So I’ve recently entered Level 5. But just today, I realized that I might be leaning a bit too heavy on the API I installed that allows me to retry. I originally did it because I’m horrible with typos, and I only realize a second after I’ve already sent it.
Do I remove it and just suffer the typos? Or do I try to push some method on myself that will keep me from hitting that retry button so often? What has worked for you guys to keep yourself from making those retries happen?
Do I just need to see a therapist to address my underlying commitment issues?
Well, what I do for myself is I need to say the reading and the meaning out loud together to myself and then I type 'em. If I’m mistaken I don’t correct, if I typo I correct my mistake. It works for me, but YMMV.
I think the way to think about it is: Wanikani is just a fancy way of looking at a lot of kanji and words a bunch of times.
If you miss a review for a typo, it just means you’ll get to look at that item again one more time. More value for your money! And just a little bit more preparation for the potentially countless times you’ll see it in the real world.
I think it’s totally possible to still have that mindset and also use the reset script for it’s intended purpose, so do feel free to experiment and use whatever works best for you!
But personally I found the lack of a take-back option to be a good consistent reminder that seeing a kanji one more time isn’t something to be afraid of.
I’m cheating on meaning typo and some misconception of meaning like malice and malicious as long as the answer and concept in my head is correct.
I’m doing this because I’m not an English native speaker. However, I never cheat on how to read them in Japanese. It’s because if you typing them incorrectly the correct kanji won’t show up anyway.
I definitely know what you mean. I’m experiencing that with my Anki decks right now. I’m actually kinda worried it’ll be another way I try to cheat myself out of learning. Though, right now, that’s not my #1 priority just yet, since I’m still trying to figure out if I’ve timed that practice correctly.
But you make a great point about meaning vs. reading. Obviously, meaning is important, but that meaning won’t help at all when I’m trying to communicate to others. I’ll try that out the next couple of times, and see if that makes me feel different about the reviews.
This was something I realized a bit ago, as well. I’ve been pushing myself to do a level a week so that I can stay “on track” to being “ready” for the JLPT, without realizing that my schedule doesn’t really allow for consistent, efficient studying like it used to. Jobs, man. They suck the fun out of everything. But yeah, I just need to remind myself that it’s okay to take a slower pace, to take 10 days instead of 7 for a level and still be “fast.” And with that reminder, a lot of that pressure to push that retry will go away, and I can make mistakes safely again.
1 level per week is almost impossible. It’s true 7 days is the minimum requirements for passing a level.
However, in the last 2 months I’m doing my review 4 times a day; after breakfast, lunch, dinner and before going to sleep. It still takes me 7.5-8 days per level.
My job is less intense because of Covid19 outbreak so I could effort to do this.
Well, personally I don’t use any scripts, except for forum-related scripts. I’m not good with typos either, but I think it’s best to just let the review fail in such cases.
In the long run, nowadays I make much less typos than I used to be. Also, WK now finally has a built-in protection from cases when you enter meaning instead of reading or vice versa… When I joined, there wasn’t such a protection and I’ve failed quite a lot of items because of this…
In other words, if even a small clumsy absent-minded cat like me can do it - so can you!
Best of luck to you!
I exclusively use mobile so a retry or undo function is critical for me since mobile keyboards are, well, what they are.
But what I do to keep myself honest is I only give myself a few seconds to say the meaning and reading out loud for every review item. If the answer is off from what I said, I get it wrong and let it come around again. If I don’t remember, I put something random in and I let it be wrong.
When I started reading around level 40, I was better able to gauge how much I needed to remember and so I was more permissive on things like “malice” or “malicious” since I knew I would figure it out from context anyway.
If you find yourself hitting it even when you made a real mistake and not a typo, then remove it.
