The cycle (AKA the WK emotional rollercoaster)

WaniKani
1

My Wanikani experience thus far:

  1. Level up

  2. Several days of 5-15 lessons aiming for ~100 apprentice-level items) and completing all reviews. 82-88% correct most days:

    “I’m an idiot! I’ll never learn this horrifically difficult language. Geez this is awful. Why do I subject myself to this?!!”

  3. Finally, some vocabulary lessons.

    “Oh, I know those words! Wow, so that’s the kanji for that word. Hey, this is fun. Whoops, better not do too many lessons at once or I’ll pay for it with future reviews.”

  4. A few more days of reviewing down to zero, with ~90-95% correct:

    “I am a golden god. This kanji stuff is easy. Why didn’t I learn to read sooner? There’s no doubt I could have gotten 100% correct if I’d really tried.”

  5. Repeat.

Anyone else?

Criminy what a difference a few percentage points make to my mood!

I’m pretty sure I’ll eventually start seeing a higher percentage of vocabulary words I don’t know at all (which is going to suck) but for now, purple is my new favorite color (soooooo much better than that evil pink!).

I read about people rushing to 60 and only focusing on “level-up items” (mostly ignoring vocabulary). I honestly can’t imagine. I’d be a miserable wreck without my periodic dose of purple! (Laugh)

2

I went through those cycles, primarily the “I’ll never remember these kanji”, from around level 25 onwards. What can I say? SRS combined with the power of mnemonics is magical.

3

For my first ~20-25 levels, yeah something like that. But after ups and downs, or a ~3000 review ordeal, I’ve come to accept however many reviews I have and whatever the accuracy may be. Just is what it is.

The thousand yard stare of kanji review…

4

Heh.

Fear is a good motivator. So far it’s kept me from ever staring down more than 180 or so reviews. Coffee and kanji in the morning have been working great during the shutdown, but I worry about when I start traveling for work again.

5

That’s the reason I’m loving this methodology of learning a language, this emotional rollercoaster makes me enjoy it every day, I feel exactly the same as you described, thanks to this pink hate I can love purple so much more.