Wanikani is just not useful enough, but could be

I am going to agree with you that Wanikani has not been helpful in learning the language and vocabulary while in Japan. Japanese friends who have sat with me during reviews (like on the long distance train or something) have pointed out that many of the words I am learning aren’t useful at all and why the hell am I learning kanji and vocabulary this way… So now I have this problem where unnecessary things are pushing out new, more useful things i’m learning.

However I get to where I recognize a lot more of the characters, so that’s nice. It’s also helping me keep up with studies, which otherwise I’d forget to do. I get enough of the language just being here for half the year. It’s a nice supplement.

If there’s one thing this thread shows, it’s that the opinions of fluent native Japanese speakers are, weird as it sounds, not really that helpful when it comes to evaluating Wanikani’s methods and effectiveness.

If you want to determine if WK is working for you, you can only do that by reading Japanese text and seeing if you recognize more and more kanji as you get farther into WK.

Because that’s definitely been the case for me. And I’m honestly glad I don’t have a native speaking looking over my should introducing doubts when, in reality, I’m actually learning a ton and seeing great real-world results with it (for reading manga, in my case).

I do understand the “but couldn’t it be even more effective?” argument, and it’s a valid question. And I do worry about how I’m going to continue expanding my vocabulary when I finish WK. But for what it’s specifically setting out to do, I’m finding WK effective. I don’t know if it’s maximally effective, but I certainly feel I’m getting my money’s worth.

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Native speakers of any language with no teaching training are pretty much terrible at teaching their own language.

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Second this.

Try asking a random passer-by in England a question about the “present perfect tense” and you’ll probably get some weird looks.

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However, if you ask a non native that is fluent on the language for advice, you’ll get way better answers.

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This one reminds me of the Inductive or Analytical thread we had recently. Since you learn your first language by induction, you just learn all the grammar rules by gut feeling, but when you learn your second language by analysis, you get to know all the rules by name.

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Not always - it depends on how long ago they studied it, how internalised it is, and whether they continue seeing things about grammar.

But generally, yeah. I’ll trust non-natives’ explanations better, but trust native speakers whether something sounds natural or not.

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I agree with that :slight_smile: Good summary.

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Love isn’t always on time?

Just after that discussion,look at what I found in the book I am reading…
forsyphus

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Baader-Meinhof every time.

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Same for America. When I gave the 8th grade English final exam that I issued to my students at my American teaching job to my family and friends, literally all of them failed it (score lower than 70). Not a single one remember what Progressive (or Continuous, depending on your system/region) or Perfect tenses were.

Similar to that is Transitive vs Intransitive. Outside of people actively pursuing additional languages like ourselves, the common person knows intuitively when to use transitive or intransitive words but cannot recall what they are by the terms.

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This was great! Quickly became one of my favs. Any other recommendations?

sometimes I wonder the mysteries of life, but other times I wonder why is this thread still alive and why people are still replying even though the OP has long since stopped responding.

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That is one of the beauties of wanikani community. A lot of the time, instead of letting threads die suddenly and alone, we gently, slowly, organically guide them to their grave with songs and games and gentle conversation. (And really weird GIFs).

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You didn’t just wonder it, you also posted it in this thread.

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I’m still getting data from users about 人 vs 達 in relation to their ability to learn both these kanji. This will be a very important research paper that will revolutionize the world of Japanese learning.

Looking forward for the 300th vote!

forum

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I held on for as long as I could though… i-it’s not like I gave into temptation or anything.

For songs similar to paranoia? That song is especially depressing so I don’t listen to many other songs like it. God Knows by Aya Hirano has a similar idea lyrically except the tables are sort of flipped. Rather than wanting to be left alone, Aya sings about someone turning their back on you when you didnt want them to. God Knows has sort of a different vibe though because theres a lot more going on and puts a lot more emotion into the way its sung, rather than just the lyrics. Fallen Angel is sung in english and gives off a similar vibe to paranoia but is lyrically closer to God Knows. Obviously I listen to music mainly outside of these kinds of songs, but I’m not sure how much you care about that stuff. If you do, just PM me or something.

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I couldn’t help but notice, the second one appears to be in some strange language…Any idea what is going on there??? Maybe some type of bug or something…