But no, I would not remove it if you are able to stay honest and only use it for typos
i’m very bad at handling the kind of frustration which comes from hitting enter on a typo. and if i have an undo option, i’m way too quick to reach for that. so i don’t use any retry or double-check scripts, they are a very slippery slope for me.
it’s made me pay much more attention to what i actually type, and though i still make plenty of typos, i catch most of them before hitting enter.
it’s really a matter of knowing what your strengths are, and where your weaknesses lie.
If I make a typo that either really frustrates me or is on a word that is already in Master or Enlightened, I just close the website and start my batch of reviews over again. That way I can re-do mistakes but it comes at a cost, so I won’t do it all time.
(That and I’m too dumb to actually figure out how to install scripts )
After lvl 60ing WK, I’ve come to the opinion that it is probably best to always retry to send the right answer for all items that have made it to at least master level so that they don’t drop back down.
Once an item reaches master, most items I can’t get easily won’t really get into my solid memory banks until I actually see it in the wild anyways, so there is no point in letting it clog up my reviews. It solidifies on its own once I see it in the wild a few times.
SRS is just a tool to prime my brain to pick it up easier when I encounter it elsewhere.
Alrighty, so update for today. Started off with 135 reviews. I decided to say the meanings and readings out loud to myself first. Typos were retried, but most everything else I made an effort to just accept the loss and move forward. I came out on the other end with an 83%. I reminded myself that if this was a test, I would’ve still passed, and that surprisingly took a lot of stress off my shoulders.
What I've learned
Saying things out loud helped a great deal. This is probably because I’m activating multiple parts of my brain as I’m trying to recall the information. Maybe. My understanding of neuroscience is still pretty layman, so I might be off with that explanation.
Also: a lot of yesterday’s frustrations were because it was a new level, combined with not getting great sleep before approaching it. I think it was also sinking in that I’m now entering uncharted territory with the kanji. Level 4 still had a lot of kanji I was familiar with outside of WK, but I’m not getting to the stuff I really don’t know. This is good, it means I can actually grow from here.
Also also: I still have college hangups messing with my perspective. Sure, it helped to remind myself I’d pass if it was a test, but that’s the same sort of pep talk I had to give myself after tests, because otherwise the need to get a perfect score would overwhelm me. So. Lots to unpack there. I know I joked about seeing a therapist in the original post. But if I’m going to pursue learning on my own without the framework of school, then maybe I really do need to sit down and talk all this out with a professional.
So, where to go from here? I’m gonna keep up saying meanings and readings out loud. I’m going to let myself go at the pace that I need, rather than try to speed run it. I’m going to let mistakes happen, rather than cover them up with retries. I’ll still use retries, but only for when the typos trip me up.
I’m still open to hear from you all, since this is only one day of trying new things. And obviously, it’ll help others who read this if more perspectives are given, because my way of doing things won’t work perfectly for someone else who might be in the same boat. またね！
Lots of good comments on this thread. I won’t remove retries completely, though not because of typos. Meanings get me way more often, because I can’t think of the specific word WK wants. And I’d rather let my brain start thinking of these vocab and kanji as Japanese, so I want to let it ‘forget’ the meaning as English anyway. As long as the concept is right, I’m happy, because I know the nuance will be different from the English term anyway.
But to prevent abuse of the system, I modified the script so I can’t retry with readings. Typos are frustrating, but there are too many reading related issues (short vs. long, rendaku, elision) that I know (from experience) I can’t trust myself to leave alone.
I have learned to be more careful with my typing, after making this change, for sure, though!
But just today, I realized that I might be leaning a bit too heavy on the API I installed that allows me to retry. I originally did it because I’m horrible with typos, and I only realize a second after I’ve already sent it.
And just a little bit more preparation for the potentially countless times you’ll see it in the real world.
)
I decided to say the meanings and readings out loud to myself first. Typos were retried, but most everything else I made an effort to just accept the loss and move forward. I came out on the other end with an 83%. I reminded myself that if this was a test, I would’ve still passed, and that surprisingly took a lot of stress off my shoulders.