My Journey of 368 days (+ The Ultimate Guide for WK 📖 )

[Avtem]

Oh, i wasn’t even thinking about not doing it.
Well, then it explains how the 368 boy did it so fast. If you prioritize radicals and kanji, then there will always be some undone vocab lessons. Thank you for answering!

[jprspereira]

@Avtem

So, if you pass a level via Guru’ing kanji… then you have to do Radicals and Kanji but not Vocabulary? Does it mean that vocabulary is not obligatory?

Vocabulary is not part of the requirements for you to level up. However, Wanikani without any scripts/addons to manipulate it won’t give you radicals/kanji lessons unless you finish vocabulary from previous levels. In this way, vocabulary is not skippable.

People sometimes abuse scripts that allow you to reorder the items you get in lessons, making it possible to get only radicals and kanji and therefore keep leveling up while skipping vocabulary lessons. But that’s a very bad habit to build, because you’ll never fully learn the kanji without the reinforcement that vocabulary lessons provide by hammering the readings in your head and giving you extra ones.

@Avtem

Well, then it explains how the 368 boy did it so fast. If you prioritize radicals and kanji, then there will always be some undone vocab lessons. Thank you for answering!

I did not skip a single vocabulary If you read Chapters 4-7 of my guide (2nd post of this thread), you can see that one can reach level 60 in one year by doing around 20 lessons/day and not skip a single item (but reorder the order you do them instead). This speed requires having a decent amount of time available for just Wanikani every day though (around 60 to 90 minutes).

[Avtem]

Oh, i’ve read the whole post #1 and #2. You actually changed my life - after reading it i realized that i know nothing about WaniKani. If you think about it - your shared knowledge is incredibly valuable: instead of subscribing for 5 years people would subscribe for 1-3 years. i barely can afford the subscription and your post changed everything. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom!

So… you did every single item, and i imagine it was like this: Day 1 (leveling up) - doing radicals and kanji lessons, Day 2, 3 - doing Vocab lessons. On day 4 you unlock new kanji and everything starts over again?

i dedicate 30+20+20 mins/day and i consider it a small amount of time…

[jprspereira]

@Avtem

So… you did every single item, and i imagine it was like this: Day 1 (leveling up) - doing radicals and kanji lessons, Day 2, 3 - doing Vocab lessons. On day 4 you unlock new kanji and everything starts over again?

That’s pretty close to it. The only differences I did, compared to what you said were:

• I’d spread the kanji between days 1 and days 3. The deadline was on day 3, as I’d have more unlocked kanji and would have to do those immediately to keep the 7 days per level. But I wouldn’t do everything on day 1 for most of the levels. Only during the fast levels, I’d pre-study all the kanji of the following level, as doing lessons for 30 kanji in one go would be terrible for my memorization.

• Vocabulary was spread throughout all 7 days during the level. I’d aim for 20-25 lessons a day, so depending on how many kanji I did that day, I’d just complete with vocab. On Day 1, I’d always have to do a bit more lessons, since there’s a decent amount of radicals. They are easier to learn though.

@Avtem

If you think about it - your shared knowledge is incredibly valuable: instead of subscribing for 5 years people would subscribe for 1-3 years. i barely can afford the subscription and your post changed everything. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom!

That’s an interesting perspective to have, never thought of that! I understand those situations and hopefully that will help you learn better and save better! While on the topic, the Wanikani Team usually holds a lifetime discount during Christmas/New Year’s time (From $299 to $199), so it might be a good opportunity to save some money for you Even if by then you still have subscription time left to use, they’ll just prorate the not spent time and make the lifetime even cheaper (discount included!).

Let me know if I can help you in any other way ^^

[Zizka]

Could someone point out a person who has managed to do it in a year without a script?

The way I see it, using a re-order script sort of takes the challenge away. If the kanjis and radicals always come up first in your review pile because they’re manually rearranged, then there’s no challenge in finishing each level in 6-7 days. You’re never in a pre-burn situation where you’re overwhelmed in your review pile because you’re moving on too fast.

@jprspereira

Vocabulary is not part of the requirements for you to level up. However, Wanikani without any scripts/addons to manipulate it won’t give you radicals/kanji lessons unless you finish vocabulary from previous levels. In this way, vocabulary is not skippable.

People sometimes abuse scripts that allow you to reorder the items you get in lessons, making it possible to get only radicals and kanji and therefore keep leveling up while skipping vocabulary lessons. But that’s a very bad habit to build, because you’ll never fully learn the kanji without the reinforcement that vocabulary lessons provide by hammering the readings in your head and giving you extra ones.

Oh I just read this. Well, then ok, you do deserve respect. I thought you were just shuffling kanji and radicals on top to level up every time. Hat’s to you then.

[Avtem]

@jprspereira

Let me know if I can help you in any other way ^^

Wow, you are incredible. i think i’ve already got everything i need, but sadly i have to stop wanikani because i can’t afford it anymore. And it’s actually i wanted to propose you some help, because i see you started to learn Russian and i am kinda native speaker and i really want to help someone with my special method of learning!

[jprspereira]

@Avtem

Wow, you are incredible. i think i’ve already got everything i need, but sadly i have to stop wanikani because i can’t afford it anymore.

If that’s the case, try emailing the staff to hello@wanikani.com and explain your situation. They’re open to hear you out and might even offer you a discount (if that helps). There were people before that couldn’t afford the subscription and got a 50% discount code.

