Just Started the journey to learn japanese, currently on level 3. Think i started earlier this month. I feel like ive learned allot but then again i feel like I’ve learned nothing.
How much can WaniKani actually teach you?
I know the numbers, 2k kanji, 6k words. But forget the numbers. Can you listen to an Anime and understand everything? Can you read a Manga and comprehend everything? I know WaniKani doesn’t teach grammar but vocabulary is 80% of a language.(i made the last part up, idrk but it feels true)
Will you become fluent or close enough with WaniKani?
At what level did you start to see results? Like being able to understand sentence, reading a page of manga? Listen to an anime and understand some of it. Or any significant result. So far i feel like im going nowhere… Would just like some senior members to describe what there experience has been like and what results have they’ve seen and in what time frame. I have more questions but ill have to make another topic for them. Thank you
You will learn how to read many kanji. Meaning, you’ll know how to read them aloud when you see them. You will be aware of many words, but likely will still have questions about what their nuances or usages are. You’ll be largely unaware of many common words that aren’t written with kanji without other resources.
If learning how to read many kanji is a goal for you, then WK is a good resource for you.
If all you study is WK, watching an anime without subtitles would be basically impossible still.
As Leebo said WK teaches kanji and vocabulary based on that kanji. I.e., words. Being able to read and understand words is only one part of understanding a language, at the very least you also need to understand grammar. You will want to study grammar through a website, textbook, or language course.
Edit: Lol apparently I can’t read, you did mention grammar. But in a language like Japanese which has a grammar so radically different from English, you will need to study grammar a lot.
Just to add that 6k words is just the beginning. Around 20k, you start getting comfortable.
But don’t worry, you’ll be surprised with how today’s technology can boost your learning. Wanikani is a lovely place to start because all of those words will pretty much have kanji associated with them. If you know the kanji (and Wanikani is very good at teaching them), identifying words becomes quiet easier than what it’s not for you.
I understand that WaniKani alone isn’t enough, but from your experience. Your at level 56. If you were to open a manga right now how much of it would you be able to read? If you went to watch an anime right now with no subtitles, how much of it could you understand?
I have many different resources I use, so I can read manga generally, but WK helped me get out of an intermediate plateau I had reached in my kanji studies.
To answer your question more generally, from my personal experience WaniKani is great for what has been said above, reading kanji. I think you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone much beyond the 20s or 30s that hasn’t done (or at the very least started) some studies of grammar and vocab outside of WaniKani.
For me personally, currently studying N2 grammar on BunPro, I would say that I can comfortably read at about a late Elementary or early Middle School level. I still look up words and grammar at times, but I find that in most cases I can understand what I’m reading fairly confidently. I’d say it’s definitely my strongest skill, in large part to WaniKani.
I’d also consider myself conversational in the most basic sense of the word. I can speak on things I have experience talking about in Japanese fairly well, but I regularly come across things I’m not entirely certain of the best way to say.
That all being said, I would say listening is my weakest skill, which means it’s very hard for me to watch and truly understand most anime without at least some Japanese subtitles. WaniKani will not teach you grammar, and won’t give you any kind of experience hearing words in native contexts or at native speeds, so I wouldn’t say it’ll do you much, if any, good in understanding anime without subtitles beyond “Hey, I know that word!” every so often. At least, not on its own.
Pair it up with some Lingodeer, Bunpro, shadowing, consuming various forms of native content, and even chatting with a language partner, really whatever resources you find you enjoy and can use well, and it gives you an incredibly solid base to build on, and you definitely will see results regarding your ability to read kanji in no time, even at a slower pace.
I started really feeling the results at maybe level 10.
I haven’t watched much anime for maybe nine months or so, which might not sound like much, but now that I live in Japan I’m learning Japanese faster than ever so it actually makes quite a difference. I did try watching the first two episodes of the new One Punch Man season when they came out, and I could understand the gist of the plot, but they use a lot of words I don’t encounter in everyday life, so I rewatched them with subtitles.
Right now I can read shounen manga while only occasionally using a dictionary. Of course shounen manga tends to have furigana, but furigana rarely helps you understand a word, it only makes it easier to look it up in a dictionary. Seinen manga tends to have much more difficult kanji, so I can read it if I make heavy use of a dictionary.
I have to say though, WK level 30 + roughly level N3 grammar* is a really comfortable level to start living in Japan.
