Trying to get back into WaniKani (and studying in general) after about a month of setting it in “Vacation mode” and just not using it. This is the second(?) time I’ve gone so long without studying at all and it took me a lot of effort to get back into it. I don’t want to get into loop of studying for a month or 2 then stopping for a month because I get tired. I’m only on like level 4 or 5, so I know the workload is gonna get bigger and I wanna be able to study consistently without burning myself out constantly. But it’s hard to sit down and study consistently (or at times at all) with adhd and I don’t know how to handle that yet.
Does anyone have any tips on how to go about this?
Well, firstly, you can regulate the amount of reviews you have by regulating the amount of lessons you do.
Doing all the available lessons at once – might seem very effective, but it would also mean getting a lot of reviews at once later. Doing only a few lessons per day, would slow down your progress, but also make it easier to maintain.
So, lowering your pace is certainly an option. Diversifying studies – is also a good idea. Kanji is very important, but so is grammar, reading and listening. It might be too early for you to start reading and listening yet (although that’s assuming you haven’t done much studying before WK, which might be a wrong assumption on my part), but you can certainly study grammar.
If you study grammar in parallel to your WK studies – then around level 20 or sooner you’d be able to start to consume simple Japanese resources like
After 10 years of studying Japanese with ADHD I might have some tips! I’ll try to detail a few when I have time after work today. If you check my level up chart in my study log you can see the number of times I have waxed and waned in consistency for the past 5 years of Wanikani D:
Thank you sm for the quick reply! I’m actually studying Japanese in University for about a year, though right now I won’t be taking JPN classes until about April and I have a placement test later this month. I’ve gone through all of Genki 1 (though I’d probably need to review the grammar and a ton of vocab). I believe I’m around A2 level? Which is why I’m struggling a bit because it feels like there’s a lot I need to study cuz I need to maintain a bunch of stuff but also improve on what I struggle with. In order of difficulty (most to least) for me I’d say:
Listening & Speaking
Writing physically (Especially Kanji)
Reading
Sorry I probably should’ve specified this in the og post. Still tysm for the advice!
In that case, here are some more advanced resources:
Read 遠くにある夢 :: ミステリアスな夢 (#1) | Tapas Community – this one is a webcomic, so, while it is in Japanese, it was originally written in English, so it is read not like manga from right to left, but like comics from left to right
I’ve just started and have had varying motivations. I feel like one good thing that helped me prevent burnout is to try and find the reason why you’re learning it. I wouldn’t frame it as “I want to read Japanese literature” or “I want to speak to a local”, but “I want to read xyz that is written in Japanese” or “I want to speak to a friend who can speak Japanese”. I felt like narrowing down a specific reason helped me stay motivated
Hi I’m back! I’ve been studying for 10 years with various levels of motivation and capacity. It’s been a meandering journey but here are some of the things I discovered that work with my ADHD. I’ll try and keep it neat and brief:
Visual reminders. Object impermanence man. If it’s not in front of me I forget it exists in a snap. I broke down my goals into increments and organized them on little sticky notes. I stuck the notes where I consistently come to work every day (my desk). I fill out a bubble when I do an increment. It reminds me to do the task, and helps me visualize my progress. For example, my Wanikani level progress:
Build on existing routines. If you take a glance at my level up chart, you will notice there are MANY periods of stagnation. Almost every one of these periods has coincided with a big life change or change of routine. I discovered that any time I want to get back into studying, I need to take a look at my current routine and figure out where I can stack in some moments of studying. If my routine changes, I know I can adjust.
Use timers. Of course, even when I want to keep routines, I regularly lose track of what I wanted to do and when. I set timers to go off and cue me to do an activity. For Wanikani, I want to review 3x a day at certain times, so I have a timer set to remind me when those hours are. I also recommend you look up the Pomodoro method for studying. I have lots of trouble focusing on my studies (I am unmedicated) and this method made things more managable.
Remove friction. Make it easy for yourself to study Japanese! I always carry a lil pencil case with the necessary instruments. I keep my notebook where I will easily access it every day. I added the Tsurukame app on my phone so I can do Wanikani reviews when I don’t want to get out of bed.
Forgive inconsistency. I have been consistently inconsistent. Over the course of ten years, I’ve tried tons of different approaches, had periods of high motivation and discipline, and periods of zero study at all. Recognize that you can have periods of inconsistency and keep moving forward.
