Worried about my accuracy?

[rhet]

How much do you study Japanese outside of Wanikani? I can bash my head against leeches with SRS forever and never get them, but if I see them one time in actual Japanese I never forget.

[IanD]

Two specific pieces of advice:

After first saying that, no, I wouldn’t be worried about it, but I might pause to ask what you could do/where you are in your overall study.

1. If you’re having trouble with picking the right reading, while this will get easier with exposure (especially with irregularities), I’d take a minute to brush up on the rules for kunyomi (usually used when it’s the sole kanji, for single-kanji nouns, adjectives, and verbs) and onyomi (usually used in compounds). This may tie into some other Japanese/grammar practice, which hopefully you’re doing as well. Maybe you could also indicate what level of Japanese you’re at? I’d say Wanikani’s system is much easier with at least the foundations, and gets easier and easier as your overall language knowledge goes up.

Which is both good and bad. Good in that you can rest easy knowing that the 90+ percenters are, as @Nath pointed out, probably already experienced with the language, especially if they maintain that into higher levels, and that means you can get there too. Bad in that, if you don’t have some of the foundational Japanese grammar points down yet, it might be best to put WK on hold for the moment and come back once you have them, since it doesn’t really work in a vacuum.

2. Feel free to add synonyms to radicals in order to match their kanji meanings. I do that all the time. WK wants you to remember its custom radical mnemonics for additional mnemonics in the future, but as long as you don’t totally forget them, you’ll be fine.

@rhet

How much do you study Japanese outside of Wanikani? I can bash my ahead against leeches with SRS forever and never get them, but if I see them one time in actual Japanese I never forget.

This too. The difference in my consistency reading kanji/vocab I’ve only ever seen in WK, and ones I’ve encountered/looked up even once in the wild is huge. And this doesn’t have to mean full-on Japanese reading if you’re not at that level yet; it could even be other study material (though encounters in the wild are stronger).

[anon78952551]

Thanks for the replies everyone, so much helpful advice! I’m definitely going to start approaching WK differently and i think i’ll tackle the current issues head-on before doing any more lessons.

I’ve realised my problem is probably a combination of the following:

1. I am a complete newbie. I have been studying around 5-6 hours a day but only for around a month. I learnt Hiragana easily within the first two days and got over-excited with finding that i could ‘read’ (but not understand) loads of material. Kanji is a whole other beast. Until i started WK i had no idea that Kanji could even be read in different ways. I’m probably comparing myself to people that are either higher level or low level Kanji but who are way ahead from me in other ways.

2. I have the realisation that i’m “old” for picking up new languages quickly. At 15 i could cram 3 months of solid Spanish and have a reasonable conversation with a native at the end. At 35 and in a language way more removed than English/Spanish, not so much.

3. Another realisation that i’m not invincible has occurred. I have health issues, and medication that probably slows my brain down. When i was younger i was incredibly bright and always got top marks in everything. I have to accept those days are behind me. The competitive element of WK i see on the forums here is great and bought out that old student in me, but i think has been the source of pushing myself to take on too much too quickly and not understand much of it!

On the positive side though:

1. I do know exactly what i’m taking on, and have done since i got to level 2. The Kanji 山 is very big and very real .

2. I have lots of tips about moving forwards. I’m going to start writing things down rather than being 100% passive.

3. I don’t feel like giving up in the slightest. Quite the opposite. I have learnt techniques that allow me to work efficiently and very well in other subject areas, and I will find methods that work in Japanese (thanks to everyone here) and keep ploughing onwards even if it takes me 10x as long as another person. I have the luxury of being able to do that - if i was living in Japan i’d be rather more worried because of the need to survive and my inability to overachieve in a short time.

I have lots of resources here, besides WK i am doing TextFugu (season 3 right now) along with Anki, and i use Memrise to help with vocab learning. I also have Genki and Japanese the Manga Way books, which are both helpful but i’m not going to use much until i go through TextFugu further.

