When to drop SRS?

Japanese
#1

I have reached a point that I can start enjoying native material such as podcasts or novels but most of my study time is spent on SRS. Bunpro takes up relatively less time, I have finished N2 and stopped adding new items for now so about 30 items a day. But Wanikani takes too long. I want to quit but also see the benefit in staying even though it got boring now.

So for those who have stopped using SRS, when did you do it? Would you recommend it? For those who continue when are you planning on stopping? Please share your advice, experience or opinions.

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#2

I migrated my Wanikani kanji to an Anki deck and dropped all of its vocab because like you say, it was taking far too much time to go through - now I just add kanji to it when I come across them and it feels like it works much better.

I also have a separate deck for vocab as well where I add items when I come across/need them as well.

So still using SRS, but a lot more casually than a ordered program like what WK offers.

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#3

I honestly don’t know if I will ever stop SRS when it comes to vocab. I eventually do want to get to the point where I no longer use Wanikani and Bunpro, but Bunpro keeps adding all these cool decks so who knows.

The point is, I actually like and enjoy SRS. Japanese is such a lifetime endeavor that if you’re not having fun with it, things will get excruciating. Taking a break from one or the other will probably help.

I’m also at the point and have been for quite some time where I enjoy Japanese media on a daily basis, but still benefit greatly from the use of SRS. If there is one SRS that I stopped using it’s iKnow which consisted of 6000 core words and moved over to Anki.

I would say, if you’re really not enjoying yourself it’s okay to give yourself a break from something like Wanikani, especially since it gives you a truckload of reviews. But I will say that structured SRS like this really helps in building a solid foundation. I quit SRS programs atseveral points in my life and it is something that I regret, so my learning is a little scattered. I had to go back to the drawing board several times over the past few years but settled on Bunpro and Wanikani to help solidify my scattered foundation. They are two resources I wish I had from the beginning.

I have known people that have stopped using SRS, but these are people who either live in Japan or are avid, and I mean AVID readers.

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#4

i can “recommend” stopping wanikani if you are fine with ur skill of reading. Its just kanji after all which is just used in reading. You must be atleast above lvl 40 in wanikani to have a good foundation of it i guess.

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#5

I’m probably around N2 level (fingers crossed for the summer exam), and SRS is still a fairly big part of my learning. However, I think I am putting more and more % of my time into reading over SRS, so I’ll talk through my path.

This year I got back into Japanese, and my main aim is to read more.

At the start of the year, I spent a lot of time going over N2 grammar with Bunpro.

I then started reading, but I would try to read something which had a vocab deck in JPDB.
To start with, I’d go through the deck first (to 90% or so coverage)
[This took a long time as I had a large gap of not studying Japanese]

Next, I started alternating books which weren’t on JPDB, and now I’ve got to a point where I’m more often picking up things to read without SRS.

I do still see SRS with me for a long time though. To be able to freely read most things, I think I will need a much much bigger vocab base, so I do want to keep adding batches of vocab as I continue.

At the moment, I am SRS-ing a N2 shinkanzen deck, but after that I’ll probably pick up something I want to read that has an SRS deck (星の子、そしてバトンは渡された are both on my list).

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#6

The problem wth this question is the context, we are on a site for grammar learning based on SRS.

I heard, however it’s good to stop srsing once you are at a point where you can casually read and understand stuff, and are immersed in it often enough that you won’t forget it over time.

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#7

When you feel that you can read and SRS is getting in the way by taking up time that could be spent reading, that is the time to drop SRS.

SRS is just a supplement to keep things relatively fresh in your memory, all of the real learning happens when interacting with the language directly such as through reading or conversation. If you are at a high enough level that you can read often than it would be more beneficial for you to invest that time into reading instead of SRS, especially if it means that you can extend the time you spend reading per session.

tldr - an hour in a good book is far more beneficial than an hour of SRS.

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#8

If you are N2 stopping wanikani is a great idea!
Today I got the kanji card for 資 and thought ‘資源ゴミの資’ [the correct answer is resources] when this happens it’s time to stop wanikani.

I ‘dropped’ my kanji deck. I got through adding all the kanji cards from January 2020 until Spring 2021, then in Spring of 2022 I started marking all my kanji cards as hard instead of wrong (which drops the srs by 1 level , but doesn’t spawn a ghost)

I have found my kanji writing ability has decreased, but I can still read because I kept doing my reading\listenting comprehension sentences.
I used the same method when I started studing bunpro - every word I got wrong in reading/listening comprehension sentences I would mark as hard and add to my bunpro reviews.

Maybe you could do something like this? add all you wanikani vocab that is beginner or adept to bunpro/anki/animecards/jpdb ect

I recomend reading the " Learn where Anki and flashcards will take you" section of [#]World 5 - Japanese Only - Japanese Level Up

I wanted to do bunpro until I get through N3 grammar, but now I don’t. I know I should start mining my own stuff now (esp cause there are work flows to add cards to anki from a ghibli dvd with 3 clicks and definition in Japanese)

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#9

You can read and listen to native material. Sounds like it’s time to drop the SRS and fill in the remaining words by casual lookups or learning them through context. You can spend X amount of time every day on SRS or use that same time to read/listen.

SRS is a tool, not a goal. Wanikani helped you reach your goal, there is no need to complete all 60 levels. Especially if it feels like a chore.

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#10

you don’t have to ever drop it if you don’t wanna. But reading with yomichan on a consistent basis is a great way to go about it (without SRS)

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#11

I personally had finished level 60 in WaniKani before getting much into reading native content. Which was a bit of a failure on my part as I ended up learning a lot of the grammar I should have studied more faithfully later on in my journey. But having done that, it’s relatively rare that I come across new kanji at this point. Granted reading my first novel was a huge challenge, but after a year reading a few books it has gotten much easier.

At this point as far as SRS is concerned, I’m following through on BunPro to finish out my grammar points I either didn’t learn properly or at all, and then I have an Anki deck for each new book I read. Whenever I encounter a new word, I use Takoboto on my phone to look it up and then send a card to the relevant Anki deck. Being able to send definitions from the dictionary to Anki and not needing to type cards saves so much time. Then as I’m reading I will use the deck (at least once it has a fair few cards).
SRS has definitely helped cement a lot of nuanced vocabulary for me. Sometimes it can be frustrating, and I’ll leave it for a week or two. But doing intensive reading along with SRS afterwards has helped me retain much more vocab than I otherwise would have.

So I don’t know if you should ever truly ‘stop’. It just depends on your goals. Seeing as I really enjoy reading novels more than anything, I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. I’m around four years into learning Japanese, and finally feeling like I’m able to enjoy native content without the same intimidation. SRS definitely has played a big part in making that possible.

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