My thoughts, tips, and ramblings after reaching level 60 — long post

Yes, I signed up on New Year’s eve last year. I thought I’d try something new. Advantageously, I have been studying (or been exposed to) Japanese for many years, at least to the degree that I have a lot of familiarity if not quite fluency with the language. That has helped a lot. Having said that, my kanji level was still barely at N5 level at the beginning of this year, so from that point of view, my previous exposure wasn’t that much of an advantage.

Other than WK, my main Japanese activity is a weekly class I attend which is two hours and quite intensive, with lots of conversation, and only two other students. And there is associated homework with that. Currently I’ve been focussed on the idea of trying to write the N3 exam in December, so my studies have pushed in that direction.

I absolutely think I should be spending more time reading Japanese, because I think in general, reading is my weakest point. I can read, but much more slowly than I’d like, and it’s not unusual for me to miss the point of sentences if they’re at all complex.

During the month of August, my class is on hiatus, so I’ll try to spend the extra time reading and studying my Soumatome N3 prep books.

Lastly, my wife is Japanese and helpfully points out how useless WaniKani is and how 催告 is not a word used by anyone except lawyers. :laughing: So I try to engage her in Japanese conversation when I can, but her English is so much better than my Japanese… Still, having her as a linguistic resource is a huge help and also, she’s my main motivation for learning Japanese.

Actually, I’ve noticed over and over in my Japanese class especially how useful WaniKani has been in teaching me new vocabulary, such as when my teacher recently said something about 差別 and I understood the word before she could translate it.

I haven’t experienced burn-out yet, though that kind of thing is unpredictable. I feel like I’ve been so starved for kanji and advanced vocabulary knowledge for so long that I’m still eager to suck it in, and WaniKani has made it possible to do that relatively quickly. We’re also planning a trip to Japan in November, and I want to continue on my current pace till then if I can, hopefully get to level 42…

I feel like I might be more likely to burn out at a slower pace because the end point being farther away and uncertain would be discouraging for me. With a fixed endpoint, I don’t mind racing. On the other hand, I won’t pretend it’s exactly easy to keep up this pace. It does require me to keep to a certain schedule, which isn’t normally how I prefer to live my life. I just keep telling myself that my brain can handle the constant input, and so far it can. I don’t get all my burn items right, and that’s frustrating, but I have to tell myself that it’s all part of the process and there’s no shame in it.

Lastly, I’m way past my twenties, so don’t let anyone tell you that learning a language or anything else is impossible past your youth. This degree of Japanese acquisition is in fact something I was unable to achieve while I was in my twenties, though I did try then. The WK method seems more akin to Neo in the Matrix getting plugged into a computer and then after ten minutes saying:

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Exactly my thoughts when deciding to slow down :sweat_smile: … The whole SRS routine became very unforgiving. Whenever I had to skip a review session I felt the punnish of the extra workload waiting for me. Eventually I realized that given I have no deadline, I might just enjoy whatever skill I have acquired so far.

I’m glad to hear that the extra routine it’s making you enjoy all the “kanji kung fu” you’re learning this time :muscle::muscle:

I hope that energy last until “cake day” :wink:

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I just joined Wanikani less than an hour ago, and it’s really nice to have this as the first article I read. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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nice i just started and this gave me an insight into what’s to come and what to expect. thanks

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nice job, I hope to get to the same level

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Good job getting to level 60, good read there too. Just joined so let’s see how long I’ll take to get there (if I can).

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Great post!

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Great Read!

I’ve been using Wanikani for five years now. I’m extremely slow at this, I know. But it motivates me to read stories of people reaching level 60. I’m currently at 30 and encountered the rather weird boisterous word (I’m not a native English speaker either) and chuckled.

I want to get there soon!

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Late post but what a great Matrix example :laughing:

Thanks for this post!

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Congrats! I’m just begin my journey to japanese, but I fell very happy to see others improve through WK.

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Is there some way I can be taught by someone individually?

A tutor, maybe? You can use italki or whatever its called.

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Thank you~

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!

I just started using WaniKani, and although I’m still at the very beginning, I’m already starting to see some of the issues you pointed out, so I’m definitely taking your advice into consideration, especially regarding mnemonics.

I wonder if people who have English as their second or third language struggle more with the default mnemonics? :thinking:

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No, personally I don’t think so

But it depends on your current level of English I guess

It’s easier to create your own mnemonics in Portuguese, since the sounds in both languages are closer to one another, when compared to English :slight_smile:
É mais fácil fazer as tuas próprias mnemónicas em Português, visto que os sons em ambas as línguas são parecidos :heart: Bem-vinda!

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Obrigada! ポルトガル人 represent! :portugal:

My English level is pretty good, I think. Even though it’s my second language, I really do use it more often than Portuguese most of the time, outside of work.

I guess I just can’t relate to some mnemonics, but I also see there are some userscripts that allow you to see community submitted mnemonics! :open_mouth:

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:portugal:

Take into consideration that the mnemonics are just there to support you. They aren’t 100% obligatory for kanji and vocabulary. SRS does a fantastic job already with memorization. Not to mention that the same mnemonic will work differently for different people.

There’s this script, though I’ve never used it:

(check the latest comments - seems like the original isn’t working as planned, but there seems to be a fix)

Qualquer coisa, pergunta :v: