I recently installed a heat map addon and saw my ebbs and flows with this app. I’m in my mid-40s, work full time, married with children. I started out with this grand idea of being level 60 in a year and I crashed hard. I’ve come back from queues of 2000+ three or four times now. I have days where I’m so tired after work I can barely eat and make it to the bed, and things can snowball out of control quickly.
I won’t give up though. Four years in and I’m not sure I’m ever going to learn Japanese. I see people blow past me in progress with the language in 1/4 of the time…but somehow I’m still here.
Thought it might be fun to share a different story than the typical level in 8 days I read all the time. That ain’t me obviously!
Yeah, there are a lot of people (me included) who are also going slower than expected. But don’t give up, you’re still making progress, and that’s what counts.
As the old proverb goes:
“Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid of standing still”
So just keep at it, whatever speed works for you. We’re cheering for you!
がんばりましょう！
I second this - We’re rooting for you! Someone out there is rooting for me too, right? RIGHT?!
But in all seriousness, I’m very impressed at the amount of backed up reviews you’ve pushed through… having over 100 scares me enough to make time for them.
Just a curiosity neoemonk, are you currently/have been using anything in addition to WK?
I’m a bit more ‘olds’ than you and started about the same time. We’re doing just fine.
Don’t compare yourself to speed runners or even to me; each learner here has their own unique set of attributes and challenges. The only fair comparison is to previous versions of you - do you know a little more, are you making more connections, is the picture just a little bit clearer?
Here’s to lifetime subs like us!! Born in 79 so I’m …uhhhh, early forties and having a blast with WK! With Trunklayer’s encouragement to do 100 reviews/day, I was able to beat my way back to new lessons from a 1200+ review queue from the stresses of this past year, and I’m feeling great about working my way into the Death levels! We can do it!
I started in January and am only Level 8. When I started I was hoping to get to level 30 by December, which is when I plan on visiting Japan (travel allowed). I quickly realized there was no way that was happening and I probably won’t even make level 20 by then.
I’m going slow because I know I can’t handle more in my life right now. I have cleared my reviews everyday since I started though. I add lessons each day but sometimes it’s as few as three.
It’s become a lifestyle routine for me though, so as long as it doesn’t get too brutal when the enlighteneds start returning I’ll be able to keep it up indefinitely.
I do about 30 min of Anki per day as well. I do iTalki lessons once per week. I try to either read one NHK easy or an episode of a Japanese show each day for immersion.
Do I feel like I’m making progress though? It’s quite frustrating sometimes. I feel like for all the time and effort I should be able to understand better. If it’s not the simplest, slowest, speaking, I can’t follow it. And I can only read about 50% of NHK easy, on a good article.
Even though it doesn’t feel like it, I can’t deny I have gotten better though. I can read enough NHK easy to make it worth it. When I first started I tried NHK easy and it was just impossible. It wasn’t worth my time to struggle though it. I still can’t understand it without leaning on google translate, but at least it’s not so painful anymore. I also can pick out more words and understand more snippets of dialog from the shows I watch than when I first started. Even if I can’t follow any entire sentence or complicated dialog.
I think I’m on track to take the JLPT 5 in December. That’s become my goal.
Thanks for posting. You are very similar to me in terms of situation and learning speed. It’s always disheartening seeing a bunch of posts about doing 2 levels in a month, whereas I’m happy doing a level in 2 months!
goodness, I’m 59 in two weeks and feel very old now…
going really slow, but enjoying myself. In the past five years I have been to Japan four times (yes, on my own, yes, fat old woman in Japan) and substantial progress has been made. but kanji is a means and not a goal…と思います
（btw I reset twice, no problem, it’s not the olympics)
I’m 42.
Wife, 4yr old and twin 1yr olds. Been on level 10 for 258 days.
A lot of days lately where I don’t do reviews or I’ll do very few. Thinking to reset to a lower level. I’ll get there eventually too.
Good luck to you all.
Consider aiming higher in JLPT levels - level 5 requires very low proficiency. I know it feels like you’re lagging behind the others, but 30 minutes a day is a good investment.
Remember that SRS is more about logging in at regular intervals than raw time spent. I will probably pass you as well, but I have a schedule that allows me to log in 3+ times a day. That means I hit guru on radicals and kanji asap and level every week even without a fast level. It doesn’t really mean I’m learning faster than you. You are still spending more time studying than me, and I think you will have more to show for it.
You don’t have to start at the bottom, and I imagine JLPT5 will put you to sleep. Especially if you’ve been at it for 4 years
As much time as you spend studying, I would like to think that level 3 would be doable by December. You might not ace it, but I bet that you’d have a good shot at passing.
Just a small correction, the OP has been studying for 4 years. I’ve only been studying for 6 months (wanikani for about 4 months).
But you’ve given me something to think about. My iTalki 先生 gives me japanese audio clips to transcribe as homework. I think they are JLPT practice clips. It’s a short conversation followed by a question. If I listen to the clips once straight through I can mostly guess the answer (though not always) though I never understand every word. Then I go back and repeat them a bunch of times as I get the transcription right for every word. I assume those are JLPT 5 level clips. I feel like by December those would be no problem for me.
I think registration opens in August. Before that I’ll dig up some Level 4 practice tests and see how I do. Thanks for the advice.
Never too old to do something you want to do! (Early 50’s here ) You have great determination and tenacity to smash that amount of reviews that many times, awesome stuff! Are you getting somewhere? Absolutely! I knew I wasn’t going to be a fast leveller, needed to balance life, work and WK. Will I finish, I hope so in a few years. Pop your vacation mode on if life needs to take front & centre, it’ll stop those reviews from blowing out.
Check out a couple of the slow lanes here if you want a bit of a boost along. You got this!
- We’re rooting for you! Someone out there is rooting for me too, right? RIGHT?! 
Born in 79 so I’m …uhhhh, early forties and having a blast with WK! With Trunklayer’s encouragement to do 100 reviews/day, I was able to beat my way back to new lessons from a 1200+ review queue from the stresses of this past year, and I’m feeling great about working my way into the Death levels! We can do it! 
