I haven’t been on the community forums in a while but I wanted to make sure I got a level 10 post in for me to look back on later. Speaking of which I hit level 10 (YAY!). It certainly was a fun trip, and I expect I am still in the ‘tutorial’ mode of WK because I haven’t begun to burn things yet. I am now at 142 days of using WK with an average of 11 days per level which feels like a pretty good pace to me. I have been on level 10 for over 20 days apparently, but I am expecting to hit 11 tomorrow! At one point I started to feel like I was living paycheck to paycheck with lessons, where I would just finish my last lesson and then leveled up gaining another 100+ lessons.
I am currently also taking an in person class which is teaching the grammar points and solidifying the vocab I learn here (and vice versa) which feels great. Through this I am also learn to write, and speak (although very poorly at this point). I have just started to use third party applications like Kani Wani, and Bunpro on the side so I am still settling in. I am excited to use KW more because I really struggle to recall a word I have learned without seeing it, but there are plenty of issues learning this way. Bunpro may not be as useful if I am taking classes but we will see! The more practice the merrier as long as I don’t overload myself to much.
My next goal is to begin reading small children’s short stories within the next three months (If there are any recommendations please let me know!). I feel like once I can begin to read things I will learn exponentially faster. Right now I struggle with reading speed and vocab so I am bogged down on even short blurbs I find, but I am recognizing more Kanji every day!
Anyway, to those who are behind me: keep working and get done what you can every day, and to those who are ahead: I am coming for you .
You could consider instead joiningthe Absolute Beginner Book Club? A new book is starting in a couple of weeks Reading along with a Book Club has really helped me a lot, there are a bunch of people always ready to answer questions, other people asking questions that I didn’t know I had, and a vocab sheet to help the reading. The pace is great, you just read a few pages a week. There is also a guide on what to expect when joining the Club.
Nice progress report
As for book recommendations, children’s books - I’m enjoying the biographies for second graders, but be aware they use hiragana for many of the most complex kanji. It personally doesn’t bother me, but the more kanji I know it is now getting just a little annoying (my kanji level is equivalent to about WK 9), so perhaps look at previews for the biographies book for 3rd graders or books that have full kanji with furigana. But the advantage of the 2nd graders book is there was already a book club for it, and they were amazingly disciplined about going through it page by page.
I kinda like the challenge, to be honest, to have to think through some hiragana words, and I’m more likely to be conscious of why when I look a word up I would have recognised it if it had been written in kanji. And I like paper books.
If you aren’t married to children’s books, check out Satori reader. They have native audio, easy lookups, you can sync your WK level to remove furigana, excellent Q&A service, and there’s generous free content to try before subscribing. I feel like I learn the most from the content I read in this order:
Satori > children’s books > manga
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