Hi all,
I’ve gotten through levels 1 and 2 in about a week and am pushing through to level 3 presently. I’ve kinda just been checking in a few times a day (finally something productive to replace my social media scrolling, whoo!) and getting everything zeroed before calling it a night (not too hard at this stage). The reviews are starting to pile up and tomorrow’s forecast is hovering around 100. I think, for me, 50-100 daily reviews is sustainable but I’m only a week in so what do I know.
A little background on me: I spent most of this year going through Japanese 1 of LingoDeer (each level completed 3 times). My hiragana’s pretty good, my katakana and kanji are context-specific. I’m comfortable with basic grammar and learning new forms doesn’t intimidate me too much (right now…).
So far, WK has helped cement the kanji I’ve already encountered and learning radicals has been helpful for deconstructing the visual aspect of kanji. What tends to trip me up is the on’yomi and kun’yomi readings; vocab is mostly fine.
My current goal is to up my kanji/vocab skills to a point where I have enough vocab to start reading without it being a total train wreck – though I get that there will be a learning curve to reading as well. I’m thinking level 30 or 40 will get me there as long as I continue to review grammar. I don’t really want to spend more than a year on WK (the studying bit anyway; I’m really looking forward to the book clubs) and would start reading right now if my kanji/vocab weren’t so poor.
In addition to all this, I think I’m a likely candidate for burnout, especially if the positive reinforcement cycle of WK is not kept in check. At the same time, I think that zeroing the reviews is the best way to keep me at it but I can’t really do that when I’m staring down the barrel of 200+ reviews.
So, keeping in mind my current level of Japanese and my preference for zeroing reviews, how do I go about keeping the reviews around 50? Around 100? Is it simply a matter of getting the apprentice/guru ratio correct or should I be more specific about the number of lessons I do in a day? Should I just speed through all the “easy” levels until my Japanese head start runs out? Is level 30 or so achievable in a year at 50ish reviews a day?
I should also mention that I work full time, have a music project, cook a lot, have a moderate social life and try to go bike riding a few times a week. I love languages but this is more of a second side project than anything. Although, I was lucky enough to spend two weeks in Japan and I have friends and family who have decent Japanese language abilities. Basically, I’m in it to win it but not at the expense of breaking myself.
Thank you in advance for your patience and guidance; Praise Be to the All Mighty Crabigator!