~ The Level 15 Curse ~

WaniKani Tips & Tricks
62

How much can you actually read?

It’s hard to answer since I have to search a lot of the kanji and vocab. But since I have been reading mostly easy stuff, I would say that I can’t read that much.

I mean, not always. I’m currently reading a 4-koma called “Tsurezure Children” and there are a lot of times where I didn’t have to search neither kanji or vocab since I knew most, if not all of what was in there. Though, most of the time, I have to go search a couple of things.

which grammar level do you have?

I only started the second volume of Genki the other day so I’m also not that far into grammar. I notice that quite easily since there are times while reading where there are grammar points that I still have to learn. It’s a bit bothersome, but since I’m reading easy stuff, it really isn’t a problem since you still know whats going on.

I have been adding the stuff on Genki to bunpro and if that is something to go by, I’m still beginner N4.

which kind of material?

Do you mean, which type of manga?
I haven’t read that much tbh… I’m not sure how to explain this, but I have been reading simple/easy to follow manga. Always with furigana and Slice of Life settings. Stuff like:

  • Yotsubato
  • Tsurezure Children
  • Chi’s Sweet Home
  • Plus a couple of random chapters on seiga.nicovideo and ebookjapan.

I haven’t played any game in Japanese and I probably won’t play one anytime soon. But I can see how that is a problem.
What I have been doing has been fun. Though I can’t even read much, otherwise the vocab and kanji that I have to learn becomes quite overwhelming. So I only read a few pages a day. Which it definitely is a little frustrating since I tend to read the English volumes in one sitting.

I don’t really have any advice tbh… I mean, I recommend sticking to easy stuff, but I can’t even say that it counts as an advice.

Hopefully, I answered what you wanted.

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63

I struck no such curse. The only time I’ve slowed down was due to two separate holidays.

64

＠thislittlefox ちゃん, There’s a 妖怪 lurking around level 15. It’s called れべるじゅうご. If you were a bad kid and never did reviews on time for the past 14 levels, he’s gonna get you.

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Tsurezure Children

The anime adaption of this is great for listening practice. Funny, too.

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66

The anime adaption of this is great for listening practice. Funny, too.

I watched the anime. Inf fact, it was the reason that I picked up the manga. I really enjoyed it. Though, I also wanted to see how a 4-koma manga would work when learning. It definitely fits a study schedule better tbh

67

I’m not sure where that rumor started (i.e. missing only one review)… maybe a misinterpretation of having never missed the same item more than once. Anyway, the real number is actually 51 total mistakes on Wanikani, which, granted, is still a bit extreme, but it comes from having spent a lot of time drilling every level on a rotating schedule.

I’ll probably pick up this one ^^^. I’m currently playing Ni No Kuni 1 in Japanese.

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68

Oh, I know, I exaggerated a bit for “comedic effect”. You actually made a pretty good post about your methods on the old forums. I think it’s still impressive though, even though it isn’t quite 100% and there’s a lot of hard work behind it. :slight_smile:

I seem to remember you saying you only missed a single item since the teen levels though. Maybe I’m misremembering. :slight_smile:

How’re you finding Ni No Kuni, language wise? Doable? Personally I thought the gameplay was too flawed to finish it back when it came out. The sequel looks better in that department.

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Ahh, that may be. I remember not missing any between the mid-teens to around level 33 or 34, and then again for a lot of the remaining levels. But I may have also missed a few more in the last few levels. That was pretty intense since they’re short levels.

I definitely had to learn some kansai dialect, though you get used to that pretty quickly. Also, I keep my tablet beside me to look up vocab, but otherwise I’m doing okay. Sometimes I have the patience to look up everything I don’t know, but other times I just get a rough idea of what’s going on so I can spend more time enjoying the game. It has a massive in-game book that you can read for extra study, and you can always go back through the quest notes if you miss something important.

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70

so it’s not just level 15, all the levels are cursed apparently.

71

speaking for myself, level 14 is a bitch, and reviews start going to an average of about 150-200 per day, so I can see why some people would drop it.

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72

I tried to play Ni no Kuni in Japanese (on DS)… I should pick it back up. I understood more than I thought I would, but Shizuku can kiss my backside with that damned Kansai accent…

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73

Oooh LMK when you do. I have the PS version but never got into it.

74

@shadykit,
Heh… yeah, Shizuku talks really fast, and the Kansai doesn’t help if you aren’t familiar with it. Fortunately, you can pause any time in the cut-scenes and read the subtitles (at least on PS3). I’m actually sort of glad for the Kansai, because learning from Shizuku’s dialogue helped me better understand my (former) exchange student’s twitter feed (she’s from Osaka).

