Would it possible to play and understand a game in Japanese after hitting level 50 on WaniKani?
This really depends on a lot more than WK. For one, I find that listening skills tends to be more my issue when playing games, and kanji isnât exactly super useful for listening lol.
If the game youâre wanting to play is something closer to a visual novel, or isnât voice acted then Iâd expect 50 should be plenty. I can actively read the Darling in the Franxx manga with only having to look up a kanji every few pages and Iâm only level 29 right now.
And perhaps you already know this, but keep in mind that even knowing the kanji youâll obviously be limited by your vocabulary knowledge, grammar knowledge, etc. All of which is very much achievable, but also isnât really something you should rely on WK for. (The vocab WK gives you is good, but not sufficient. Itâs great for learning kanji, but itâs not meant to teach you all the words youâll need to know.)
This is all to say that WK is not a magic bullet to learn Japanese. Itâs a great tool to learn kanji, but for the rest youâll need to go elsewhere.
Whatâs your definition of understanding?
Assuming grammar was a non issue (itâll be an issue), I would still say no. You wouldnât be able to comfortably understand the entirety of a game. You would just be way too lacking in vocabulary.
Iâve been playing Japanese games since I was about level 15 and I only have JLPT N3. I have a large collection of Japanese PS2 games and Switch games can be played in Japanese if you just change your consoleâs language setting most of the time. It really depends on the genre of game. Games for kids usually have furigana availible. Stuff like Mario, Zelda, racing games and a lot of action games arenât really too difficult. But games that require a lot of reading like RPGs are a lot more difficult. I would suggest playing a favorite games that youâre familiar with in Japanese first.
Perhaps I interpreted the question differently, so Iâll add a little something something so I donât sound like a negative nancy.
If you are going to do more than just play and actually look up words and stuff and try to work through sentences, sure you can understand a japanese game.
If you are purely asking whether or not it would be comfortably to read through a visual novel at level 50? Yeah, hell no. Maybe for some easy ones. For ones like I read, they have like 8000 words not included on wanikani and that doesnât even dive into unknown meanings and uses for words you do âknowâ.
If it is the former, then one thing worth noting is that if youâre looking stuff up as you go, the level of content you can understand is much more determined by your persistence than by your current ability. If your grammar is there, you can do anything you can do at level 50 at level 3 with enough effort.
For me personally Iâm more on the âgo for it, why not?â side of the level of understanding scale.
I think looking things up gets a worse reputation than it deserves - itâs at least possible to look things up frequently, add to your vocab review warehouse as you go, and still have fun at the same time, even if itâs not everyoneâs cup of tea.
But itâs undeniable that the answer to this question is going to vary extremely heavily based on level of side-by-side grammar study and also choice of game, to the point of being unanswerable on itâs own.
My best guess is that a late-level WaniKani level user with associated grammar practice would be much more likely to be at the âcautiously choosing their first game to try playingâ level than âconfidently playing anything they feel likeâ level.
But if you know you want to play a lot of games, pick your target games well, and donât mind the pain of not always knowing exactly whatâs going on, you can technically play whatever you want and probably learn at least a little along the way.
Some people import games without knowing the language at all, after all!
So definitely donât expect perfection but donât necessarily let caution/disappointment/not feeling prepared enough stop you either.
Iâm only at level 29 and I do it every day.
I keep an iPad next to me with Jisho open while I play and translate as I go. First, I try to translate in my head, then if that doesnât work, I hit up Google Translate and/or DeepL. (This isnât my only Japanese practice, mind you.)
You wonât be able to play at native speed, and it takes a tremendous amount of patience. But if youâre willing to either go for the top-down âfuzzyâ understanding or the bottom-up translate-as-you-go understanding (or both), itâs a legitimate way to get better at reading. Seeing words in the wild that youâve seen in WaniKani will make them much easier to remember too.
When you start this, make sure you choose a game where the text never scrolls by itself and you can turn on subtitles for cutscenes. Use an emulator that has a pause function that freezes the screen (so not ePSXe). You can try with a modern game, but youâll be going so much slower at first that the repeating background music will drive you up the wall.
If what youâre asking is whether itâs possible to do this at level 50 without stopping and looking up words: Iâm not level 50 yet but as those above me have said, I very much doubt it. This isnât a criticism of WaniKani, but there are thousands of common words not in WaniKani (yet?). Youâll be able to guess a lot of them from the kanji and the context, but thatâs still not the same as learning them.
But if youâre willing to either use a dictionary or settle for understanding less, you donât need level 50; you can start today. And I think you should!
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