Wanikani in Japan

I will go on exchange to Japan next year, and right now I am deciding which premium membership to buy.

Do you think Wanikani is also efficient in Japan, or is it not worth it because you will learn enough Japanese anyway?

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Plenty of people moving to/living in Japan struggle with reading kanji. So, if you want to be able to do that, Wanikani is a great tool for learning to read. That won’t happen all by itself.

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I recommend buying a year subscription now, and a lifetime subscription in December. So far, they have always been discounted from 300 to 200 around Christmas. Furthermore, when you switch to lifetime from year, you get the remaining credits from the year subscription back in the form of a proportional additional discount on lifetime.

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Being in Japan gives you access to an insane amount of exposure to the language. I think of exposure as a vehicle that helps taking your knowledge from the short to the long term. But first, you need to have the knowledge itself. That’s what Wanikani is for: you need to study kanji.

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Thank you very much for that Information :3 do you think you will need more than two years to complete wanikani? Because otherwise it wouldn´t be necessary to buy lifetime.

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WK doesn’t teach you japanese. WK teaches you how to read kanji. and that’s something which you don’t really learn through exposure…

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I never got lifetime. You can complete WK just over a year (reaching lv60). As for burning all items…well, that’s a different issue. :eyes:

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You could technically complete Wanikani in one year, but I’d definitely recommend reading some level 60 threads of people who have done so. It’s quite intensive.
I started in March 2018, finished in September 2019, but I’m still finishing of burns because I’m a completionist. Whether that’s actually useful is a different question :joy:
I’m also planning on redoing the entire thing again in the future as well, just to keep it all fresh, which is also possible and cheaper due to lifetime.

But I’d just recommend taking a year for now, and deciding in December whether you think lifetime will be cheaper in the future.

I’ll actually add my timeline to here, one sec

As you can see, the Apprentice pile wasn’t tamed until around June 2020

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Also yes, this. The vocab here is merely to support teaching you the different readings kanji tend to have. For vocab, I’d take a look at Torii or Kitsun.io. For grammar, take a look at Bunpro’s free trial or check out Japanese Ammo or Tae Kim.

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Since I am studying with Marugoto, I am mainly getting my vocab from there! But I would definitely recommend Marugoto no Kotoba to all of you. It has sample sentences for every word and you can study different groups ^^

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So you’re saying at some point in the future you’ll reset to level 1 and I’ll be a higher level than you?

me when you hit level 1
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But for now...

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When I learn a new kanjo on wanikani I can usually find it really fast in the wild. It is pretty awesome

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Hey! I’m going to Japan next year too (this September). Want Kani is helping so much, personally I’d keep doing it in Japan. It might be hard to do as much, but it’s definitely worth it!

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I know people who have lived in Japan for years who can barely read more than 20 kanji, if anything wanikani will be even more rewarding and useful living here

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Also live here and studying at a Japanese school but this is the primary vehicle for my Kanji study and it complements my grammar, vocab study. Organic kanji study is basically nil and so you’re going to have to use something and this is the best tool I’ve ever used for it.

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Nice that you are also going to Japan! I heard that a lot of exchange student struggelled because of their poor Kanji knowledge, so I try to get as good as I can before I go :3

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Current ALT in Japan here.

WaniKani has been an invaluable tool for me here. Every level up I get to understand more and more of what is around me. Also, the teachers are very supportive and sometimes surprised whenever I can read or write anything in Japanese, so I guess it’s a cool 外人 party trick if nothing else. Either way, showing that you are bettering yourself in the national language of the country shows that you are willing to integrate and socialize. In a collectivist society, this can really help overcome some social barriers.

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It is worth it. The main question is how much time you’ll have to devote to this app’s schedule vs. other interests/commitments and needs while in Japan.

WaniKani has helped me tremendously with what I’m doing in Japan. But I’m glad I’ve got a lifetime subscription (monthly before getting that at the winter sale) so I feel free to reset a couple levels or switch on vacation mode for times when other things take priority.

What’s your exchange program?

Hey wow i also wanna go to japan in september. Dont tell me you go for a language course with EF?

I will live with a hostfamily for half a year and attend japanese highschool. ^^