@gojarappe

When I first started playing Ni No Kuni 1, I transcribed a little bit at the beginning of the game. Here’s a sample if you want to get an idea of what it’s like:

Intro

シズク: オリバー急がんかい！ - Oliver, hurry!
オリバー: シズク待ってよ～！ - Shizuku, wait!
シズク: もうすぐゴロネール王国や！！ - Very soon, Goroneru Kingdom!!
オリバー: ど・・・どうしよう！？ - W-What should we do!?
シズク: 逃げるで～！ - Run away!
シズク: ほな行くでオリバー！ Well, then, let’s go, Oliver!
オリバー: えっ・・・？ - Huh?
オリバー: ま・・・待ってよ～！！ - W-wait!
オリバー: これが…二ノ国！ - This is… Second Country!
シズク: せや！ - World!
シズク: おまえらの世界とは違う…もうひとつの世界や。 - It’s different from your world… Another world different from your world.

オリバー: あっ…ごめんなさい - Ah… sorry!
オリバー: おはよう！ レイラおばさん！ - Good morning, Mrs. Leila!
レイラ: ああ…オリバー おはよう - Ahh, Oliver! Good morning!
レイラ: 今日のぶんならそこにおいてあるよ - I put today’s stuff (share/ration) over there.
オリバー: うん！ - Okay!
レイラ: あ…それと - Ah… and this.
レイラ: 昨日マークが見せたいものがあるって言ってたけど。会ったかい？ - Yesterday, Mark said there’s something he wants to show you. Have you met (with him)?
オリバー: へっ…本当？ - Eh… really?
オリバー: じゃ…手に入ったんだ・・・ - Well… He got it…
オリバー: それでマークはどこにいるの？ - So, where is Mark?
レイラ: 今さっき配達に出かけたところだから - He just went out for a delivery, but
レイラ: まだそのへんにいると思うよ。 - He’s still in the area, I think.
オリバー: ありがとう！レイラおばさん！ - Thanks, Mrs. Leila!
レイラ: あぁ… お母さんによろしくね！ - Ah… Say hi to your mom!
オリバー: うん、わたった！ - Mm, got it!

[Outside Leila’s shop]
マーク: おーい！オリバー！ - Heeey! Oliver!
マーク: こっちだ、こっち！ - I’m over here! Over here!
オリバー: あ、マーク！ - Ah, Mark!

[Instructions]
コントローラの[L]でマークのところまで移動してみよう！ - Using the left controller stick, let’s move to Mark!
マークに近づいて、[talk icon]が出たら
で話しかけよう！

[People on street]
Lady1: あら、今日はポテトが安いのね。
今日はコロッケにでもしようかしら。
Lady2: あら、オリバーおはよう。
お母様はお元気かしら？
Man1: いや～、久々の休日だよ。
こんな日は昼間っから酒でも飲んでのんびりするに限るな！
Man2: どうだい、かっこいいだろ！
ピッカピカの新車なんだぜ！
キミもいつか帰るといいね。
Man3: 今日は天気もいいし、広場にでもいってゆっくりしようかな。
Man3: この門の先は広場だよ。
俺も家族とよく行くんだけど緑いっぱいで気持ちいいんだよな。
Boy1: あっ、オリバー！最近、マークとふたりでなにやってんだよ？オレもまぜてくれよ。

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75

This is so helpful! Thank you so much. Bookmarked and will definitely use it as a reference when I play tomorrow after work.

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Also, when starting a new game:

Start screen:

はじめから - From the beginning

Game Difficulty setting:

戦闘の難易度を選択してください。 - Please select the battle difficulty.

Easy:

やさしい - Easy
戦闘の難易度がやさしくなります。 - Battle difficulty becomes easy.
ストーリーを楽しみたい方にオススメです。 - Recommended for enjoying the story.

Normal:

ふつう - Normal
標準的な戦闘の難易度です。 - Battle difficulty is standard.
スリリングな戦闘が楽しめます。 - You can enjoy thrilling battles.

戦闘の難易度は、ゲーム中「かばんメニュー」の「ゲーム設定」で変更することができます。
Regarding battle difficulty, during game, in “Game setting->Bag menu” can be changed.

Buttons:
L/R - 選択 - Selection
X - 決定 - Decision
O - タイトルへ戻る - Back to title

戦闘の難易度「ふつう」で始めます。 - Begin with “normal” battle difficulty.
よろしいですか？ - Is it okay?

はい / いいえ - Yes / No

3 Likes
77

Have things changed lately? According to the wkstats page it says you could actually end wanikani in a bit less than a year (at the fastest speed) i was wondering if there were some different rules last year or something else changed. Do you happen to know?

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I think it was last summer that they shortened the fastest level-up time by one day per level, if that’s what you mean. That effectively shortened the total minimum time by 60 days.

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On DS, everything is subtitled which helped a LOT.

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Yeah, it’s also subtitled on the PS3. Also has furigana, which is somewhere between helpful and annoying. :slight_smile: If you don’t know a word, it makes it easier to type it into jisho, but when trying to read at normal speed, I find the furigana distracting.

Anyway, even with subtitles, during the cutscenes some of the characters talk fast and the subtitles go by too quickly, so pausing comes in handy.

81

Yeah, the WK team apparently reduced the interval of Apprentice 4 from three to two days. I have been doing 7 day levels since the beginning and I plan on doing the last 12 levels in 3d12h… so it will take me exactly 366 days to reach level 60. So yeah, I would guess the absolute max speed is around 360 days.

1 Like