Older Learners

Bonne fête en retard! :partying_face:

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This is so true! We take it for granted now, but this wouldn’t have been possible (or at the very least not as comfortable and efficient) 20-25 years ago. There are many things I miss about pre-internet days, but this is not one of them :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yeah! Satori reader is a great companion for those who are starting to read “real” japanese material.

:ok_hand:

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Hi there!
Well, I cant say I’m old (just turned 42!), but definitely not a teenager. I really hope back in my tweenties or so, we had the tools we now enjoy to learn so many things…
Visited Japan for the first time back in 2017 and felt in love with them.
My motivation, even in these uncertain time we’re living, is to travel again some day.
Started wanikani a few years back, stopped for a long time and resumed after reset my progression some months ago.
I’m already N4/N3 but everyday I learn something new here.

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I just don’t want people thinking WaniKani in and of itself teaches Japanese. I started this about a week ago because the 100 or so Kanji I know is no longer enough.

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Indeed we are :slight_smile:

… “my kid made me do it!” :smiley:

And a happy birthday a day late to you, too :slight_smile:

I can recommend it as well. I have it on my mac and iphone, and sometimes spend some time with it when I am waiting for something else. It’s the sort of app I think of as a filler. Less so Jalup, a mobile phone app, which I think is even more useful. But mostly, I read, then look up what I don’t know/recognize. This feels like progress, albeit sometimes somewhat slowish.

I hope nobody still thinks that in here, as WK doesn’t teach any grammar (nor did it promise it anywhere afaik).

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No it didn’t promise to teach grammar anywhere. You never know what people think they’ve been promised in a product though. I have free time, so I’m just spreading some awareness. Maybe it will give some guidance to someone who’s a bit lost… or not.

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You’re right about that. Good point :slight_smile:

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Still, in the book clubs (and also in the forums in general) we regularly get questions like “at which WK level can I start reading / can I join this book club?” which always leaves me a bit puzzled because especially for the beginner books, grammar and vocab are like 99% of the game while kanji often have furigana…

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I’ve noticed those kinds of questions as separate threads in the community, too, but didn’t know they came up in the book clubs as well. And, I admit that I mute them right away. Along with the “why does WK not do this?” and “which hack or script will let me progress faster” threads and the like. All of these make me shudder, because I personally think that there’s no way other than to get your hands dirty at one point. Learn, use, continue, persevere, fall flat on your noggin, get up, continue, ad infinitum (et ad nauseam :wink: )

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Tried learning Japanese in my mid 20s but work/“life” got in the way. I got through hiragana, some kanji, and a little katakana. I’m now 43. Like in my 20s, I still would love to visit Japan some day. I thought it best to learn the language to get around, especially away from touristy areas. Don’t know if I’ll ever get to go but in the idea that it’s possible, that motivates me to keep learning. I picked it up again about 2.5yrs ago. I never thought of myself as being too old to learn. Still, life gets in the way. I now have a few young daughters that leaves little time to study but I am still going at it. Got up to level 10 in WK, got stuck over a year and recently reset to try again adding writing into my studies with an electronic notepad.

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As an absolute beginner I am a little bit overwhelmed with the wealth of information available, so my gameplan for now is sticking with learning Kanji/vocab up until level 10 as advised on the ToFuGu website, practicing hiragana/katakana by reading random stuff I don’t even necessarily understand :sweat_smile: (just want to build up the memory recall of the signs themselves to the point where they become natural), and picking up whatever grammar patterns I can from the ‘context’ sentences in the vocab learning (and some are very recognizable).

When I hit level 10 I’ll start worrying about grammar. I have enough on my plate for now :sweat_smile:

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Learning a language is certainly not a race. There’s always something new to learn. I’ve seen videos of Japanese speakers who became fluent after 10 years and still talk about learning new things.

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This right here - I know some people are operating on deadlines (for example, they live in Japan and they need to build their skills to work in their field or whatever) and I feel for them; I imagine it’s a lot of pressure. But whenever I feel like I’m moving too slowly I remind myself that no one’s making me do this and if I’m not enjoying myself there’s really no point.

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49 here. I enjoy Japanese media a lot (games, visual novels, anime) and a couple of months ago decided to learn the language, mostly to be able to enjoy Japanese media that isn’t translated into English. I don’t care about my age or even consider that Í’m too 'old to learn a new language :slight_smile:

With so many apps, books and methods available I tried a lot so see which ones would be the most efficient for me. Started with Busuu which is a nice entry into Japanese. For now I stick to Kaniwani, BunPro and the Genki books.

Really surprised how efficient Kaniwani works :slight_smile:

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I don’t fit your definition (people who started studying seriously in their 40s or later) but I’m definitely still learning (and no longer exactly young). My first Japanese class was in 1976 — you’d think my Japanese would be better by now!

While I’ve had a few years of formal studies here and there, a little over two years of daily Wanikani has been by far the most … earnest? … determined? … streak of serious studying I’ve performed. I’d definitely recommend learning to read kanji first to anyone instead of struggling to learn for decades in romaji, thinking kanji was just too big a hurdle to overcome. The internet made learning anything so much easier!

While I’ve never felt too old to learn anything, I do sometimes wonder if I’d of had the patience and persistence to stick with Wanikani this long when I was younger. It’s honestly a habit now, and I still enjoy the almost daily feeling of “Oh! So that word is comprised of those characters. Neat!”. [Favorite character: (しお) (tide) — it’s comprised of water, morning, and moon! Favorite 熟語(じゅくご) vocabulary: 実験(じっけん) (experiment) — comprised of truth and test!]

The worst age thing for me is realizing that though I’ve been a voracious reader all my life, I simply don’t read as much for pleasure any more (in either language). [I need to start traveling again: I’ve always preferred reading to watching movies on long flights.]

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I identify with so much of this! In particular: I’m an English literature teacher, and my love of reading for pleasure has dissipated slowly over the years (starting, to be honest, when I did my undergraduate English degree and reading suddenly was work). I do still love graphic novels, though, so I really look forward to the day when I’ll be able to read manga without spending 15+ minutes on a single page…

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Just noticed one more (mental) age thing:

Every time 権威(けんい) comes up for a meaning review, I can’t help but answer with my inner Cartman voice: “Authoritay!”

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:laughing: (writing 10+ characters so WK will let me post; I wish we could just click a “lol” emoji)

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I have waaaay too much dementia in my family, so I decided to try to prevent it in my case. I started studying Japanese when I was 68. I keep studying Japanese because I love it. I have reset just because I can and I want Kanji in my head so well it will never leave. I’m 72 now and plan to keep studying until I die. Japanese is a great language!

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