What on Gods green earth are burned items

WaniKani
#1

Dear members,

My search ‘burned items’ in this FAQ produced a long list of results, but alas not the answer to my burning question: ‘What on Gods green earth are burned items?’

Reading some of the results give me the idea it is a positive thing, you did very good on this item so you won’t get asked about it in reviews.
But this text puzzles me a bit:
BURNED ITEMS IN THE LAST 30 DAYS
Turtles are safe… for now.

safe for now does not have a positive connotation on burning items for me.

Burned items: a good or a bad sign?

Hope someone can advice.

Warm regards,

DaiKen

11 Likes
#2

When an item is burned, it’s a good thing. It’s the last level of the spaced repetition system, and it essentially means you will remember it forever, therefore, you no longer have to review the item.

2 Likes
#3

Hi Ken,

Burning something is great! ‘Burned items’ are radicals, kanji and vocabulary that you have reviewed (and gotten correct) a LOT of times. Enough times, in fact, for the WaniKani (SRS) algorithm to deem you not to have to review them anymore. However, I believe there is an option for you to remove an item from being ‘burned’ if you believe you don’t know it well enough yet.

Review timings for kanji and vocabulary are 4h, 8h, 1d, 3d, 1w, 2w, 1m, and 4m. The ones that are a day and longer are actually shortened by an hour (but close enough). Therefore, the minimum time for burning an item is 5m 3w 4d 12h, assuming you review as soon as it’s available and get every review correct. That means that once you ‘burn’ something you should probably remember it for good.

I’m fairly new to WaniKani though and there is every chance I’m not quite correct, so take my reply with a grain of salt.

17 Likes
#4

Hello Crabigator Friend - The turtle burning thing really bothered me a lot until Koichi explained where it comes from. Still bothers me but I hope they ate the turtles!

Anyway, let’s see if anyone can answer this question!

What is the difference between a:

godan verb
suru verb
ichidan verb

So got any words that jus keep tripping you UP? Hand, right, fur, stone?

Nolan

1 Like
#5

If only :wink: I can honestly tell you that I’d have fail to answer a ton of the items I’ve burned - because some of those happened 3 years ago.

3 Likes
#6

ichidan verb => verbs ending with the letters -iru and -eru. E.G. Taberu (to eat)
suru verb => verbs ending with the letter -suru, E.G. suru. kaiketsu suru (解決する) "to resolve a problem"
godan verb => These verbs have more different endings which means there’s more than one suffix to learn Don’t worry though, it’s not as hard as it may sound.
-U -TSU -RU
-MU -NU -BU
-KU -GU
-SU

BTW this question relates to grammar… You should read up on grammar this would also help you somewhat for remembering vocab meaning/readings

5 Likes
#7

You mean like 入る (はいる), 要る (いる) and 帰る (かえる)? :wink:

Exceptions abound.

7 Likes
#8

hahaha. yes of course. There are always exception.

1 Like
#9

Thank You! Lots of exceptions! Just starting grammar using Duolingo and JapanDict (at the bottom the stroke orders and grammar breakdown of sample sentence is great! Also Kanji from Zero that has surprisingly good grammar tips and explanations also based on sample sentences. Just not enough time!

1 Like
#10

@anon85657780, there is a diagram in the Wanikani guide (not the FAQ) which shows when an item is burned. The diagram is out of date. One of the apprentice steps is shortened.

(Since I got evicted from the Regulars forums, I cannot post the most up to date list of stages for you.)

1 Like
#11
SRS Level Next Level Total Wait Review
Apprentice 1 4h - Lesson
Apprentice 2 8h 4h 1
Apprentice 3 ~1d 12h 2
Apprentice 4 ~2d 1d 11h 3
Guru 1 ~1w 3d 10h 4
Guru 2 ~2w 1w 3d 9h 5
Master ~1M 3w 3d 8h 6
Enlightened ~4M 7w 5d 7h 7
Burned - 24w 6d 6h 8
11 Likes
#12

In addition to the helpful answers above, it comes from the phrase “burned into memory” (or ‘burnt’ if you prefer).

1 Like
#13

Koichi talks about it in one of the podcasts about allegedly early kanji writing to the gods written on turtle shells by burning the characters into the shell.

3 Likes
#14

If by “allegedly” you mean here are a whole bunch of examples.

3 Likes
#15

Don’t use duolingo

2 Likes
#16

lol…Actually I was just covering myself because that podcast sounds like the opening monologue of a late night talk show where there’s actual news items and then made up stuff for comedy sake. Since I don’t know what’s legit and what’s Koichi making up funny stuff, I threw in the word “allegedly” just so I wouldn’t have to research it. Thanks for the examples.

1 Like
#17

Why? Seems legit!

#18

It does seem legit. I actually believed the part about the burned turtle shells. I wasn’t trying to discredit the podcast. I just said “allegedly” so no one would tell me to check my facts or that he was joking. I didn’t mean to imply it’s not true, just that I hadn’t verified it, so I said allegedly. But I’m glad to have someone back up the podcast with facts so now I know. :smile:

#19

It says “Turtles are safe”, not "You are safe"
Burning turtles is good for you but bad for the turtles.

3 Likes
#20

I’ve answered about Duolingo, sure WaniKani is legit and great! :slight_smile:

P.S. Dunno how the quotation system works here, I just used a black arrow, thought it should be enough…