So… moving onwards. Lots more writing down of Kanji & Vocab that i struggle with. Staying away from lessons until i feel more confident with what i’ve already got. When i do go back to lessons i’ll take them slowly both in terms of number that are done at once and in how i approach them, write them down, etc.

Thank you everyone for your help.

[Ncastaneda]

I don’t know if someone has already mention this but, I found extremely helpful to do reviews at my brightest moment of the day (morning for me). After 11 or 12pm I’m just thinking in getting over with it already.
Try making a routine with it, for me is breakfast + reviews / lessons.

I see lots of materials for grammar on your end. Focus in one, as the mentality of “the best method/ resource” tends to cause more distractions than actually getting you to find that one and only supreme resource (it was my case anyway). Find one, if it suits you and see any consensous that it’s a good method, stick with it for a while.

As soon as possible get you into the habit of immersing into japanese material (either by listening or reading). Around halfway a grammar resource (for me it was Genki) and with some vocab under my belt (700) I started the Graded Readers series. And I found the more connections and uses I give both kanji and vocab It sticks better. Same could be said with writing (some people woul disagree), as even a 10’ daily routine (maybe writing when you do the new lessons) could prove of great use.

Anyway, making a healthy routine it’s probably the most important thing here. You may choose to spice it up as you like

[BlueberryPear]

If you didn’t have any experience with Japanese before this, then it’s probably perfectly normal to have such a “low” accuracy. Although it’s not really low, you would pass tests with this!

You can try the tips other kind people already gave, but no matter what, I really wouldn’t worry if I were you. The very beginnings of a language ate always hard, you have to give yourself time to get better at learning it and you’ll get there if you stay consistent.
You also shouldn’t care about leaches at such a low level I think. Those are worrisome, when you should know the things, but don’t. You just started, you don’t have to know those things already.
To sum it up: don’t worry already, enjoy what you get right (you’ve got a good meaning accuracy! ) and do extra work only when you enjoy it. You should enjoy learning on the beginning, it keeps you motivated.

EDIT: I see now you already got this. Best of luck in your further studies!

[cybershark]

My accurwcy looks the same XD but to be honest i‘m not really concerned about it. I‘m not thatgood with learning languages and so I always need more time to cement the stuff into my brain, but everytime I do a review I get words correct i missed many times before. The srs system is doing it‘s work for me ^^

[_Marcus]

@burkimoto

My problem seems to be when I see words or kanji that I haven’t seen in a long time, I often have no clue what they are. I guess I have to question the SRS concept, since people don’t remember or forget at the same rate. Older people (like me) forget more quickly perhaps. I don’t know how to combat this except by constantly reviewing the material offline. At level 6, it might be doable, but not at higher levels.

I’m in just the same boat. I see an item I haven’t seen in a while and it’s like I’m seeing it for the very first time! I even re-read the story that goes with it, and it’s like I’m reading it for the first time again. Yep, I’m also older, in my 50’s, so that might have something to do with it!

[anon78952551]

This is how slow i am… spent ages watching hard gay upon suggestion from WK and hard gay is well and truly in my head, infact i spent half an hour watching hard gay on youtube and think he’s great.

Then i come back and get 生 in my reviews literally an hour later and don’t know how to write the meaning. Click to see what the answer is and smack myself in the head with a brick.

All good fun, of course :).

[burkimoto]

Thanks for the message. On these kinds of boards, I always feel like everyone is in their twenties. I’m in my sixties, so I know I’ve got a tougher road than the younger ones. Maybe WK could refine their SRS to have adjustable levels of repletion to accommodate individual differences.

BTW - what are “leeches”?

[Ateosira]

Leeches are words you keep getting wrong. They cost you more time then others to remember / learn. They leech your time away

[fl0rm]

@burkimoto

On these kinds of boards, I always feel like everyone is in their twenties. I’m in my sixties, so I know I’ve got a tougher road than the younger ones.

