Hi there. No, not 3. 30.
Anyway hello, its my first time chatting here, but I’ve read so many of your useful posts. Thank you.
I studied Japanese in high school (in the 80s), Lived in Tokyo for three years in the early 90s.
Have done nothing with Japanese since. However, I started WaniKani a few weeks ago and have rekindled my love of kanji and Japanese.
My question is, many of the first few hundred kanji are coming very easily to me (I made my own vocab tester waaay back in the day with our family’s first PC - using basic… I nerded out on kanji too and still recall many of the old mnemonics), anyway… how quickly can I go through the first few stages without um I don’t know, bad things happening (too many reviews?). I figure when the kanji are less familiar I will slow down.
I’m also trying to pick up grammar quickly - much of my knowledge is innate rather than explicit. Any tips on how to do that would be much appreciated.
Going to Japan in December so hoping to pick up much of what I previously knew to impress my kids.
Apart from first two levels, you need at least a week per level. Depending on how much you remember, by december you can reach level 10-11 at maximum speed. If you already know all the words, it may be easy to add them to queue right away, but that will result in huge spikes in number of reviews later. You shoudl strategicaly go over the radicals and kanji as they become available and always do about 1/7 of available vocabulary to spread it out. If you already know them, that is. If you don’t, experiment a little to find your pace.
I learn grammar from bunpro, another app like this. There are vocabulary and grammar decks from N5 to N1 level. It is well organized and also uses SRS. There are also several types of reviews so you can pick one that suits you. WK is still best for kanji, and it is a good start, but bunpro is good complement for grammar and more vocabulary.
How fun! There must be tons of the language still kicking around your head. Why not just go full speed on WK? At some point when the reviews come around, if it was all easy now, it will be easy later. As soon as the lessons cover challenging/new content, taper it down a bit at that time.
But if all the kanji and vocab on WK level 10-11 (where you’d get to before your trip) still looks too easy, another option is to get a book like Kodansha Kanji Learner’s course (similar concept with mnemonics and vocab), and just read through it quickly up to the point where you need to start actually studying. But you have to manage it yourself, so despite being more flexible to speed ahead, it can be slower if you don’t actually do it.
you know I think instead of a structured grammar approach, if what you want anyway is to interact with people, perhaps listen to a lot of YouTube videos in Japanese. There is content for every level and real life situation imaginable. Perhaps go through the recommendations linked in this thread and videos people post to find the right level for you. If a lot just comes back to you, you might not have to study but rather just make use of videos directed at people learning Japanese to get things refreshed.
Other things people do that would relate to your goals - lessons with a tutor on italki.
Another way to make grammar relatable and with audio would be to subscribe to Satori and go through their grammar series and some of the stories (there are grammar glosses underlined in the text). They also have travel related series. And it integrates with WK
As already mentioned, bunpro is a great tool for grammar, especially if you like the SRS approach. They also offer vocab and it can sync with Wanikani as well. As far as I know you can look at the grammar stuff without using the service and they also list further resources for grammar points.
For me, it wasn’t 30 years, only 10, and I had a bit of a soft relaunch into Japanese because I was regularly speaking with a friend for months before I got back into kanji, but I found that going full speed was perfectly feasible until around level 20, when I started burning items.
I think if you’re careful you’ll notice when it becomes too much, and once it does, just stop doing new lessons until you feel like you have space for them. Maybe you could keep an eye on your accuracy and your apprentice items, but even without that you should be fine trying out full speed imo.
Hi There!
I think you can go max speed until lvl 10 without having too much review retaliation. From then on just find out what your feel good amount of apprentice items is and keep it steady.
hello, Me too!! I studied Japanese at Uni and spent 1990 and 1991 in Nagoya. I am using the slow and steady approach. The Japanese teacher at my school inspired me to start learning again, and while I’m still having fun, I’ll keep going
Oh cool! How is your memory? Where are you up to? I’m enjoying it a lot so far. Having the upcoming trip is giving me lots of motivation. I don’t think I would have started again otherwise. I wish there was a Japanese teacher at my school!
My memory was surprisingly good! At the beginning it was really nice feeling words bubble up and pop into my brain. I’m naughty and sometimes when I see a kanji I know, I don’t bother learning the mnemonic, which comes back to bite me … It’s my hobby.
