My almost or maybe (probably) full year on Level 19

[BlueberryPear]

Hi my dearest community!

So, some of you probably still know me, since i’ve been around in the forums a lot last year.

I have started worshipping the crabigator at the end of 2017. I progressed pretty steadily up until July last year, which is when I started working on my bachelor thesis. Long story short: due to new work, moving and other stuff I haven’t touched WaniKani (or any other Japanese learning application) for nearly a year.

Around three weeks ago I started again and was greeted with somewhere around 2400 piled up reviews. I decided to try to keep going without resetting. I had an accuracy somewhere around 30 percent most of the time at first, but the good thing was that I remembered most of the things that were up for burns.
And I felt as if, for most of the words, I at least started to remember them or the mnemonics again after reading the right answer.

To jog my memory I decided to write down the words I’d gotten wrong.

Yesterday I could finally celebrate 0 reviews (for five minutes at least…)!

And today I had the first review session with an acceptable accuracy again:

It’s still a long road and I would like to get my apprentice count down to 100 before starting to tackle any new lessons, but I think I’m on my way again!

My dashboard looks kinda funny now, mostly everything divided into either burns or apprentice/guru:

And I’m really happy I’ve gotten the lifetime account when I started. XD

Is starting my own topic just to write this too much? Maybe, but it kinda felt like this huge thing for me and I couldn’t help myself.

[NathaLire]

2400 reviews you worked hard

Congratulations on finishing your bachelor thesis and all and good luck on wanikani now that you’ve gotten back into the rhythm!!

[jprspereira]

Welcome back

I can’t wait to see you destroying Death

[SaafLaandaanIrish]

I did the first ten levels in a row and then cracked at 11. It took me 5 weeks. Had 400 reviews which took a whole day to do. Now I’m back on track. Well done on writing the kanji. I’ve decided to leave that for now. Finding the time is pretty hard what with life etc.

[BlueberryPear]

@AcousticAshley

Finding the time is pretty hard what with life

Yes, you’re totally right. I have a week off from work, that’s why I had the time to do it so excessively. But I’ll try to keep at it at least for the words I get wrong. I always did write them in the lessons and I write the kanji on my hand during reviews when I don’t know what it is or how it’s read right away. It helps me focus and remember. I can never really visualise the mnemonics but rely on making a short sentence with all the radicals and components and it really helps to write them down at least on my hand to jog my memory.

[babybird]

Wow! 2400 reviews! Perseverance really paid off! お疲れ様です。

Congratulations on finishing the thesis and finishing all those reviews. How will you celebrate??

[BlueberryPear]

@babybird

How will you celebrate??

Hmm… haven’t thought about that really. But I think it would be fitting to treat myself to a nice meal at a japanese restaurant maybe… I will come back to you as soon as I know. XD

@jprspereira

I can’t wait to see you destroying Death

Yes! I plan on making that happen this year!

And by the way, thank you! You were one of those who said I should try it without resetting at first and see how it goes. It was the right idea for me!

[Clippership]

I’m really happy you shared this. I enjoyed it and you’re a great role model. Thanks!

[Bilby]

Ah… This post hits close to home, keep plucking away!

I have never stopped for that long, but I am certainly in a state where I will miss days, and then weeks, where the WaniKani just can’t have my full attention. (sorry Crabigator!)

I am currently looking at 400 backed up in my queue before I try and introduce new lessons, and have a solid 264 apprentice items… I would like to have that number at about 100 before I get back into my swing of 10 lessons a day.

It’s a grind, but you do it for a reason I suppose!

Just wanted to say, you aren’t alone!

[OceanMirage]

That’s a mammoth effort and you should be super proud of yourself! Congratulations!

[Kuvshinova]

@BlueberryPear

I started working on my bachelor thesis

RIP. I know that feeling xD Glad to see you back and that things are calming down more.

[gojarappe]

Good on you, BooBerry! Thanks for making this topic. It’s a good source of inspiration to anyone feeling overwhelmed with the amount of reviews they have piled up. You’ll be the next @MissMisc before you know it!

