translation and reading normal texts.)
Ignore errors Use any method that allows you to ignore your errors and do not feel bad about it. There are numerous reasons why to ignore errors:
- There’s a synonym that’s simply not in the Wanikani accepted words list.
- It’s in my language a synonym.
- I made a typing error on the tiny phone keyboard. For example, “U” and “I” are next to each other on the keyboard and of course I know that a verb does not end with an “I”.
- I absolutely don’t care about the word. For example, I don’t care about military ranks in Japanese and there are numerous other really esoteric words in WK that do not help me at all.
- You consistently confuse a Kanji with a particular other Kanji or reading. In reality, you see Kanji as part of a word or in a context that helps you determine which of your two variants the right one is. For example, I kept confusing 駒 and 騎, but then I don’t play Shogi and when I see 騎馬, I know what it means.
- It’s a leech, i.e., something that you simply can’t get into your head with rote learning and will likely easily remember if you are confronted with it in daily life, reading …
Satori Use Satori reader as companion app if you can afford it. It’s good. I loved it. The amount of content is a bit limited, but it really gives you a jump start in reading comprehension.
Stop at L50, maybe I didn’t, but there are posts here recommending this and I can see why. There are certainly useful Kanji after L50, but the frequency of appearance of Kanjis naturally goes down and it’s not like you know all practically used Kanji after L60. Given this, L50+ is pretty time consuming and you can still get up to JLPT N2.
Power of statistics There are some things that are “x% true” (x = 80, 90) in Japanese, but are “underemphasized” in Wanikani. For example, the infamous Mrs Chou has quite some friends: List of Phonetic Components – The Kanji Code Also, distinguishing transitive and intransitive meanings has some “weak rules” where you just have to learn a few percent of the exceptions by heart instead of everything.
I wish that WK would support a few more didactical processes and methods outside of the rote learning method. Like built-in functionality for leeches, similar Kanji, 80/20 rules and much more. Even just telling you ahead of time if it wants the Onyomi or Kunyomi of a Kanji would help. That is a mindset that, for example, Satori in its area has. The Satori guys really go out of their way to give additional explanations and help surrounding the immediate reading experience.
HTH & good luck,
André
