I passed 100,000 reviews on WaniKani this morning.
The secret to doing so many reviews and only being level 12? Lots of resets!
Resets:
- August 2017 - Level 12
- June 2018 - Level 17
- November 2010 - Level 22
- November 2023 - Level 26
- August 2025 - Level 11
Some things I’ve learned along with way:
The WaniKani/SRS method actually works pretty well. I’m surprised when the reading pops in my head after not seeing it, in some cases, for years.
Don’t go too fast. I have tried to level up as fast as possible, but that gets unsustainable pretty fast when you have things to do other than WaniKani. There’s only so much you can absorb in a short amount of time.
Study Japanese, not just kanji! When I first started, I mostly just did WaniKani and while I learned some kanji I didn’t really know much Japanese. It’s amazing how much easier it is to remember kanji and vocab when you are used to seeing them in context.
So why is this time going to be different? Am I going to burn out and walk away again in a short amount of time? Hopefully not, because I’m doing some things different this time.
I signed up for JLPT N5 in December. Doing a practice test and getting most of the listening questions wrong is a great study motivator.
I’m taking a class for the first time, an N5 prep/review class. That was the first time I spoke Japanese out loud to another person - 怖い！I’m learning some helpful things about basic grammar in the class, but the most useful part is trying to produce Japanese, out loud, in front of a class. It uses a completely different part of my brain. It’s frustrating, because it is hard to get access to all of the vocabulary I’ve picked up and can recognize. And listening, I will hear a word I definitely know, but can’t get the meaning right away, so I miss the next several words and I’m totally lost. I try to stay positive and realize frustration means growth and learning, but some days are tough.
I’m going to take it a little bit easy on WaniKani now. I pushed hard through the first 10 levels or so because it was pretty easy to recall most of it. Now I’m slowing down quite a bit. For N5 I have no problem with kanji for sure and I know plenty of vocab. So no need to race right now. I’m doing reviews every day still, but I don’t need to try and level up so quickly.
Hopefully I can get those 19 points on the listening section. I’d like to take N3 next year, but what’s the hurry? It’s taken a long time to not get very far by trying to go fast.