I started using WaniKani last June and used it daily until November.
I stopped because stuff happened, so there were a few weeks where I couldn’t do reviews.
And after that the amount of reviews was so high (+ I was making a lot of mistakes) it really put me off on training further.
We’re now quite some months later, my subscription just expired, but I feel like learning Japanese again.
The only thing stopping me right now is the 1000+ reviews, of which I probably forgot a large amount, waiting for me.
So my question to you is, should I just go ahead and reset my progress and start over?
Or are there better approaches?
Also, are there things beside WaniKani that would help me learn Japanese?
Maybe this was also part of the reason I stopped, but I suppose WaniKani alone didn’t give me a sense of satisfaction.
I didn’t use the knowledge I learned here anywhere.
So if anyone could give me some advice on things I could start reading, that would be greatly appreciated.
Well, reset might be a good option.
I was in a similar situation at level 37 - stuff happened, reviews piled up… I kept telling myself that I can deal with it - and spent almost a year on that level… Finally I realised that it would be quicker and more effective to just do a reset and do it all again. And it seems working for me…
Also, yes, WaniKani alone can’t teach you Japanese - it’s not meant to. It’s meant to teach kanji. For grammar there are lots of resources; many people recommend BunPro; I haven’t used it, but I’ve looked it up and it seems to be a very good one.
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar is also a good book
For reading, I use NHK Easy News and Satori Reader. The first one is free, as for the second - first two articles in any series are free.
But anyway, whether you manage without a reset or not, I’m glad that you decided to return to studying Japanese; best of luck to you!
I made the decision to reset from lvl 17 to 2 - I’d not used WK in over 4 months - but part of that was based on me developing my own mnemonics system; otherwise I may have just let the SRS do its job while I tackled a set number of reviews each day.
If WK has been your only source of language practice/exposure, then reading will be challenging. Supplementing with basic grammar (Tae Kim or Genki seem to be well liked) and then working through some basic graded readers might be a good first step.
There’s no shame in resetting. The WK team keeps adding new example sentences (especially to the lower levels) so when you reset you’ll get the chance of reading something you haven’t encountered before!
If the SRS doesn’t work for you after a few weeks or so, I would reset my progress. It’s something that I am considering as well since I’ve been on this level for 45 days now. As @plantron said, there’s no shame in resetting. Take it from someone who has made it fo 60.
I have reset twice already, and feel each time I do it just feels easier, and completely worth it! =D
Rather than the heavy load of forgotten items you get back to familiar waters with a number of “oh, I remember you! You are a leech! I will squish you this time!”. Now, in between all the familiar ones, the leeches are easily squished once and for all
And as I progress I set a goal of staying on 0 0 most of the time, and if i ever fail to get my reviews done I will NOT do any level up item lessons. (reason I failed the second time)
I will also NOT force myself to do full speed once I hit the unfamiliar areas. If I feel overworked, don’t push it! Rather make the reviews than level fast.
Wanikani should definitely not be used in isolation if you can help it. Everything you learn will be better reinforced if you learn it from multiple sources. You’ve already reset it seems, so take this opportunity to pick up Genki, whether off amazon or through other means, and start learning some grammar and vocab. Check your local library to see if they have Pimsleur’s Ultimate Japanese audio lessons. Maybe give Bunpro a try.
Keep at it! Everything I ever got good at, I did so by failing at it repeatedly, usually with a few stretches of giving up thrown in for good measure.
I hope so too.
I’m certainly enjoying learning Japanese more this time around since I’m also using BunPro to study Japanese grammar. And that combination gives me a more accomplished meaning.
Good luck!
Thanks for suggesting BunPro!
It has been pretty nice to use so far (of course, I haven’t been using for that long yet, but still).
This was exactly what I needed.
I just reset this week as well. I’m visiting Japan and I realized I can’t read a lot of things I used to be able to read after getting to higher levels of WK. I also picked up some books that I can sort of fake my way through reading, so I’ll use them for inspiration. It’s frustrating seeing all this stuff around me where I’m like “Hey, I used to know this word, or these characters. Now it just looks familiar, but I have only a vague idea of what it might have said”
So, I’m back to level 1, and it will be super easy for a while, but that’s ok! I found last time I reset it didn’t really get difficult until at least level 15 or 20, so I’ll not really worry about it until then. It’ll be a good review.
I hope so too.