Hello, all. I’m not sure what to name the topic, but I would like to know if my progress is normal or below average.
90 days is closer to how long I have really been at this. I started several years ago and restarted. I’m actually learning and motivated this time around. It helps that I have the time and resources to dedicate to learning Japanese, too. I thought I would quit after a couple weeks.
I take things slow, I think. It took me over 3 weeks (maybe) to learn hiragana/majority katakana compared to people who say they did it in just under a week. I’ve accepted that I’m slower and just…learn at a different rate than most people. I’m not in a rush to learn an entirely new language, but I think I’d like confirmation that I’m at least progressing at an acceptable rate.
Any advice is welcome. I know I struggle with memorizing the kanji. I don’t understand how to remember when I’m supposed to use certain readings. Is there some trick I’m not privy too aside from mnemonics? Those help with the meaning but they don’t help me remember which reading to use…
What was your progress like when you were at this point in your “journey”? How did you feel about it?
Schedule is:
-100 N5 JLPT words (out of 800)- I wrote down the ones I didn’t know. I finished this earlier. now i just review the words. I typically knew about half of the words for each day.
-WaniKani-I TRY to get my reviews down to zero every day but it doesn’t always happen.
-1-2 pages of genki. ill write notes on my whiteboard and do the exercises on my own with the apps.
-at least 30 mins of some sort of japanese listening like anime or a youtuber
-1-2 pages of a japanese short stories book (level 1)
-at least one lesson on duolingo…lol…
1 Like
I don’t know what’s “average” or “normal” but your stats seem fine to me. Here are mine, to get an additional data point.
The main thing I notice from your stats is the slow level up. The first two levels can be done in 3 days each (and then 7 days for the following levels) meaning you might have taken 6x the amount of time. It could be fine, everyone learns at their own speed, but the concern in my opinion is that the most important factor in learning a language is immersion and if you go at this speed, it possibly means that you don’t study for very long each day.
The fastest way to learn a language is to put many hours into it every day (by studying, reading books, watching tv, having conversations).
Note: In my stats, it shows that I complete levels in 7 days which is not true anymore. I complete them in 12 or so days because I’ve redirected a lot of my efforts in learning grammar (on Bunpro) and reading manga for 30 min a day. I changed it up because I felt like at this point, learning more vocab just for learning vocab was not the best use of my time anymore. What good is knowing all this vocab if you can’t use it.
2 Likes
If you worry about being slow take a look at my stats before I did the reset from level 21 to level 1 (ignore level 1, that just means that a year passed from my account creation to actually using WK).
I stopped using WK in 2016 because of college. I got to level 21 and yes, I was slow, reeeally slow. But I needed that pace to avoid burning out. Still, doing WK was one of the best decisions of my life because it kickstarted my reading ability to a level that I thought was impossible for me.
Don’t judge a journey by the first steps.
And please don’t compare yourself to others. Always take things at your own pace, if you go too fast you will burn out, and if you go too slow you will also burn out from frustration. Find what works for you, that’s the only thing that matters.
Edit: see the bump on level 9? That’s burn-out. I went too fast on levels 4 through 8. 1 month per level was ideal for me.
3 Likes
You’re doing fine! I see you’ve already started reading, which will help a lot to solidify the vocabulary in your head. There’s also the Absolute Beginners Book Club here on the forums which reads manga, and another excellent resource is Satori Reader, which you can read more about how to best utilize in the appreciation thread.
7 Likes
Thank you to everyone who replied and provided input.
@Maxinoume
The slow level up concerned me, too. I didn’t know the first few levels weren’t supposed to last so long >,<;; I think I was more focused on learning kana at the time and didn’t take wanikani as seriously as I should have. (I didn’t think I would even last as long as I have) I’m focusing on wanikani more now and checking in on it multiple times a day instead of once. I do try to get the reviews down to zero.
I thought I studied enough a day but I will try to incorporate more comprehensive input into my day. I’m currently using persona 3 drama CDs as input heehee I also watch native japanese youtubers doing random stuff like DIYs, games, etc
I noticed that if I write words as I hear them then it helps with my memory recall. Sorta like spelling tests in school…but ah, it helps cement all the words in my visual mind. It helps me think in japanese is the best way I can think to put it.
I finished a section for grammar a couple days ago and the explanation of how sentence structure/particles worked made everything click into place.
@Navarrete854
Yes, I see the burn out >,<;; I’m worried that I might deal with it, too. I try to balance going too slow and too fast.
@soggyboy
Thank you! I will bookmark these and look into them. I like the feel of the pages on my fingers so I avoided digital readers. The book I’m reading and the pace that I’m going at makes me feel like a child again 
not necessarily a bad thing
I’ve signed up for Satori!
4 Likes
The mnemonics for the readings are separate. Do you mean that the reading mnemonics don’t work for you?
Regarding when to use which reading, there are a couple of guidelines that usually apply but can be broken an a whim without reason for certain words, so apply caution.
- words with multiple kanji and no hiragana usually use the on-yomi of the kanji (that’s usually the reading you learn with the kanji, but not always, so check on the item’s information page to see which readings are on/kun)
- words with hiragana in them, or vocabulary that is a word by itself usually use the kun-yomi reading.
- numbers usually use the on-yomi despite being alone.
Of course you gotta factor the “rendaku” rules into all of that (when a reading gets a " marker), which is a whole different can of worms.
You can never know a reading for sure if you don’t know the word, since there are no hard and fast rules, just guidelines.