There’s an open poll for this if you’re curious: https://community.wanikani.com/t/how-old-are-wanikani-users/19289

[anon78952551]

That is an interesting poll! The users here are younger than i would have thought…! I’m definitely not going to complain about not being able to keep up again

[fl0rm]

@anon78952551

The competitive element of WK i see on the forums here is great and bought out that old student in me, but i think has been the source of pushing myself to take on too much too quickly and not understand much of it!

It gets said a lot, but truly learning a language is a lifelong process. And a lot of people (myself included) grossly underestimated just how long it takes to really get going with native material.

Having a bunch of pre-existing vocab, I naively thought I’d be at a functional level after about six months of regular (not super-intense) study. That’s about how long it took for me to start to realise I should really expect the journey from beginner to upper-intermediate to take about two years.

I’m exactly one week shy of a year from when I started studying seriously and I’m actually comfortable (but still slow) with written media targeted at the native 10-13-year-old demographic now, but I certainly had delusions about already enjoying stuff targeted more at the 18-21 range, and I know that bled through into enthusiasm in my posts, so others are likely doing the same.

I’m 33 right now and I’ve realised it’s gonna be a long haul, but it’s also not a race. Push yourself to try reading new things along the way and take time to enjoy the opportunities as they come up, not to reach the end ASAP. Also, do diversify your learning: lots of people at upper levels on WaniKani can’t read anywhere near their kanji level because they neglected grammar and applied practice along the way and it’s an easy trap to fall into.

[Pkdragon]

If you have to slow down, you have to slow down. Unless you have a very specific deadline you need to know the language by, that’s not a bad thing. Take your time. I think people here sometimes get overly concerned with speed and efficiency, but the most important thing is simply to never stop. Do your reviews every day, and wanikani will do it’s thing. If the workload gets overwhelming, slow down on lessons. As long as you’re paying attention, you’ll get there.

Self improvement isn’t a bad thing at all, of course, and if you figure out ways to study better then by all means go for it, but don’t stress out over it. Stressing out over it is the type of thing that leads to discouragement and quitting. Of course, getting things wrong all the time can also lead to discouragement, so just remind yourself that getting things wrong is part of learning.

I definitely agree that doing some outside grammar / reading is super important, and can actually help with wanikani fatigue. If you’re tired of dealing with SRS, then reading some easy native material, or working on a textbook, it can be a nice change of pace.

[nerdymartian]

I’m on team old, at least according to that poll, which doesn’t even bother to differentiate above 51 C’mon, there’s still 4% to divvy up! Anyway, to fellow team members, here’s to old dogs learning new tricks. And to donnalouise99, がんばってよ
I’m presuming we’ll learn the kanji for that in due time.

[fl0rm]

https://www.wanikani.com/vocabulary/%E9%A0%91%E5%BC%B5%E3%82%8B
Yep, level 25. But you won’t learn that conjugation unless you explore the language on your own.

[anon78952551]

Just wanted to share an update on this, which was three weeks ago.

I have worked on writing down items as i study them, as well as writing them down when i get them wrong on the reviews.

Happy to report that my accuracy is rising, see this pic from today. I’ve gone from 70.57% up to 73.88% on my vocab meanings, despite still taking on loads of new lessons (but i do back off for a day or so if i feel overwhelmed). My Kanji readings have gone up from 77.41% to 78.33% too. Kanji meanings are very slightly down, but i know why that is… it’s all the old ones from higher SRS levels coming back to bite me and i’m remembering the vocab meanings instead of the actual Kanji meaning - working on that.

I’m never going to be one of those that gets 95%+ for this system, but i’d like to think that i’ll achieve my goal of learning these Kanji/vocabs and learning them very well having had the chance to repeat them more than normal :).

Thanks to all who have taken time to give me advice, it has really helped!