I have only been using the site for 5 months, but I can share my reason. It is regret.
I discovered CIJ way earlier, than February. I have watched a lot of videos on youtube, but I never really committed for some reason. It took me a few months to actually commit and after getting access to hundreds of videos I instantly regretted not signing up earlier.
Funnily enough I have been watching more videos outside of CIJ the past month. Though, I have watched over 1000 videos on the site and only the too difficult vids are left.
I would have supported the site no matter what, so I guess it wasn’t too difficult of a choice. Also, there is the added bonus of being able to enjoy any new and exciting feature in the future without having to worry about the money part.
I also decided to sign up for the lifetime plan! I thought about it for a while, but I ended up deciding in favor of the plan for a few reasons.
I’m thankful anytime a business gives me the opportunity to buy something outright instead of a subscription. Almost everything is subscription based these days, and I’m the kind of person who thinks I’ll just sign up for a month or two, then 3 years later I’m still paying for something I hardly use. And CIJ is a site I actually use every day!
I appreciated the opportunity to use the monthly cost that I’d spent so far on the site as a discount towards the total cost of the lifetime plan, so it would be as if I’d had a lifetime plan from the beginning. I know from experience with Spanish that there will come a time where I won’t need the site anymore and I’ll just start watching/listening to native content/podcasts exclusively - but I’m still a beginner in Japanese, and it’s a long journey. I want to be able to watch the new videos as they’re released, rewatch old videos, and read the transcripts. I still want to be able to track my hours using the site, even if one day they end up being exclusively hours outside the platform. I figured that with the lifetime plan, I won’t have to worry anymore about calculating whether I’m using the site enough to justify a monthly subscription or not.
I wanted to support Yuki先生 and the whole team for creating this amazing resource and putting so much work and care into each and every video! I want them to continue to be successful and grow for many years to come.
I’ve been into CIJ since the early YouTube days, was part of the Patreon and old website, so what I wanted most was to support their effort.
CIJ has been one of the few tools that has worked wonders for me. I still watch today and I’m sure I’ll keep watching these comprehensible input videos for the foreseeable future.
I did
My main reason is that I want to support Yuki. Japanese is pretty tough and there were times I thought of quitting, but Yuki’s content (and later the whole team) kept me motivated and kept me going.
My progress is also not super fast, so I’m still pretty far from Manga, Anime and native content, so I still have a lot to learn from this content.
I signed up, now I’m forced to use this website for life.
I mainly use the Read function because I can mostly watch Japanese drama’s & without subtitles, but I really suffer with speaking and reading Kanji and Katakana.
I remember using Italki last month and I could barely speak a word, even though I knew what my teacher was saying.
Mark my words, I’m gonna use Italki next month and see If i can have a chanto hanasu with a native.
I’ve been actively listening to Japanese for 1 year and a half, I think it’s time for me to focus more on reading and speaking.
I signed up for lifetime after using CIJ for about a year. I really love the videos here, its been one of the main resources I’ve used for studying Japanese and its helped a huge amount. I can’t imagine making the progress I have without it. Prior to CIJ I hadn’t heard of comprehensible input, and I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it has made learning so much fun and (almost) effortless! It really is amazing.
I really wanted to show my support for Yuki and the team so I decided to sign up for the lifetime plan. It also gives me a good excuse to never stop studying Lastly, I also like the fact that it cuts down on the number of monthly subscriptions that I have to keep track of which can be kind of a challenge these days!
Thank you all for supporting us
We’re so happy to be part of your Japanese learning journey!
We’ll keep creating quality CI content and continue improving the site to help you acquire Japanese in a fun way
I know this thread is basically over, but just wanted to say that I am SO glad that I signed up for the lifetime plan while they had their discount for current users. You guys are all right that language learning is a lifetime journey.
I just bit the bullet and bought the lifetime plan. Also I’d only been subscribed to the site for 1 month before upgrading to the lifetime plan
My reasons for doing so are…
The goal of course is to eventually become fluent in Japanese. ( I don’t mind if I have an accent, or if I can’t function at the local prefecture office or a bank in Japan. As long as I can just function in day to day life out in the wilds of Japan and be understood by the locals will be good enough for me) I see this as a 10+ year long process though, so in the long run it will be a cost savings.
Also helps motivate me (least I hope it does) to use the site and keep at it! I paid for it, darn well better start using it regularly.
I am married to a Japanese Woman and plan on retiring (I am currently 54) to Japan in 11 to 15 years, so lifetime subscription ‘feels’ like a wise long-term investment.
Like others have said I like a business that offers lifetime memberships and am happy to support that business model.
Like others have said it’s great they discount the money I’ve already paid in subscription towards the lifetime plan. Excellent customer service!
And like others have said I think Ben & Yuki have created something really amazing and special here. It’s the first site/service that’s clicked with me re learning Japanese and I want to financially support that. Hopefully the site continues to grow and will be around for decades to come.