I have been using WaniKani for a good few years now (maybe since 2020?). I have thoroughly enjoyed using it across my Japanese learning journey but my commitment to it has started to dwindle. Over my 5 years ish using the platform I have found that I range from very actively learning new Kanji/Vocab to only doing reviews and not learning anything new.
I have just got back from a two week trip to Japan which all of my learning was really building towards. Now that I am back, I am wondering whether or not I want to continue learning Japanese, or whether I can draw a line and stop.
I still feel like I would like to learn more japanese, as I expect I will vacation in Japan again in the distant future, and I enjoy trying to read/watch manga/anime in the native language, but at the same time I am feeling a bit burned out and feel like the time I spend practising could be used for other things.
I was hoping some people that have previously had the same thoughts could offer their stories and how they decided to quit/continue learning. Obviously everyones situation is unique and I donāt expect a definitive answer, but some other peopleās experiences might help me decide.
At level 21, you know all the N5 kanji and most of the N4 kanji. You have a good foundation to build on.
What you could do is put Wanikani in vacation mode (so you donāt drown in reviews when/if you come back) and focus on reading for a while. Maybe join a book club here, maybe read something on your own. Youāll see that you know a lot of kanji and that lots are still unknown. Only you know if that will make you want to study more, or if that will make you happy to stop.
How do you study Japanese? Do you only do Wanikani or do you also study grammar? Do you interact with the language outside Wanikani? Read, listen, take classes, study text books, something else? Try to find something that you enjoy to do and interact with the language that way. Again, that may make you want to study more, or that may make you want to stop and feel like you know enough.
To answer this part of your question: I have been going back and forth with Japanese for many many years. Years of hard studies followed by years of hardly touching it, and new years of studies. Work, family, kids ā¦ Life has made it difficult to study at times, but I always come back.
If you decide to quit now, that doesnāt mean that you have to drop it forever. Maybe reframe it in your mind as a break, put Wanikani in vacation mode, and see what happens in a few weeks/months?
In terms of how else I study, I use Duolingo (I know it is bad but I moreso use it to keep me accountable every day and just use it for new vocab), WaniKani, and about a year ago I was working through the Genki 1 textbook - but put that down due to a busy day to day life. I was also joining in with beginner book clubs on here which I very much enjoyed at the time.
I think I will have a look at rejoining a beginner book club, or perhaps reading some manga in my own time, and see if this rekindles my fire for learning again. Otherwise, I think your suggestion of putting onto vacation mode is a good idea and Iāll take a month or two out and plan to return later on.
My motivation dropped quite a lot recently but it got boosted again by starting a new game I know nothing about in Japanese. Now just moments ago I breezed through 60 pages of manga and it felt amazing (weirdly enough Iām usually much slower with easier stuff but I guess this just clicked)
Feeling like quitting is usually pretty normal and itās a good time to reflect what you are trying to gain. If you donāt have goals, motivation is a hard thing to attain. I had Japan trip as one of my sub-goals as well and it did feel a bit empty after that goal was fulfilled. I had some other walls as well but those are already rubble so I donāt remember what they used to be.
In the end itās up to you. I hope you continue to spend your time with a hobby you enjoy.
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I think that the most important part is having a clear purpose and motivation to do something. I want to read Business Books, History Books, and Science books fully in Japanese when I go to Japan again later this year
I have the artistic personality to do something nonstop over a long period of time if I have a clear purpose for doing so doing Wanikani or Duolingo to completion isnāt a problem for me. I have finished 3/4 of Duolingo Japanese, and I have decided to do a few more languages there until I finish them
Iām a serial stopper and eventually a few years ago I reached a āwhy even botherā point. I pursued some other hobbies like video editing and video game guide making and it was fun. I eventually got a new goal to try to move there (itās not relevant whether it actually will happen, just that I believe I could maybe make it happen) and thatās been enough to get me back studying.
So if you want to take a break to pursue other stuff, go for it, but give yourself a timeline to make a final decision. Like literally put a deadline on your phone for one month from now and go pursue other hobbies until that deadline. It can be 100% other hobbies, or you can do 50/50 or whatever feels comfortable.
If you do decide to keep with Japanese, I would say:
Join a book club. Read some manga, read some furigana novels. Play some video games. Find something to enjoy.
Iām not a material-basher, so if you want to use Duolingo thatās up to you. Itās not hard to find a list of other resources if you do want to try to do other things.
Finish your textbook. I donāt care if you do 1 page a day, just always keep going. Genki is generally considered at the very least a decent textbook. People can debate if something else might be ābetterā, but at the very least itās good enough to keep at it.
But at the same time, donāt spend 5 hours doing textbook stuff. Thatāll burn you out.
The biggest factor for me progressing has been exactly that: progressing. Not trying to force myself to re-learn everything or try to optimize constantly. Starting over (whether resetting back to page 1 or switching to a new resource) can be fine in some contexts, but a lot of times itās just an excuse to get back to a comfort zone and do a constant beginner loop. So if you do decide to try some new stuff, thatās fine, but I would say do that in addition to progressing in Genki.
Bad restarting:
Iām going to start my textbook over and re-read everything and relisten to everything and do all the exercises. Iāll move on once Iām comfortable, or maybe Iāll use something else thatās better.
