Resetting from level 29 to Level 1

I’ve started to realise that language learning (especially English → 日本語 ) is a long haul thing. I think it’s better to learn everything rather than bombing through as fast as possible, especially since vocab is probably the most important thing to learn

a while ago I started learning 20 items each weekday and taking the weekends off to review, trying to keep my apprentice level items <= 100. my answers are correct like 80% of the time according to wkstats, so I’m levelling up about every two weeks.

I think starting with a rhythm in mind is a really good idea; it’ll help you out in the long run.

がんばる!! :muscle::muscle::muscle:

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Yup, now that I started, I am thinking it’s going to be closer to 20 a day, as I can go a lot faster through earlier items. When I start hitting those that I don’t remember as well, I will slow down, but hopefully I’ll be able to get through 10-15 levels quite fast and then get to a consistent, but fairly fast pace still as I get closer to where I left off

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After doing it for over 6 years, I know this reality very well indeed. The problem for me that I stalled in my kanji / vocab in general, and stopped making pretty much any progress for the past year, due to review hell. While I was still learning other things, I want to get back to the place where I did consistently learned new vocab every day, as when I was doing it, I felt like I was making the most progress in my Japanese studies. Time will tell how this turns out

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Keep us posted :+1:

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Out of curiosity, how much time do you intend to spend on learning during your three time slots, or more importantly your first where you tackle new lessons?

As I’m doing something similiar where I visit WK 3 to 4 times a day to do reviews, while taking new lessons during one of those visits.
Usually doing 15 Radicals, 10 Kanji or 20 Vocabs per new session (or a mix of these, never exceeding 20 new lessons), which goes really well for me and also averages about one WK-level per weak.
Though I spent a lot of time during learning the new stuff, roughly an hour. Writing everything down, reading the examples out loud, looking up kanji/vocab with other resources to get more context etc, and then repeating the things learned from the day before the same way, before tackling the new lessons.

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I am only learning during the first slot - the 9am for me, so that I can align the timings, so the newly learned items end up being reviewed twice that day. I am not going to the extent that you are going for, I just learn the mnemonic and keep going. As I do my other Japanese studies, things I learn here pop up all over the place, so I get to naturally see them in sentences and practice further. Although you can always do more, that’s for sure, but there is so much time I got in the day

If you haven’t already, do give @jprspereira guide a read over here: My Journey of 368 days (+ The Ultimate Guide for WK 📖 ) - #2 by jprspereira. It explains very well why you want to do it that way

Imagine that you do a lesson at 9 am. This means that you’ll get the 1st review at 1 pm (+4h) and the 2nd review at 9 pm (+8h, considering you got it right both times). Did you notice the pattern? That’s right: 9 am and 9 pm . It’s the WK’s pattern working. Now, think about the time it will take for the next Apprentice levels. That’s right, Apprentice 4 at 9 pm of the following day and Guru 1 two days later also at 9 pm. The same will happen with the remaining SRS levels. Can you see the magic happening?

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Thanks for the answer and the advice.
Though my work hours don’t allow for such regular pacing, so I sadly can’t apply them.

Anyway, enjoy your studies and have a good time ^^

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You can always shift back and forward, to try and fit it. It’s about adjusting the gaps in-between - as long as it’s correctly matching the SRS timings of WaniKani, you can review at 5 am if need be haha.

For me, I review just before I start work, then on lunch break and finally after work - so it all aligns nicely.

Hope you’ll manage to find a way to fit it into your schedule

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Here with an update - now that I reached Level 6 again. The method is working - and I am really enjoying it. Doing reviews 3 times a day does make me feel less anxious and also still makes it possible to review everything at every review. Obviously still early days, and I am 100% most reviews, so I’ll have to wait till mid 10s to really see if it can hold up with harder things

On the cadence - to somewhat get 7 days a level, I did have to do a lot of 20 items per lesson and even then sometimes I go over. I do drop down to 10 for vocab, so I’ll probably continue picking what feels natural between 10-20 items per lesson

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If you only do lessons at 9 in the morning, the quickest possible level-up for you is 7 days 10 hours. However, realistically speaking your average level-up duration over several levels is going to be 8 days. This is not a bad speed at all, and you’ll probably feel quite comfortable doing this until about 4 months (when the enlightened items come back for review) or probably around 6 months (when the burn items come back for review). But it’s definitely a doable pace.

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Everybody moves at their own pace, I just wanted to tell you that 400 reviews is not at all insurmountable. Multiple times in my 'Kani career I’ve cleared stacks of 1000+ plus.

Re-framing how you think about failed recall might help you. Maybe you’ll get 200 of those 400 wrong. That’s a good thing. It means they’ll come up faster–because you don’t know them! Not knowing is not failing. It’s the SRS system working as intended.

I actually think that the default “turn to red if wrong” is a misstep in Wani Kani’s design. I think a neutral color would be better. Green for correct, blue for incorrect.

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Yeah, I am very happy with this pace - just contrasting it against my original plan and how it panned out. Even doing 10 days per level is going to be fine - as long as I don’t get stuck for months on a level, like I did before, I am going to be very happy

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@Acerock7 Maybe you should start a petition for blue and not red. The red feels like a slap on the wrist and not a do better next time but the blue would make it feel less aggressive. If you started a poll or something I would be all in.

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Don’t think I ever said it was insurmountable - it was more about being stuck in a review loop and not feeling like I am learning anymore. I’ve cleared 500-600 items before plenty of times. The problem was that I would be constantly under stress of not being able to miss a review, as it would jump from 100 to 400-500 easily. And going through this month after month, I just got into the spiral of never ending reviews

So restarting was about trying to get where I got to (almost level 30) with everything I’ve learned the first time - faster and hopefully with a healthier review stack and distribution

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You’ll need to do 20 or so vocab a day to keep up, at least by the time you get to levels in the 20s. I didn’t, and I have a huge pile of vocab to catch up on :melting_face:

Sounds like it’s going really well. I’m at the level where I don’t want to move fast anymore. I want to focus on reading, grammar and having fun with the language. Wanikani should be seasoning not the main course.

I also agree with the blue not red switch. That would be nice.

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Yeah, I said the same thing, then just went for another level fast, then another, and another. Boom, I’m 42 and still going fast for some reason. Guess I’m just used to the pace.

Lol. Yeah other than my trip to Greece I’ve kept about a 10 day pace.

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did this 2 years ago. Reset from lv 30 to 1. Took me 3 years to reach lv 30 the first time. The never ending reviews are a pain

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I love seeing people with really high account levels popping up on the forums for the first time lmao

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