I did it! Level 60!!! I finished level 60 maybe a couple weeks ago, for a total time of about 23 months (and no days off!)
Praise for WaniKani
Good lord what a tool and what a way to start. Not to claim that WaniKani invented mnemonics or srs, but having everything in a neat, accessible package and, most importantly, ordering them by stroke complexity rather than usefulness, was invaluable to me. Had I started with anything else I may have very well turned into a 三日坊主, you know, one of those guys who’s been “studying on and off for 7 years”. It could happen to you, do your reviews!
Even after finishing, I still use the stratagem of making mnemonics for radicals and the reading, and taking the time to learn the kanji alone before the word I found it in. But back to the actual website, the fine selection breaks down a bit toward the end, when non-jouyou kanji are included that have really useless vocab attached to them (looking at you, legal terms), but for the most part, being able to read the majority of kanji I see is so invaluable.
Schmaltz
Really, this website kicked my ass into shape. It sounds silly, but having to wake up at the same time everyday to prevent reviews from piling up alone really changed me. This website and where it led me is something I will always be grateful for. I used to hate the impending doom of having 70+ lessons upon leveling up, but I almost wish I could go back and learn 耐 or something for the first time again.
When I started, I didn’t know if I could make it to the end, as I had never done anything before that required so much consistent, daily effort over a period of several months. Of course, I now know 2000+ kanji, but probably even more important is that I’ve learned I can do pretty much anything if I just show up and do it every day.
Complaints
My biggest complaint is the dearth of radicals, and instead relying on a small set of existing, simple radicals. As an example, 痢 is taught as three separate radicals, instead of just 利 with the sick radical on top. It’s probably impossible to restructure the whole website at this point (although the devs sure are trying, more on that in a sec), so for now I highly recommend users keep an eye out for the larger “radicals” hidden in certain kanji to reinforce your previous knowledge and just to make your mnemonic simpler.
And good lord, what the hell were they thinking with that update. Removing summaries? Have you lost your goddamn mind? Were it not for the summary script that came out a week later, I would’ve dropped the website at lvl 58. Nobody knows why they did this, especially since there was already a way to disable it if you so pleased. However, let us part on good terms. I’ll forgive this transgression for the rest of this post.
Data
Wk decided to disable part of its api since that terrible aforementioned update (whoops mentioned it again), so the stats aren’t as complete as I want, but whatever.
(I feel like this is a lowball but hey)
👀
Break your reviews up! Waking up to 100+ reviews is scary, and if you have the energy then just power through, but one thing I figured out in the late 50’s is that just dividing your reviews into smaller parts makes everything so much easier. If you have 100 reviews, do 25 at a time, and when you reach that 25 mark, switch to something else Japanese related.
Don’t just screw around on your phone or something, keep doing Japanese. This can be Anki, or any of the recommended resources I’ll mention later in the post, or reading native material, but just do something to get away from the wk interface. I don’t know why it works, but since discovering this it’s made everything flash-card related so much more fun and, more importantly, efficient. I do 50 anki cards every 15 minutes until I’m done for the day, and making the switch to that from trying to tackle 450 reviews + 60 unlearned cards first thing in the morning has increased my efficiency by like 15%~.
Recommended resources
bunpro.jp - acclaimed for a reason. Incredible grammar resource that I highly recommend
torii-srs.com - srs website for jlpt vocab with an option to filter out wk items
READ THIS and act accordingly
kakimashou.com - amazing resource for seeing accurate radicals of kanji, invaluable to any learner
And so it's over
And so it’s over… With wanikani I’ve been able to replay some of my favorite games in japanese (ff, dq, smt) and read both familiar and unfamiliar manga as it was originally written.
But! Heed me well! You will always be a beginner, as will I. The more you learn, the more you will come to understand the ocean of knowledge you tread in. It never, ever ends, and if you think you’re getting close to being “done”, whatever you’re playing or reading in Japanese right now is was too easy for you. Take this ignorance and fall in love with it. However much of this post you read, thank you for humoring a fool and his fancies, and I hope some part of this will aid you on your journey, or rather, your new life.
I don’t know how much longer I’ll continue WaniKani, I’ve considered cancelling for some time, but it’s hard to bring myself to do it. You get to a point where any flash cards that haven’t been seen firsthand in native material begin to feel useless, and yet, saying goodbye is so hard. Doing something this much everyday for 2 years gets a fellow attached, you see.
I’ve prattled enough. This dragon quest bestiary isn’t going to read itself, and neither is my copy of purple haze feedback. You are capable of anything you desire enough, so don’t forget why you started just because the ocean is getting deeper. The future of mankind is bright.
