Hi guys! So I recently tried out the WaniKani trial and thought the neumonics were awesome! I bought RTK when I first started learning Japanese but I found it to be a bit boring compared to WaniKani and and I’m not in any major rush to learn Japanese (hoping to be somewhat fluent in 2 years hopefully), I’d like to go to University in Kyoto when I’m older (I just turned 15 today) but my Kanji are severely lacking compared to the rest of my Japanese (in my opinion) and I’m not sure how necessary writing would be. I know WaniKani doesn’t teach writing but I find their system so much more interesting than RTK, as well as being able to learn new vocabulary to help me as well! However since I’m only 15, I’d be spending the majority of my birthday money on WaniKani and I was just weighing up the pros and cons. I think I’d be able to learn how to write the majority of Kanji if I memorised the radicals and general stroke order but I’m not sure if this would be enough. Also I’m kinda short of time these days as I do martial arts 4 days a week, Volleyball and Table Tennis the other 2 so only have Saturday free and I do about 3 hours of Japanese (input, Anki, output) a day already so I don’t know if adding WaniKani would make it too much for my schedule as I still have other hobbies like Game Design and stuff that I really enjoy. Just wondering if you think WaniKani would be the best option for (University, after learning general stroke order I could write, for time and for speed and Vocabulary as well as not taking insane amounts of time to complete per day).
Sorry for the rather long post I’m just trying to learn Japanese in the best way I can (whether that’s RTK, even if I don’t like the system as much, or if that’s WaniKani), thanks everyone and have a great day!
Charlie
13 comments
I don’t use either honestly and am learning kanji just fine. Your money is probably better spent on comprehensive textbooks and native materials.
If WaniKani’s working well for you, go for it. I’ve been using it for over a year now, and I also like it better than Anki alone. Their forums and book groups are also a good resource, and the people there are friendly.
About the price – wait for their year-end sale! Every year around New Years, they drop the lifetime price to $200usd instead of $300. That means you’ll still have access to it in college, and you can go as slowly as you want while you work on your hobbies and school.
Save your money, $200 – $300 for only 2,000 kanji? Not worth it. Especially if your goal is to be literate, as 2,000 is the bare minimum.
There are other kanji apps out there for cheap or even free that are better, like Japanese Kanji Study or Yomikata Z. If mnemonics help you, there are plenty of them available with a free Google search.
I’m lvl 48 now. I’m at the point where I’m only learning kanji for uncommon things and could stop if I wanted. WaniKani is great. I can read almost everything I come by or breakdown the meaning. It’s honestly a great way to learn how to read kanji. But it takes time.
Definitely other options that could be better, especially if price or time is a major factor for you
For me its the learning tool I’m most consistent with because it’s somewhat more enjoyable than just an anki deck or something for me
And consistency is the most important part of language learning, so for that reason its definitely worth it for me
WK is tough going. Definitely more than 3 hours a week and probably best done every day.
How about KKLC? Just a book and an Anki deck. The mnemonics aren’t quite as crazy as WK but I like them as they make some kind of sense. It’s still a hard slog though.
If time is limited then don’t bother with writing. Apart from my address and a couple of other words I never write any kanji.
Anki, Anki 100x
Yeah its not as refined and fancy but its free and you can easily make and manage cards.
There’s a few decks that basically do the exact same as wanikani and they have been serving me very well.
You don’t have a max a day limit and have I said its free?
You mention a lack of time, but slowly you’ll get the 2k kanji in less than a year if you do 6 a day.
Another way is to just get down a bit of the kanji and read, and note down on anki the ones that trouble you (check rikaichamp/yomi) and it’ll speed up the learning a bit.
Don’t rush and good luck
It’s insanely good. I’m a very undisciplined person and doing WaniKani that basically scheduled everything for me was a blessing. It’s only 9 dollars and definitely worth its price.
When I hit the end of the free trial, downloaded the anki deck, and it just wasn’t the same so bought the membership. The system, for me, is such a great convenient tool that can be worked into any day and now at level 6 there is so many lessons and reviews there’s always something to do.
Used to get really annoyed at typo wrong answers but now it’s water off a ducks back.
Go for it.
There are free methods, but if you like WaniKani better, I think it’s worth the modest cost. No matter how you learn kanji, it takes a very long time. Since you will definitely be studying them for a very long time, choosing a study method you enjoy is really important.
WaniKani is amazing! It is not enough by itself but no one resource is.
I have always struggled with Kanji but WaniKanis app works well for me.
I also super struggle with motivation and study habits. But I can always do a quick review even when I am really burned out and it helps me retain everything else.
The “best” way to learn a language is the way that engages you more than all the others. So, if WK is particularly enticing to you, that should speak for itself IMO.
I personally used WK all the way, and started it when I already knew 200~300 kanji. My plan was to “cheat” by forcing correct answers on level-up critical items to progress ASAP until I reached new material I hadn’t seen before. (I’d play fair and stop the cheating on kanji and vocab once they were no longer required to unlock the next level.) When I caught up to the new stuff, I decided to keep the pace for as long as I comfortably could, and ended up hitting level 60 in 1 year and 10 days because I never slowed down 😛
It was a very fun way to acquire ~2050 kanji and ~6800 vocab 🙂
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Some notes:
* I was averaging ~2.5 hours per day (split into multiple smaller sessions throughout the day) towards the end
* This was mainly possible because I dropped an MMO habit to make time for it
* At an average of ~5 new kanji and ~20 new vocabulary, I stopped using the mnemonics altogether at around level 7 (it would’ve been too time-consuming for me to try to learn 25 per day *and* attempt to recall them for every single meaning/reading for hundreds of reviews)
* I cheated on radical reviews 100% of the time after dropping mnemonics (no need to know what the site calls them if I’m not using them)
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Of course, there’s absolutely **no** need to try to go that fast. I just wanted to because I genuinely enjoyed it, but now reading is by far my strongest point in Japanese 😀
Download an Anki deck and do that. Wanikani has some GARBAGE mnemonics and names for radicals. Make up your own mnemonics, you’ll remember them better.