Also, I just realized that I never got back to you on the reading bit so here’s the link for the Picture Book Challenge (if you haven’t found it already):

えほんのチャレンジ：0歳 "Picture Book Challenge: Age 0"

Hello there! Semi-recently I became aware of the EhonNavi website and their HUGE, BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL library of Japanese children’s books that one can read IN FULL, FOR FREE. Apologies for the caps, but I was hella excited to find this resource. The only catch being that you can only read each book once. If you want to read the book again, you have to either create a new account, or… be sneaky . Anyway, the website organizes the books by age group (0 - 12 and adult…

[BlueberryPear]

@Bilby

Ah… This post hits close to home, keep plucking away!

You’re also a level 19! Thanks for sharing, it’s good to know I’m not the only one with troubles.

@Bilby

I am currently looking at 400 backed up in my queue before I try and introduce new lessons, and have a solid 264 apprentice items

I feel your struggle. And this is a huge effort in itself, just trying to get a healthy apprentice count without getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of reviews you keep getting in the meantime.
Slow and steady seems to be working for me here. I’m trying to take my time with reviews and when I’m doing them at home I’m still writing the wrong ones down and learn them thoroughly again.

@Lids

Congratulations!

Ooh, cake! The best reward!

@gojarappe

You’ll be the next @MissMisc before you know it!

@MissMisc is the next @MissMisc! My wonderful twinsie whom I sadly haven’t really talked to yet. Is everybody in the poll thread still?

@gojarappe

here’s the link for the Picture Book Challenge (if you haven’t found it already)

Thank you! I had seen the topic in the meantime and am planning to join the challenge soon! How far have you come with it?

[Pygmalimorph]

Thanks for sharing!
I am in a somewhat similar situation (it’s only been a few weeks, not a year, but nevertheless) with 700 and a few reviews waiting for me. I was really thinking of quitting Wanikani and learning Japanese altogether, as i am having a hard time combining it with my work and other hobbies and stuff… But maybe i should give it another try!

[BlueberryPear]

I would be happy if you gave it another try! Maybe just keep doing your reviews and try to take a little time every other day for new lessons (or other Japanese learning, in case your apprentice count is as high as mine is).
For me it’s always a hard decision between reading books (which I absolutely adore and is one of my no.1 hobbies), playing boardgames, painting and learning Japanese. With work and also needing and wanting to spend some time with friends and family, there’s just not enough time in a week to do everything.
But I’m thinkig: Learning Japanese is something I can actually “finish”. I will never be able to read all the books I would want to or play all the games I want, but if I now dedicate some time to Japanese, then I will be able to know it at least to the point where I won’t be needing to actively learn every day, but where I can combine it with other things I like (for example by reading books in japanese).
It’s something I can accomplish in a relatively short amount of time even, so that’s what I use to keep me motivated right now.

[BlueberryPear]

Just a quick update, in case anyone’s interested:

After getting an accuracy betweend 65-83% (more in the 60s most of the time) for the last three weeks, I am now finally at a ~90% accuracy again. Today’s score:

The days after my “0 reviews” were actually especially hard, I still had around 300 reviews every day and on some days I got around to only 100 max. And the low accuracy made it kinda frustrating. BUT I feel I’ve gotten to a turnpoint. The last 3 days I had around 170 reviews every day, which is really manageable.

The hardest part for me right now are the vocabulary words which I had problems with even before the short break. All the combinations with 想 (concept) are especially hard, since I don’t seem to be able to remember the differences between most of them. Especially the ones with plan vs. anticipation. T_T

But well, I guess I’m gonna have to find a strategy for that. If anyone has any good mnemonics or something else, please share!

One other thing I had problems with, 仲良く, isn’t a problem anymore, since thanks to @gojarappe and @nbeck0212 I am reading picture books now and all the animals are always 仲良く遊び-ing with each other. To keep myself motivated those books are pure gold!!! They are easy to understand, cute and if you look for the titles on You Tube you sometimes find someone reading them out loud. I have finally also started with a textbook again, “Japanisch Schritt für Schritt”. It’s very easy and beginner level, but right now that’s better for my motivation then trying something more complex.

So, I’m looking forward to the rest of my journey. I hope no more long breaks are ahead of me, but even if they are, I feel more confident than ever that I WILL someday be able to speak and read japanese on a level I’m happy with.

Oh, and I even did 6 new lessons on WK yesterday!!! It felt soooo good to finally learn something new again and to make the number of lessons a bit smaller.