Yay! Onwards and upwards!
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I want to start a let’s-race-to-level-60-together thread too. I like to have level 21 New Year’s Eve as a short term goal but I would like to make a thread for the long term goal thread too. Will this thread die if I start a level 60 thread now? Should I wait a few months? (Impatient? Me? No…)
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Please do! I’m too slow for the current race groups, but too ahead for this one, so would love to join you on a new race to 60! Plus I think there’s a big enough gap beween this shorter-term goal and the intended longer-term goal that you’ll get discussion in both
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Although I feel that’s just a parallel goal altogether, I’m wavering more towards “wait a few months”. I personally like this thread much better than a level 60 thread and hope it keeps its activity until the end of the year. Here’s why I feel that way:
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Some people strive better if they have shorter-term goals so they might not relate to the level 60 race thread at all. If people start dividing their attention between two threads, this thread (which already has some quieter periods) might lose some of its current traction.
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Newer members might feel like level 60 is way out of their league and feel more at ease joining smaller/shorter goal threads such as this one.
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Some people do not care about level 60 and have other “end-goals” (such as being able to pass a JLPT, being able to read, etc).
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Threads/Races with level 60 as a goal are much more common, it’s not something as unique as this current thread. If you feel this thread excludes some users that don’t fit the lv21 goal, what you can is try to adapt it into a “race to 2021” general thread, although I feel this is what is already happening (as in, some people have joined with a lower/higher goal than 21).
I hope that made sense!
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I say strike while the iron is hot, and you just made it hot.
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Just because I feel like you’re the type of person that could potentially manage these two threads (as someone who has kept very active in this one over several months) I feel like you should do it. As @Rainberries said, some people can more easily strive towards their goals if they are short-term and this thread has been beneficial for that reason.
Myself, I manage better with a singular focus so putting my studies into the perspective of a 2 year period was the beneficial aspect of this thread for me. Having a pace that I felt was attainable was more important. My initial speed goal was around 2 weeks a level but the friendly competition here allowed me to speed up quite a bit.
I guess what I’m saying (in my typical drawn out fashion) is that you should make the thread but plz stay active in this one too. 
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Do it 
I couldn’t resist today (I did my reviews and my lessons, apart from 38 vocab I will do tomorrow) and still on 115 apprentice Items. So not too bad. I think what everybody says on the forum still is true though, if you keep piling up apprentices and keep getting them wrong you will lose the fun you’re having now.
So as long as your numbers are fine keep at it. If they start piling up just keep doing reviews for a couple of days and then go on.
I made the mistake of doing lessons before vacation mode, which resulted in me not knowing stuff after a weeks break and piling up. This is what made me reset the first 2 times around.
trying to learn from it and now keeping a better pace.
It’s supposed to stay fun right?!
Sorry for rambling and good luck to you!!
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Level 9 is upon me…
and I actually managed to finish level 8 in 10 days (and 14 hours) - who would have thought that!
While I was initially shooting for a 12 day average I used the last level (which was one of the long ones) to really test my limits. And after doing a shit ton of vocabulary in the first half of the level I caught up to my speed and reached 0/0 for the first time since level 2 or so. After that I kept the 0/0 and all in all I did around 20 lessons per day; 5 kanji and 15 vocab.
My conclusion: Although it feels nice to constantly have 0/0 and to level up faster, I defnitely struggled more with remembering the longer lesson-sessions.
Regarding the speed: I will try to be faster than 12 days from now on and aim for 10, but I know that it won’t be possible for every level.
Regarding 0/0: While the speed thing is something individual and I accept my limitations, this one is seriously bugging me. I think the way vocabulary unlocks is suboptimal. It has been said before, but I would prefer a system where half of the radicals and kanji (second wave) are already for the next level. So 話 is a level 8 kanji, but 話す would be a level 9 vocabulary-item. Why? When I’m now starting a new level with 100 vocabulary words I would like to do 10 every day. But in reality I have to guru the kanji first and so in the beginning I’m doing none at all and after a few days I’m being hit with double the amount. That means it is absolutely impossible to reach 0/0 if you’re following a steady lesson schedule. Which makes no sense imo. The only con I see in doing it the above described way would be for very slow people who would then sometimes have a disconnect between the time they learn the kanji and the time they learn the vocabulary. But for that I would suggest to just give the user the option to choose between the two systems.
I hope this changes some day, but for now I’ll focus my attention on level 9, wich should be possible in only 10 days! Off I go!
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Not a level up update, but related, since it is something that might help others out with leveling up.
tl;dr - I recommend using Jisho to look up kanji when you have two kanji with the same meanings.
Level 7 story time…
I had issues remembering the meaning for:
自由 - Freedom
because both 由 and 理 have the same “meaning”
由 - reason
理 - reason
And in my mind, there is no context to differentiate the two kanji… So I decided for a big brain move and looked them up on Jisho:
由 - wherefore, A reason
理 - logic, arrangement, reason, …
This makes 自由 - self + a reason → a reason for oneself → Freedom
This has probably happened with other kanji in earlier levels, but I have been able to deduce the differences between the kanji with the same “meaning”…
So I am adding a new rule to my WaniKani studies… If I have two kanji with the same “meaning” I will lookup the actual meaning of that kanji using jisho or the like… Sometimes simplification is not the best answer I guess crabs scream in the distance
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That’s a pretty good advice actually.
I wasn’t able to do them all today as I had much more work than anticipated, but will definitely finish them tomorrow
@reta232 thanks for the tip, there are already many kanji / vocab with the same meaning at this level…
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Some of you wanted me to make a new thread and some of you wanted me to wait, as expected.
I did make a new race to level 60 thread now - Let's climb Tokyo Skytree - level 60 in spring 2022. I plan to be active in both of these threads the next few months. For me at least, having this thread as a short term goal and the other as a long term goal is very motivating.
Please help me keep both this thread and the other thread alive! I think both are important, each in their own way.
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I appreciate your consistent participation and encouragement on this thread 
At the very least this thread acted as a wonderful connection to all the folks who started or came back around the Covid crisis.
How about the possibility of a Level 40 thread for end of 2021?
I am happy that folks are already starting to look forward at long term goals and the eventual target of Level 60 at WK. As for me, I will most likely keep my head involved in this thread until the end of 2020. And maybe jump to the next thread in 2021.
Once again thanks for all your efforts in the thread and community @Marifly 
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Thank you for mentioning other goals. Personally I’d just like to get to level 30-40 and be able to read at a basic level. I’d work in more vocabulary and kanji from there by reading.
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I’m in! 
WKStats currently estimates that I’ll hit level 21 on 1/1/21… so I need to pick up the pace 
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Welcome! You can do it!
Honestly I wouldn’t worry too much about it; the meaning of the kanji themselves are less important than the vocabulary imo. Sometimes the meaning of the vocabulary and the meanings associated with the kanji have no direct connection (for instance, 合図 or 信号)
I think about it in terms of words giving kanji their meaning, instead of the other way around. That personally helps me a lot
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I don’t think I’m quite ready to commit to that new thread yet. The duration of the goal is… intimidating. But! I went and checked out your thread and I will probably monitor it some. I was wondering if you could have the ‘sister thread’ link in the main description/first post, similar to the Skytree first post, for easier access (and for those who want to join you there).
Thanks!
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Yes, great idea! I’ll add a link now.
Here I am with my level log once again! You can look forward to level 14, it’s much less intimidating than 12 or even 13. There’s only 6 new radicals and 30 new kanji. Good luck, beautiful people!
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Congrats on your level up! Level 14 does look easier than 12 and 13. Let’s not talk about level 17 now…
Onwards and upwards!
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