Good restarting:
Iām going to re-listen to the dialogs in my textbook, but only read if Iām stuck and only the absolute minimum to understand 70% of whatās going on, so that way Iām caught up in a month or less so I can immediately move on.
Whatever you choose, remember that you only live once. Your hobbies should bring you some kind of fulfillment.
Just here to second this!!! If you need Japanese to live as a functional person in Japan, keep going even if you hate it. If you donāt need Japanese to live as a functional person in Japan, keep going only if you like it!
Also I think people forget that no decision lasts forever. If you need a break, take one. If you want to continue studying after said break, do it. If you are feeling some sort of shame because you wish you were already better at Japanese, either reassess how you measure your self worth or recommit to the daily study (and find a way to make your daily study enjoyable.)
The only thing I can suggest is think about what youāll think about your decision 5 years from now. If you think youāll wish that you had spent that time on something else, then go do the something else. If you think youāll regret it if you end up losing a lot of your japanese ability, then stick with it. Its not always easy, but if you can get a general idea of where you want to be at in life a few years from now, how you should be allotting your time in the present tends to reveal itself. Actually following through on it is another thing, though.
I recently went through just the same thing. I went to Japan for two weeks, and when I came back I felt I just couldnāt keep going studying Japanese. It just felt like the least fun thing imaginable, and I wanted to quit.
I think now maybe itās natural to feel this resistance to study after actually being there. When Iām in Japan, everything is study - talking to people, reading all the things in environment. And when I got back, studying suddenly felt really dry and artificial and pointless.
I took a few weeks off, and then started again by doing my favourite āJapanese thingsā - like watching Midnight Diner with Japanese subs, and reading stories instead of using Wanikani.
This week, I started using Tandem, which is a free platform for finding language partners (not for dating lol). I like it Iāve been using it to practice text-based conversation with Japanese people who want to learn English. Sometimes I write in Japanese, and they reply in English, and we can correct each others mistakes. Often they just reply in Japanese, and itās been cool seeing how native speakers write. I recommend it It feels way more fun SRS reviews
When I saw you on level 21, I saw that level is very challenging. I found that level 21 very difficult. It took me 244 days to finish it. It was my longest time being on a level. Yet I am at level 23. Even though it took me so long to finish it, in the end it was worth it. I never regretted finishing it, even though at times I did not have time or felt like doing it.
Thanks for this reply, especially the part about good and bad restarting. In my head I was thinking that when I get back to Genki I would go back through the whole thing again but I think you are right that this would keep me in my comfort zone too much
I guess keeping your motivation is a different kind of animal for everyone.
All I can do is reflect on my own goal when learning a new language, maybe this is an insight for yourself.
My goal for Japanese, the same as for English, is to be comfortable in conversation and understand most of it. Not necessarily be fluent in speaking yourself but definitely listening and reading.
Even after learning English for 15 years there is always a phrase or word I donāt know - an expression someone used in conversation I didnāt quite catch - a sentence or word which was hard for me to pronounce. Thatās what gets me hooked to learn it and improve.
I do the same in Japanese and it helped me improve quickly over the last weeks. I am quite new to jp obviously. Therefore those wanikani reviews or lessons just come in like a drug for me .
I am not completely sure what I want so sayā¦ maybe: you see hear or read something you donāt know ā get hooked ad learn it.
To me the heart of your āproblemā is that youāve achieved your previous goal and that mean that youāre lacking intrinsic motivation to continue. This is very common after finally succeeding in something. My advice would be to reflect a bit about what you love which is related to Japanese and set another goal to progress toward to. I doesnāt have to be too hard or challenging or even serious (and especially in a fragile motivation phase you should do what give you energy rather than drains you) unless youāre the kind of person who need a challenge to work against.
Firstly thanks for all the replies, it has been very useful hearing what everyone here has to say.
After reading through all of the replies I have decided the following:
I am going to continue with my Japanese learning, as I do enjoy it very much. I think people here are right, that I have lost motiviation due to my first goal being met - going to Japan and using my japanese with natives. Assessing what I want out of japanese I am remembering my original goal which is to read/watch manga/anime without subs as that is a real source of enjoyment and fulfillment for me. So I am going to be continuing to learn japanese, but with the following changes:
Quitting Duolingo - I have been thinking of doing this for some while but lately I only open the app to continue my steak / not get demoted, it does not inspire me to learn
Continue with WaniKani - I am going to continue with WaniKani but try to complete at least 5 lessons every week day. Lately I have just been doing reviews and as such have not progressed a level in a long time
Get back into reading/listening native material - Last year I was participating in Absolute beginner books clubs on this forum and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am going to either start reading manga again in one of those clubs, or start one of the anime watch clubs.
Pick up Genki 1 again in a few months time - I do want to complete this textbook at some point and potentially get a JLPT exam under my belt so in a few months time when my life quiets down I will try to pick this textbook back up.
Once again, thanks for all the replies, it has really helped me remember why I started learning japanese in the first place
Iāve been using it to practice text-based conversation with Japanese people who want to learn English. Sometimes I write in Japanese, and they reply in English, and we can correct each others mistakes. Often they just reply in Japanese, and itās been cool seeing how native speakers write. I recommend it 
It feels way more fun SRS reviews
.