Lifetime membership for fun

WaniKani
#1

Hello Earthlings,
Just about finishing up level 3 here and I see that the lifetime sale opportunity has arrived. Whether it arrived at the right time or not, I dunno.

I am still in two minds whether to take it or not. You see, I am doing it just for fun with no pressure. Just as a hobby. Since there is no pressure, I take my time. Hell, it took me one whole year since I started, just to get to level 3. :smile: I kind of do 1 review and around 5-10 new words per week.

Is there anyone else like me, who is doing Japanese just for fun and took lifetime membership. Was it useful in the longer run?

Thanks for the replies. (Reply or I Final Flash)

9 Likes
#2

HMMM. I guess not exactly like you (or anything like youā€¦?), but Iā€™m definitely using WK just for fun at this point. I didnā€™t get lifetime, but I got annual to see if Iā€™d get to 60 in a year without essentially no-life-ing it. Kind of doubt it.

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#3

What do you mean by ā€œat this pointā€? You had a goal to buy before and itā€™s achieved now?

#4

I tested the first 3 levels so I could see if it was worth recommending to other people interested in learning kanji (varies by person, but Iā€™d say it is for absolute beginners, at least).

#5

it appears you have already reached level 4.
so the question for 'to continue WK journey" is the selection of subscription type - monthly, yearly, life-time.
without this, all reviews are frozen, so if it was fun for you to do WK every now and then - you should pick up how to proceed.

the goal ā€œto buyā€ is to ā€œcontinueā€.
slow progress is a progress. itā€™s just if you are going to continue and you;ll spend on WK more than 2.5 years from now - life-time seems to be the most cost-effective option.

personally,...

WK is fun way to tidy that pile of dusty knowledge of japanese. at the same time, what started to be as fun and occasional completing WK levels (uptoā€¦ mmm. 17?), later it became something comparable to other IRL (mostly, work) activityā€¦ last weeks, average time spent on learning (doing WK lessons/reviews, parsing grammar rules with sentences, etc.) is over 30 hours/week.
maybe this is due to full speed levelling up, or just an urge to finish it fast - that is just somewhat opposite to slow/relaxed way of yours.

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#6

Yeah, my average per week is around 25-30 hours (0% scripts installed, using the default experience).

This not ā€œfunā€ for me. Its a life project, with a beginning, and a forecasted end.

I want to be able to read as much as I can (recognizing the hardest element in japanese, the Kanji), and I donā€™t have 5 years to do that, so my personal duration was defined at 1.5-2 years at most.

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#7

I started leaning Japanese as a fun dementia risk-reduction exercise. Now I am learning via many methods in addition to WaniKani. At my age, it is slow going, but still fun. And addicting.

I say buy the lifetime and continue the fun.

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#8

Thatā€™s actually a good take and quite similar to why I started learning Japanese/Kanji.
I love to test and push my brain. I do cubes, solve puzzles or learn Vedic Mathematics, again just for fun as hobbies to keep my brain active.

May I know how old you are, since you mentioned the dementia risk. I am intrigued.

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#9

May I know why you donā€™t have 5 years to do it. I hope itā€™s not something morbid.

#10

I reached level 20 last year, reset to level 1, started all over again, and I am contemplating reset the second time. I donā€™t like to admit that Iā€™m just a casual learner, but Iā€™m just that. And if it werenā€™t for the lifetime membership that I bought, anecdotally, I donā€™t think I would have continue learning Japanese.

So if you can afford it, think of it as a big investment to a future where you can understand Japanese.

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#11

I am 64, started 2 years ago. Now that I enjoy Japanese, I have a goal of being conversant in the language. At this rate, I doubt I will live long enough to be ā€œfluentā€ whatever that means.

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#12

Im sure you can do it, especially since you enjoy it! Good luck :+1:

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#13

I study as a ā€˜hobbyā€™ ā€“ my reasons for studying it can be basically summed up as ā€˜most of my favourite media content comes from Japanā€™. Iā€™ve tried studying it off and on since I was a teen, but it wasnā€™t until I discovered the Tales of Symphonia manga isnā€™t released in English that I really started to knuckle down (itā€™s one of my favourite stories of all time). I now also play Fate/ Grand Order and have enough kanji knowledge to have opinions about some of their translation choices, and it has honestly deepened my understanding of the game and made me hunger for getting to more complicated learning (grammar, etc).

Since Iā€™m not studying for living in Japan, working with Japanese people, or literally anything other than my own enjoyment, Iā€™m not on a time-frame ā€“ as you said, ā€˜no pressureā€™. But it also lets me learn about myself, what kinds of management and habit techniques I need, and broadens my mind, so I consider the time investment well worth it. The pressure I bring is my own desire to be able to engage more deeply in my beloved stories.

A hobby can be just as intensive as ā€˜workā€™, if itā€™s important to you. If itā€™s not important enough to you to invest that time, whether itā€™s a hobby or not, itā€™s probably not worth the lifetime membership. If it is that important to you, then it is absolutely worth it.

7 Likes
#14

I canā€™t speak about lifetime being worth it in the long run, seeing as I just got it and Iā€™m on level 13. But I can speak about doing things just for fun.

I think thereā€™s a lot of talk out there about fighting procrastination and being productive, and also about pursuing interests with the ultimate goal of using said interests as tools to boost your career or turning those interests into a new career. And thatā€™s all nice and well, of course.

But I also think we might fall prey to the trap of devaluing something that truly interests us because ā€œitā€™s just a hobbyā€, ā€œitā€™s just for funā€, ā€œitā€™s not actually required for my career/my degreeā€, ā€œitā€™s just out of curiosityā€. Well, so what? If it doesnā€™t cause harm to anyone, and in fact brings us joy, and if we can manage to somehow incorporate this interest into our lives, then why not pursue it?

An interest pursued just for fun (in our case, language learning, but this can apply to many other activities) can help us develop various mental/physical skills, meet new people, see new perspectives, all of this in ways me might not be able to foresee at the beginning of the journey. And if by the end of the journey thereā€™s no shining Olympic medal or successful career, it doesnā€™t matter, the journey was still worthwhile. :slightly_smiling_face:

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#15

I want to learn reading (and later also speaking) Japanese. I see Kanji as core knowledge for conquering Japanese. Also I canā€™t manage in I guess less than three years start reading LNs.
WK is the first tool I found I trusted to learn Kanji with. So going lifetime was obvious.
What are measly $199 one time for making your dream of learning Japanese true?

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#16

Waitā€¦ I thought I would get a lifetime sub for free, if I got to lvl 3 by the 8th of Januaryā€¦ :frowning_face:

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#17

I started Japanese for the same reason and bought lifetime to begin with. Iā€™ve reset once just to make sure I have everything in my head and it has been well worth it. The only amount of time I have to think about now is how much longer Iā€™ll live. Iā€™ll be 70 in a few weeks. My head will be full of Japanese till the end! Iā€™m enjoying every minute of it!

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#18

Awesome! I am 40, learned kana and bought Genki 1 and several grammar references a few (10?) years back, and then petered out due to reality setting in on just exactly how much more alien and complex Japanese is compared to what I had mentally prepared myself for. Since then I have had a couple more very helpful ego checks and I am back now purely for the fun and wonder. Zero expectations, zero guilt! In my perfect dream world I will be able to read Battle Angel/Gunnm one of these days!

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#19

This is pretty much my reason for studying Japanese also.

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#20

I agree with @purplejabberwockā€™s reasoning, if itā€™s important enough that youā€™re going to invest time in it then a lifetime membership is worth it. It was worth it for me.

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