*my level when I moved to Japan. Taking the N2 this summer. Level 30 is a bit low for that…
I sometimes ask these questions too, how many kanjis do I need to know after which I won’t find any new kanjis in the wild. How many words do I need to know after which I won’t find any new word. It’s really difficult to answer such questions, as it largely depends on the genre of the stuff you’re reading.
Around the late 30’s or early 40’s I started reading light novels with yomichan. Since then, I’ve added more than 4.5k words outside of WK. I was reading a slice of life (relatively simple) novel and had a relatively easy time compared to this dungeon-crawler web novel I’m reading right now. There are words like 僧侶, 盗賊, 城塞, 膂力, etc. You see these are words that you won’t really need in real life (unless you were talking about a series, etc).
Regarding when you’ll start seeing the results, I think around level 15-20, you’ll be able to look at most general daily life articles and go like “hey, I can read a few sentences”, “hey, I recognize a few words here”. (Provided you study grammar along with your WK studies too)
To learn Japanese you need other forms of education and tuition.
For me personally this website is useful for brushing up on Kanji, perfecting Kanji and becoming proficient at Kanji. It is not teaching me any Japanese that I do not already know. It may increase my vocabulary but that is about it.
In Japan you may be able to read and understand what signs mean and things mean in written form but you will not understand grammar or intention without knowing the language.
For me personally this is just supplementing Japanese study by helping me improve, better and get Kanji under control in an environment separate to other lessons.
At my current level I can read a manga book (with furigana) somewhat comfortably. My kanji and grammar understanding (currently studying N3) allow me to read at a steady pace, with the help of a dictionary app, nonetheless, which I have on my phone to look up the words I still don’t know. I would say that at this level, it’s not frustrating anymore, and it will only become easier from here on out.
But this wouldn’t be possible without other resources to learn grammar. I’ve studied a lot since I’ve started last August, and used a ton of different resources. I read a lot as well. Doesn’t matter what you read, as long as you like it and try to understand it.
Keep in mind that WK is just one out of many resources you’ll need to use in order to become fluent.
Yes. Thoughts? Get it! It’s one of the best resources for learning grammar. I got the book version on Amazon, since I prefer to study from books, but that’s up to you.
WaniKani is just for reading and understanding kanji. I live in Japan and am constantly surrounded by the language, but I’ve decided that I can’t attempt the N2 unless I know these kanji thoroughly. It does help immensely. I see the kanji I’ve studied every day. Manga and news articles become clearer, and I do hear vocabulary I’ve studied here when I watch anime or Terrace House. But this is just one piece of the puzzle. This will not make you “fluent”. That takes years of practice. If you’re wondering if this site is worth it, I’d say yes, as a supplement to your other studies.
I started earlier this month too, so perhaps I’m not the best person to say, but, I have noticed a difference already.
I think it really depends on what you want your Japanese for, like the end-goal. If you want to be studying academically then WaniKani’s only going to be helpful for about 20-30% of everything you’ll need.
My Japanese grammar is really bad (hell, so is my English and I’m native) but it’s surprising how much you can understand just from the Kanji and vocab learnt. With a big vocab it’s easy to fill in the blanks with the grammar. I agree, vocab does seem about 80% of a language, like it’s easy for foreigners who don’t speak your language to get their point across with simple vocab words.
Of course, if you’re wanting to converse naturally with people, saying “FOOD.WANT.” every time you’re hungry will probably get you fed in some shape or form. But probably not in the best way… so you’ll have to learn grammar elsewhere.
In short - WaniKani is very good at boosting your vocab, which, will help you understand things like Japanese media and make learning grammar a lot easier. But if you’re wanting to live in Japan/talk to Japanese people you’ll need to use other resources too.
Where are you reading from? What exactly are you reading?
Any suggested reading which can be subject to yomichan + is as easy as possible? I haven’t read shit (almost), and I’m really struggling with anything beyond NHK Easy.
Edit: Also, a question for everyone: how to practice reading? I’m often stumped if I should check every word/grammar pattern? Or not and just read and get what I get without looking things up? Things like that.
So, I’ll either read something from this website, or buy it on Kindle and convert to HTML. Currently, I’m reading this web novel tho.
The first light novel I read was 時をかける少女. I had the furigana version, so new words were easy to look up. If you have other Kindle books, you can convert them to an HTML file and then use yomichan on it. Have you tried reading manga’s? If you enjoy slice of life manga’s, I think they are a good starting point after NHK news.