One way I allow myself to be inconsistent is with my Japanese notebook. I found a notebook I liked several years ago and now have filled about 9 of them with my Japanese studies. I allow myself to be very messy or very neat, depending on how I feel. I allow myself to write out all my reviews some days, or not at all on others.
You can see that my notebook is very messy here:
The main thing is that I allow myself to use it as a tool for whatever I need in a day, and don’t get hung up anymore on doing the same exact thing with it time after time.
Keep going! Maybe my only consistency is that I started and didn’t stop. I’ve had periods of months where I studied barely or no Japanese. But I always came back to it, thinking of how far I came and how far I want to go. I’ve always had goals to move toward, sometimes concrete (JLPT) and sometimes abstract (reading a novel).
I started Wanikani 5 years ago with no idea how to learn a language, and grand aspirations of finishing in 2 years or so. Even though I’ve had long periods of inactivity, I never gave up and never reset. Sometimes I came back to review piles in the 1000s, but worked through bit by bit until I was ready to keep going.
Trust your brain to keep up with what you’ve learned so far. Any exposure to the language is a step in the right direction, even if your methods switch up every few months.
Lmao I tried to keep it so short and neat! Hope this wasn’t too troublesome an infodump.
Enjoy your studies!
I don’t habe adhd but I am on the autism side of the spectrum.
I don’t follow one consistent strategy, instead I have like 7 different ways to study, with no regard to a sensible order of things. So whenever I can’t keep one thing up, I switch to the next method, always following where I feel the strongest pull, even if at times it is nonsensically difficult. This allows for my hyperfixation to kick in and I do a lot at once. But since WaniKani relies so much on consistency and that is difficult, both with my schedule as well as with my nature, I make an effort to keep my reviews coming slowly.
I also have a space next to my kitchen table, where I collect a bunch of different Japanese materials to engage with, similar to a game box. These aren’t digital things, but things that have a physical presence in the room that keeps me engaged.
I don’t have ADHD so if my advice isn’t helpful please ignore it. I do struggle with burnout.
The first thing I do when I wake up is sit at my desk and open wanikani. In the morning, I can only spend 10 minutes doing it before I must get ready for work. So I do reviews for 10 minutes. Usually starting is the hardest part for me. When I am waking up I am so sleepy that I don’t have the wherewithal to think about whether I want to or don’t want to study. I wake up and suddenly my butt is in the chair.
After doing this for about a week, I realized I had another 10 minute pocket after I finished my lunch at work. (I eat quickly.) So now I finish my lunch and immediately open wanikani to do reviews for about 10 minutes.
Lastly, I used to lie down for 10-20 minutes when I got home from work to ‘relax.’ This made me tired so I don’t know why I was doing that. Now, I get home, change my clothes, and sit down at my desk and study for 10-20 minutes.
In summary, I made using wanikani something that immediately follows an activity I do almost every day (wake up, eat lunch, and get home from work). I noticed on the weekends if I run errands then I come home, change my clothes, and sit at my desk, even when I know I don’t have any reviews to do. I also don’t do reviews for more than 10 or 20 minutes at a time.
I hope this was helpful. My older sister has ADHD and I know establishing/maintaining a routine is difficult for her especially if she is burnt out. It seems like you have some good goals for Japanese learning and you want to progress quickly. Remember any progress is progress. 5 minutes is better than nothing.
Just do a little every day, both reviews and lessons, like start with 10-20 reviews, 5 lessons. If you enjoy other things like reading, listening, speaking Japanese, you can add them, but again, do just small portion.
Once you settle down and do those steadily, you can increase a bit by bit.
Small things every day is better than big chunky thing once a week.
Plan. Time, location, environment. Remove distractions, but even so, things sometimes don’t go according to plan. So learn about failures, learn about yourself and circumstances, and make plan you can follow, albeit not perfectly. Anyway, you can also consider doing some things immediately, rather than defer.
Motivation is important, but containing and sustaining is also important. Take care well of yourself.
Slow down, rather than rush everything. Aim to keep at it at least 3 or 6 months. Study log may help.
About SRS specifically, it’s my opinion, but remembering for first time don’t need to be random. Mnemonics, and learn about different ways to actively memorize – if you feel the need to be active for this kind of thing.
Studying doesn’t have to be fun. Fun is good, but it’s also important to learn to contain boredom and chore.
it’s totally normal to fall off and come back especially with ADHD so don’t be too hard on yourself, my biggest tip is to lower the daily workload a lot and focus on consistency not speed, even 5–10 minutes a day is enough if you do it every day
Object impermanence 
