How can I search RTK? (Couldn’t find it on Google when I only type rtk.)
I sent an email yesterday explaining my situation and got a discount code for my monthly subscription. You might want to try that out.
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Remember the Kanji.
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Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji
Together with Kanji Koohii which is a free companion that solves a lot of the problems of RTK.
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Oh this is so sweet actually! Thank you, after I finish my lessons I’m might try it out.
Thank you!
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” Einstein 
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I respectfully disagree with Einstein in that those are not the only two infinite things, though they are infinite.
I am very happy with Wanikani. I started Japanese in August 2016 (2 years ago), and Wanikani was the ressource I used the most. Now I can read books like Harry Potter, and manga like Ushijima-kun.
10/10 doesn’t regret anything.
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Before I moved to Japan, I was barely a beginner in Japanese. I could introduce myself, name some colors, and read hiragana/katakana. I didn’t know a single kanji, and the brief time I tried to study it I literally burst into tears at the concept of onyomi/kunyomi.
After 2 years living out in the Japanese countryside, far away from convenient foreigner ghettos, and through weekly classes, I improved up to a upper beginner or low intermediate level. I could carry on basic conversations, shop at the store, eat at restaurants, etc. I knew maybe 20 kanji.
The year I moved back to the States, I was determined to “hang on” to as much Japanese as I could so I started Wanikani and set a goal of passing N4. I spent the vast majority of my study time on WK, with a sprinkling of grammar and memrise N4 specific vocab decks. 18 months later I passed N4 with flying colors; I didn’t miss any of the kanji and my reading score was pretty good as well. I’m pretty sure that’s solely because of WK.
After I got my test results, I had a baby and pretty much stopped all Japanese study for a good 3 years. Little humans take up a lot of mental space!
I nuked my account and started over, only to take another 4 month break at level 11. And you know what? Both times when I came back, I would say I retained a good 80% of the content (kanji, readings, and vocab). I flew through levels 1-10 effortlessly more than three years later because the mnemonics + srs method worked so well for me.
I think the other take away from my story is that it’s ok to have some long pauses on your Japanese journey. Not everyone is a college whippersnapper who can devote hours and hours and hours to language learning. I know that I have some other Major Life things happening so that’s why I got the lifetime membership - I can keep plugging away at it when I can without feeling like I’m wasting money. I know that the time I spend on WK when I can really does get kanji in my brain for the long haul.
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The beginning curve is very steep and hard to push through but the further you go the easier it gets.
I think that’s true of Japanese in general. In my estimation, Japanese is front-loaded hard: hiragana, katakana, kanji; grammar that is conceptually very different than English, what with the sentence structuring and the particles; and the whole elliptical sentences in natural speech – those are some STEEP learning curves up front. But once you break through those, it becomes easier to progress. Basically, I think it takes more effort to go from zero to upper beginner than from intermediate to advanced.
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Yes, and another thing to watch out for is how once you break through the “steep curve” you might become demotivated. When you learn the basics of a language you get sooo much new information that allows you to do so much new stuff. It’s motivating and things feel like they are going pretty fast. But then once you arrive at words you (I) wont use much like “brocade 錦、hollyhock 葵、northern latitude 北緯”, the motivation might slip away cause the benefit of learning these words won’t be realized as often as the more common ones you already learned.
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Absolutely agree! Which is why I think Koichi and others stress so often that you need to clarify your language goals. If you want to read raw manga, then you don’t need to worry about obscure technical terms and so on.
FYI For those who have been chiming in here about the cost of a Lifetime membership, for the last few years they’ve offered Lifetime memberships at a 33% discount right around the end of December. Of course, there’s no guarantees they will again, but it’s probably a good bet? That’s how I got mine, and if I recall correctly, it was also pro-rated to include what I’d already paid that month.
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Well I don’t know what would fall under the category of “obscure technical terms” but that will depend on the manga of course. In sci-fi/fantasy manga you’ll be encountering loads of strange words you probably wont use in real life like “炉心 - nuclear reactor core”.
Anyways, just by reading loads of your manga of interest you will pick these words up sooner or later and it won’t be too much of a struggle since you are interested in the content.
Still a good preparation for Kanten 1 
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