@Avtem

And it’s actually i wanted to propose you some help, because i see you started to learn Russian and i am kinda native speaker and i really want to help someone with my special method of learning!

I’m curious, what’s this special method of yours?

Thanks for the kindness. @FlamySerpent (my girlfriend) has been supporting me with Russian, so I got everything I need to up my Russian for the time being

[KiwiSmint]

Why didn’t I know of this thread’s existence?? What have I been doing?? How have I been living my life…?!

This

Is

Beautiful

Thank you. So much.

[jprspereira]

@KiwiSmint

Why didn’t I know of this thread’s existence?? What have I been doing?? How have I been living my life…?!

You’re forgiven because you have Emma on your profile picture

@KiwiSmint

This

Is

Beautiful

Thank you. So much.

No, thank you! :3 Hope it helps!

[GamerKing]

I well used ur guide to starting both kw and follow a schedule that helped me reach level 6 so easily I now do 25 lesson at once every morning and night so that I can learn the most amount and get fluent in japanese as soon as possible… You guide also helped me get my focus back I left wk after doing 2 level the first time tried it that was 1 year ago when I was just roaming through the internet I found your post which motivated to start japanese all over again. Thank you so much.

[Zalinius]

Thank you so much for this guide. I feel very fortunate finding it early in my Japanese learning journey, and I’ll make sure to make good use of your advice. Thank you for helping build this wonderful community and being so welcoming.
Anyway, see you in a month!

[VisitsFromTheIsnt]

@Zizka

Could someone point out a person who has managed to do it in a year without a script?

Speedrun.com WK category now. Any%, NoScripts%, ErrorlessPleasant%, Coelacanth%, the potential is endless!

[Zalinius]

I’m about 30 days in and going full steam ahead!
The most useful advice has been the SRS scheduling: I’ve been doing WaniKani everyday at 6h, 10h and 18h, and that schedule has really kept me consistent so far, while helping me avoid checking back in every hour :P.
I’ve managed to build it into my daily routine, so barring any life changing events, I should be learning at a nice even pace for the foreseeable future.
Thanks again for the excellent advice

[jprspereira]

That’s great! Thank you so much for keeping me/us updated! Don’t be afraid to go a bit slower if you start feeling a bit overwhelmed. But if not, at full steam it is!

[yorbon]

Apart from the amazing guide, I think it’s really cool you still regularly reply to your level 60 thread, almost 4 years after creation.
(I dunno, just wanted to put that out there.)

[jprspereira]

@yorbon

almost 4 years after creation.

Damn, I finished WK 4 years ago. A bit insane! Time flies, or better yet, 光陰矢のごとし

@yorbon

(I dunno, just wanted to put that out there.)

Thank you for doing that It makes me happy that the guide still gets to be appreciated by all the new users in here I still try to keep it up to date the best way I can.

[Warrie]

This was so helpfull… at level 5 now but I still quite didn’t understand how the system exactly worked. That lesson filter helps so much in streamlining the process!

Today I got 119 new lessons and the first 70 or something were vocabs… I did them all because I wanted to do the kanji so the levelling up would go on. Should have read this post before doing that

[BambooCake]

@jprspereira

• Do the radical lessons as soon as you level up. The sooner you guru the radicals, the sooner the 2nd half of Kanji will appear.
• Do the lessons of the 1st half of Kanji in the days between the unlocking of radicals and the unlocking of the 2nd half of Kanji. This pretty much establishes that most if not all of your 1st half of Kanji will be already Guru before you level up.
• Do the lessons of the 2nd half of Kanji as soon as you guru the radicals.

Does “Do the lessons of the 2nd half of Kanji” mean as quickly as possible? As I understand it, for the 1st half of Kanji I have at least around 3 days (before I guru the radicals) in order to get them guru’d and to unlock the next level once I’m done with the second half, without losing time. That’s why I’m thinking of using the Lesson Filter Script to split up the Kanji of the 1st half into smaller chunks to start memorizing them within these 3 days. But for the 2nd half, am I losing time if I do that, or should I try to do the second half of Kanji all at once in order to not lose any time?

[WillC]

@BambooCake

But for the 2nd half, am I losing time if I do that, or should I try to do the second half of Kanji all at once in order to not lose any time?

As long as you start them before the second batch of kanji unlock, you should be able to Guru most of them before the second batch (when you Guru those, you will probably level up).

Personally I’ve been trying to go through all of them (since my accuracty has dropped a lot in the 20s, that gives me more chances if I screw up the first review or two). I’m still not sure if that strategy is actually working.

[jprspereira]

@Warrie

Today I got 119 new lessons and the first 70 or something were vocabs… I did them all because I wanted to do the kanji so the levelling up would go on. Should have read this post before doing that

Better late than never Glad you were able to benefit from the guide! Feel free to ask anything (here or anywhere else on the forums). The community is very friendly

@BambooCake

But for the 2nd half, am I losing time if I do that, or should I try to do the second half of Kanji all at once in order to not lose any time?

The 2nd half of kanji needs to be done immediately after leveling up if you wanna keep the speed to 7 days or less per level. The 1st half can be distributed during the first 3 days, like you said You can do them all on day 1, all on day 3, or just have a bit every day.

Personally I liked to distribute them throughout the days, but I wasn’t getting them wrong. Some people like to have a specific day when they have more free time to learn the kanji, as they are usually harder to learn than vocabulary