How long will it take to finish WaniKani?

13 comments

1. I just reached level 43. I joined 675 days ago.

2. At maximum pace I believe it takes just over a year, but the workload is huge. Since you’ve been learning for a ‘few days’ I think the vocabulary will be quite difficult for you and it’ll go pretty slow. Most people take 1.5-2.5 years at a moderate pace.

   I’m honestly a fan of Wanikani. It’s not the most efficient method but I think it’s great at what it does. The gamification of it makes it easier to stay motivated and you feel good after a level up. I wouldn’t recommend starting it until you’ve got a pretty good grip on the language (After finishing Genki I textbook or Genki II). Some of the vocab it teaches are quite useless especially as someone just starting out. You should build a strong base first.

3. It depends how much time you put into it. I have times when I clear it a couple of times a day and learn some new kanji. Other times I don’t look at it for a few weeks and have the nightmare of clearing all the reviews when I get back.

   I have learned a lot of kanji though. I also take a night school class on zoom which helps.

   The first few levels are free so I would work through those before deciding to spend money on it.

4. I finished in 3 years, a lot of work though

5. If you wanted to absolutely blaze through it, it would take a little over a year to reach Level 60.

   Realistically, though, it will take between a year and a half to maybe even three years, if you take it at a more reasonable pace. I started on the 5th of January and I’m currently on Level 8, so that’s two and a half months already.

   If WaniKani looks interesting, you get access to the first three levels for free so that you can try it out before subscribing. If you’re OK with a less efficient but still very effective SRS system, then give it a look.

6. I have calculated at my pace it will take 3 years to reach level 60.

7. I’m going to piggyback off of your post if you don’t mind to ask this:

   When should I start using Wanikani, if I decided to use it? I’m currently starting Genki 2 but I’ve done a lot of vocabulary up until n4 and I’m keeping that up too

   I started using Heisigs for kanji but I find it very unpleasant and I wondered if Wanikani would be a better solution

8. I’ve been at it for 1 year and 5 days it turns out.

   I’m currently working through level 34, but from what I understand, not all levels are equal, especially some of the later ones that you can blow through in less than a week each if you’re really trying.

   So I reckon I’m looking at finishing by around August/September.

   Makes a year and a half all in

9. There are people who have finished it in a year or less than a year. I think for the most of people it takes like two years.
   As for the beginning I’d suggest just doing the 3 free levels because it’s really plenty of material and probably as for beginner you won’t need much more during the first few months, depending how fast and how much do you learn of course.
   I have done them but since I don’t have an opportunity to pay, I just use free resources like kanji garden. Wanikani has still helped me a lot.

10. I was reading the wanikani forums and this question has some cool stats behind it that the community puts together fairly regularly. The forums there are fairly deep but they’re worth exploring.

    I wish wanikani was a thing when I was in college. It would have helped prepare us for all of the reading we had to do the last year for sure.

    Ignore the speedrunners. Go at your own pace.

    Most people try to have enough lessons done to keep 100 or so reviews every day. That’s an end of the day session for people with work or kids and other responsibilities. 100 yo 150 reviews isn’t too bad daily. It takes like 30 to 45mins. Others may be faster but I like to really consider the radicals when I’m going through.

    This is the 3 to 4 year pace.

    If you keep your lessons empty you’ll find that you eventually don’t have a ton more a day anyway because you start burning all of those earlier words.

    So you end up with 300 to 500 a day. This is 90m to 2.5 hrs for some people.

11. Assume at least two years. Don’t worry about the speedrunners doing it in a year. I think it’s more effective for most folks to take more time with it.

    I finished in about 20 months coming into it with N3 certification. I think I went too fast, but I was anxious to get some other stuff started and I didn’t have enough time to do multiple things a day.

12. I’ve been using Wanikani for more than 3 years and I am at level 31. I was at level 40 a few months ago but resetted to level 20 due to bad accuracy. According to the prediction, I will reach level 60 in around 1-1.5 years.
    I have a full-time job though and half a year ago I was studying full-time and working part-time. So due to exams, thesis, etc. I needed to go slower. In the end, how it will take for you depends on your life circumstances.

    My tip: Get the lifetime version unless you have a lot of time for studying Japanese.

13. After already having studied genki1/2 and tobira for 1.5 years, i did Wanikani and took about 14 months of 60 minutes a day to hit level 60. Burned items for another couple months before I moved on.