I’ve been using Wanikani for a few days now and I love it, for the most part
however, I feel like its way too slow on some parts, I already had 6 or so reviews on the same Kanjis I already know, on top of that, I have to wait 2-5 hours for a one single kanji review? It makes absolutely no sense to me, is there something wrong with my account? thank you
I was saying the same as you about 2 weeks ago…
Nope, it’s just the way it is and there is no way to override it or change a setting. While the WK is very good in general, the lack of customization is painful.
Stick with the first three levels though and the “workload” does change…then decide if you want to $$$
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I already paid for it and I don’t regret paying, but its just too painfully slow when I wait so many hours for a SINGLE kanji (Onna, Woman, read as Jo) which I already did many many times before without failing, I just don’t understand why cant I customise at least this much, why cant I choose the base level at the very least
You’ll be overwhelmed like the rest of us soon enough.
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You may want to contact them at hello@wanikani.com and ask for a refund since you paid at level 1 instead of taking advantage of the first three levels being free. There’s no reason to be paying for content they offer for free.
As far as the topic goes, this is one of many of the same thread that pops up over and over. The only answer you’re going to get is to deal with the fact you get eased into it. Once you hit around level five the workload will be about normal and you’ll stop feeling like you have nothing to do.
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I think WK is far behind the curve for this…anyone that games or uses apps these days is very used to customization of how they want to proceed…but not here. You will hear that it’s for a reason but…well I’ll be polite and just let you fill in that blank.
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Should probably think of WaniKani as a set course. You wouldn’t ask the teacher to change the entire lesson plan just because you already know something. Besides, WaniKani builds on what it teaches as you go on. If you were able to just skip ahead you could potentially miss a building block used later. Just think of going over things you already know as a refresher. You already know it, so it should be a breeze. And there’s always a chance you’ll find out you didn’t know everything about a character.
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If it was any faster I’d be screwed. *At this point in your studies kanji should be the least of your worries, take all the time you have now and focus on other areas because later on you’ll regret it if you don’t. These days I spend so much time on WaniKani reviews I hardly feel like doing much other Japanese studying.
There’s plenty of grammar and vocab studying you can do while you’re waiting for reviews. If you also happen to have more time after, you can practice listening comprehension. Early on you won’t understand much but it will be good to get an ear for how the language sounds for later on when you can piece everything together.
* - this is assuming you’re still a beginner at Japanese and haven’t studied to an extensive amount previously.
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It’s not that they’re behind the curve. Rather, they are targeting a specific audience and they’re okay if it doesn’t meet everyone’s needs.
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Rule #1 in business: adapt of die
The very fact this issue comes-up over and over (as mentioned) might be a sign that a bit of flexibility might be warranted. Same as how there are also a lot of threads saying how they get overloaded; don’t you think a throttling system would fix both issues?
Customization is key…
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Well they certainly havent died and are still getting plenty of memebers so maybe they have adapted, just not in the way you wanted.
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It’s not about just me but all the people asking for it to be at a different speed. If the same topic comes up over and over then they might want to address those issues as it can only help.
Yet the service has been plenty successful to the point where they even lowered the price. WaniKani isn’t for everyone, but it works really well for the people that use it. Maybe it’s some users that need to adapt.
Once upon a time I found myself burned out (around level 10). So I decided to start limiting the amount of lessons I did and I never burned out again. I didn’t need the system enforcing any limits on me, I could do that myself.
There isn’t really a problem with the platform. People like the OP just need to stick with it until the workload increases. They’re starting with no items in the SRS. It takes a little while before enough items get into the SRS before the workload feels significant.
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For the people that get overwhelmed, there is an easy answer: slow down the lessons. That’s the throttle. As easy as that.
The first couple of levels are a bit slow, but it’s a couple of weeks of study we are talking about, that don’t even apply to all of us since some people are totally green with japanese. Wanikani lasts from at least 13 months to a max of forever. I think the average is two years, and that’s with a LOT of reviews every day (I’m on a 9 days per level pace and I’m doing on average 200 reviews a day, if not more). Having the first two weeks slow is not critical for the mission.
Plus, from a purely system management point of view, introducing a throttle means introducing a lot of variability in the equation, and it would be really hard to maintain a system like this.
Just trust us on this: in a couple of weeks you’ll be in pain like all of us. We were all like you the first levels… Suffering will come.
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Isnt this just confirmation bias a vocal minority. You see all the people complaining about the system, but the people who are happy with it wont go and make a forum post about it.
Edit:Not confirmation bias but i forget the word
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What about when people go too fast because there’s no limit, burn out, and stop using WaniKani? Everyone loses in that case.
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I’m always in awe of how well behaved this forum is. Look at all these people responding kindly for the MILLIONTH time to a question that’s addressed in the FAQ… Makes me happy to be part of this community…
To answer both the original OP and @OpusTheFowl, it takes barely two weeks to get to a cruising level of 45min a day at least, going up from there (that’s a lot of time spent on kanji). That’s why the first levels are free, because you really get a chance to feel the SRS working, even if it happens to be reviews of kanjis you already know. I’d venture a guess here and say that most people who get overwhelmed later on have been using scripts to reorder/etc, which is exactly why I don’t see the point in WK wasting resources on developing customizing (if you really want custom, there are a thousand user scripts that will mess the SRS for you, at your own risks…)
Sorry that wasn’t as clear on paper as in my mind, but it’s late and I’ve just done 80 reviews on top of learning vocab for the beginner’s book club current read 
And I’m only on level 11 
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Works both ways…
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The issue comes up over and over again because it’s not what people are used to. As has been explained over and over again. The system that WK uses is not like other systems. By not allowing people to skip things that means that WK can know exactly what to expect a student at a particular level to know. It is kind of annoyingly slow to start, but they do that to prevent people from flooding themselves early on and creating a backlog of hundreds of cards when when you’re only three weeks in. That’s just how SRS works. I’ve seen plenty of people complain about other SRS systems because they were so zelous to jump into the deep end that they get overwhelmed and give up. WK doesn’t want people getting overwhelmed.
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Vocal minority?
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