广 = "Mullet"...What?

All great points…there is something to be said for structure.

I’m skeptical of that chart. I mean, the key feature, the workload being multiples higher later, that’s true, but the shape seems off.

I would expect the workload not to ramp smoothly up in a line, but to have a step increase as each SRS level review stream started coming in. Since those happen in successively longer intervals, I would predict an increasing, concave down, equilibrium buildup-looking stepped curve to a steady level at about 8 x the lesson-doing rate. That level steady for a long time, then as each SRS level (lesson, then apprentice1, then apprentice2, etc.) stopped existing, a decreasing, concave up, radioactive decay-looking tail.

Trust all of us when we say that it won’t be long before you wish it would slow down. Once I started getting “Burned” kanji, my daily reviews went from 100-150 a day to 150-200 a day.

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This is what I get from a quick hack-up in excel
Assumptions:

  • You do reviews the second they’re available
  • You don’t fail any
  • Starting right now
  • The vertical axis is “sets” of reviews, where each level is 2 sets
    – The radicals, kanji, and vocab that’s unlocked immediately on level-up is the first set
    – When the radicals and first set kanji are brought to guru, the 2nd set is unlocked
  • The next level is unlocked when set 2 of the previous level is brought to guru

That’s a lot of reviews at the peak, considering that each set is worth half a level’s worth of items.

Grouping dates by week somewhat spoils the buildup and decay curves I predicted, but they’re there if I do it day-by-day. The chart doesn’t look as nice that way though.

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That means you are ignoring fast levels, then? :thinking:

Also, I’d recommend Seaborn to make quickly nice looking plot :slight_smile: (it’s a Python library)

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I can learn python “quickly”? :smiley:

I didn’t try to account for how many items are in each level. If I wanted to make it real hard, well, this is all deterministic. If I had a dependency chart I could calculate when each individual item would be unlocked and reviewed at each SRS level, then stack them by date. I’m crazy, but not that crazy. (yet)

Edit: or are you saying there are levels where you don’t have to wait as long between reviews? Or don’t have a first and second batch of items? That would make this chart a little off.

Yes, you only need 90% of the kanji to pass a level and there are some where the radical dependencies block 10% or fewer.

In practice, here’s the data from another user:

Notice there’s several 3-day levels.

LOL, not something that needs to be seen for anyone who cares about UI and UX.

Hm, interesting. Well, that would make it a few lines less wide, and it appears that a “set” towards the very end represents slightly fewer actual items, but the shape would be about the same, I think.

Sometimes the mnemonics are too US-centric. Using US movie stars is I think fine eg Charlie Sheen because US movies and TV are seen everywhere. However few people outside the US know - for example - US wrestlers. I have just come across the Kanji for riot and the mnemonic used a US wrestler (Randy someone) who I had to google.

Some of the choices of names and mnemonics are not great for me but then I’m not sure I would do better for 8000 items.

Yes, you can learn Python fast (especially if you have some programming knowledge)

And also yes, some levels basically have only one batch (26,46,47, then 49 all the way to 60)

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If it helps at all, I had no idea who Randy was either and I’m from the US. At least of the Americans I know, not many are into wrestling. What I do for those that I don’t know what they’re talking about I just sort of create a make believe character with that name in my head, makes a better mnemonic and I don’t have to keep googling people.

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Python is awesome…totally agree…

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True but it’s a great flashcard program…totally needs an overhaul on the UI and a proper help file and about half the stupid options hidden or moved to “advanced” menus…

But, once you get the hang of it, the tracking option alone is worth it.

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To all:

BTW, great community…I’m amazed that a thread has gone this long with so many positive replies and no trolling or snark. A pleasant surprise in this day and age. :+1:

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You can edit/rename the radicals. Not sure tho if that’s a user script, I kinda lost track of that.
Personally, I ignore the radicals when they’re also kanji by themselves. Then I’d rename them to the meaning of the kanji, ie 十 to “ten”.

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I think on Monday I’m going to start looking into the customization options here…thanks for the tip!

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Yes, you can rename them on the character page, or the next it comes up on review, you can rename it under the info button

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I agree. I love Anki. Interface and usability aren’t its strong points, but it’s great for power users. Like WaniKani, there’s also decent third-party developer support in the add-on community. It’s more flexible than most things, and I value that a lot. It’s just challenging to recommend to most people.

So, as a competent Anki user who is not from America (i.e. similar radical experiences), I mostly just value the structure imposed on me by WK and the community. (Also, I kinda felt like the reading curation and audio recordings were worth the subscription.) iOS WK is nicer than iOS Anki, too.

My personal opinion on the mnemonics is that if I can use about 75% of them almost as effectively as a mnemonic I had to invent myself, WK is doing well. I never would have seen 氏 as a duck by myself, but can’t unsee.

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You will find the forum is the best part of WaniKani! <3
We self regulate by active members having the ability to mark posts, which will then be reviewed by staff. A post can become hidden if marked multiple times, while awaiting review. And in general trolls find themselves unwelcome :wink:
This is one of the best, most friendly places I’ve found online. It’s a rare thing indeed =)

As for the original post. I never saw the mullet as an American specific thing. It is their word for it, sure, but we had it in Europe too =)
We called it “hockey svies” (sveis - hair do).

There are others though that are much worse. I still don’t know what The Hick is O_o
I call that one “the heck?!” cause I don’t what the heck it is =P

And Yankees (used on the reading for “ya”)… such a missed opportunity… I always use Yakuza for that one :wink:

I like how WaniKani lets you personalise. You can add your own words, and even room to write your own stories =)
You can personalise everything except the reading.

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