just added you to my leaderboard! 
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hi @Meeks33! Welcome! Also adding you to my board 
And thanks @Giannisan for the advice - balancing speed with actually retaining the information is certainly something to be aware of! You’re right though also that different speeds work for different people and so long as theres no pressure for people to go faster than they are comfortable with (which I dont think there is in this group, just some good hearted cheering on regardless of pace ) then all is well Good luck and congrats on those 100 burns!
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I think that it takes like 4 months to start burning itens. To be lv10 w/o burned itens does not necessarily means that people are getting the reviews wrong or something like that.
6 months I think! From the timeline heat map thingumy script I can see my first burns coming up in mid April (a lovely birthday present, lol) and that’s without failing stages.
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You are very right. I just thought I’d say it at least once as I found myself at the start of my WK journey going too fast and wanting to power through as much as possible and it didn’t work out for me. I wasn’t really remembering things well. First and foremost people should do what works for them, and I will never tell people what that should be as it is different for all of us, I just thought I’d share from my own experience. For some people maybe it will be helpful, for others maybe not. I’m just hyped that we can all share this experience together. I hope in the future Wanikani considers adding features like leader boards into the base experience.
What kind of goals does everyone have for Wanikani in 2021?
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I hope to stay at 90% accuracy or more, perhaps lv 40+ by the end of the year. And hopefully be able to read mangas w/o too much trouble.
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I totally agree that accuracy trumps speed! I’m justifying my quicker pace though because I’m also using KameSame for Master+, so I am getting more exposure to my WaniKani items. If for some reason my reviews dip consistently below 90%, I would definitely slow down.
My Japanese goals for this coming year are to start having conversations with native speakers on HelloTalk and to comprehend 40%-50% of the anime and TV shows I watch! Short term goals are to use and study Japanese every single day, even if that only includes WaniKani and my other SRS flashcards. My italki Japanese teacher keeps me honest!! lol
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It’s always a thing of balance, no? If you get all reviews right but spend dozens of hours while progressing at a snails pace, it’s hardly worth it. If you get so many reviews wrong that you’re drowning in leeches you’re not learning anything either.
From my experience, most language learners struggle with letting go of perfection and thus taking way too long to get to immersion.
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Any chance you could tell me a bit more about your experience with italki? How did you start out/find a teacher etc? I feel like I want to start taking some lessons so that I can actually practice speaking but I’m terrified 
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Sure! I agree with that too, but if one were forced to choose I think a slower pace with high accuracy would be preferable to the fastest pace with many leeches, because I think the gamified aspect of WaniKani would become detrimental to retention and learning. In my case, the game like features of WaniKani is keeping me hooked in a good way. But like you said, it’s about maintaining a positive balance that is tailored to your learning style.
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Sure! It’s really worth it if you have the time. My Japanese teacher has completely focused my studies and I look forward to my lesson every single week. For some reason, I get really nervous before every lesson but as soon as we dive in I have the most fun I will have all week. I agree with you, it can be nerve-racking, but there is nothing better than having a conversation with someone, albeit short and riddled with mistakes, in a foreign language.
When I was looking for a teacher, I wrote down some of my goals for language learning and I set out to find the teacher that would fit those goals. I wanted to use a textbook, I wanted an agreeable person, and I wanted a certified professional teacher. iTalki divides their employees into “community tutors” and “professional teachers.” The former only needs to be a native speaker of the target language. Then I filtered my search based on my requirements and started watching introduction videos and reading bios. I was very interested in hearing and seeing their English ability as well, because I wanted someone who had a solid grasp of both Japanese and English grammar. I was not interested in total immersion. I just have way too many questions to ask lol.
Even though I found my teacher right away, you get three trial lessons at reduced prices so you can essentially shop around if you don’t click with your teacher.
I think iTalki is great because you’re going to learn from a teacher who is going to give you context and real world examples. Since you have taken the initiative
to learn Kanji and vocabulary on your own, you will spend much more time on actual content, speaking, and grammar. When my teacher teaches vocabulary, she says, here “learn this by next week, there will be a quiz,” which is really all she can do, learning it is up to the student, so all of us here on WaniKani are already ahead of the game.
I hope this helps! I can’t recommend it enough. It took me a few weeks to take the plunge because I felt terrified like you (and occasionally still do), but it’s so worth it!
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Nice question! I think mine are that I would like to progress with my reading so that I can feel more like I’m reading and less like deciphering! If I can read a manga and feel like that then that’s a big victory! I’d also like to maybe feel able to watch simple anime with Japanese subs, and to build up the confidence to actually study with an iTalki teacher. I’m starting in a local Japanese class in the next few weeks so I’m hoping that with that I can get used to talking to other people in japanese (rather than just myself and my cat haha!) and then maybe feel brave enough to talk to a native speaker! As long as I keep progressing (even slowly) I’m happy How about you @Giannisan, do you have any goals for 2021?
Good luck with reaching your goals @trombonekun91 & @Edzin! You can do it
And @Ajivila, I’m in exactly the same boat with iTalki - I know I should use it but it’s really scary and there’s so much choice haha! Thanks for the tips and for sharing your experience @trombonekun91
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Thanks @sycamore! I am sure you will achieve those goals.
And you are welcome! I am excited to hear how your Japanese class goes! Also, it’s totally okay and useful to talk to your cat in Japanese…it’s just if your cat answers back that you might want to worry. 
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Haha, thanks! Just one more iTalki question haha - I’m curious, did you prepare in any way for the first session you did with your teacher? I’ve seen a few people say that you should be ready to introduce/say a bit about yourself etc. I think the introduction and getting started are the things that worry me the most to be honest because it’s meeting a new person and talking in a language you’re not great at all at once!
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@sycamore Similar to you I would really like to be able to read. I love reading books in english so being able to read manga or novels in general in japanese is the first big goal I’m shooting for.
I also would like to get good at speaking japanese, but I haven’t started learning much of this yet. It is perhaps the most important thing for me to learn because I’m actually moving to japan in march lol. Once I’m there I have a feeling my speaking skills will get better naturally, but at some point I would like to go to regular Japanese lessons there.
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To watch animes with japanese sub would be so cool. But i dont think ill be able to read that fast in just a year…
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No problem! Nope, I didn’t prepare anything to say. You have the option of sending the teacher a message after you book a lesson. I gave her an overview of where I was at in my studies. I told her that I could read kana and I was studying Kanji with WaniKani (she was familiar with it actually), but other than that, I didn’t prepare anything to say. We actually spent the first lesson working on her own pre-made beginner worksheet which covered greetings, phrases, numbers, time, XはYです etc. I had been exposed to a lot of it, but I loved going over it again with guidance. I even watched an intro video when I was researching that included an example of an absolute beginner student being taught hiragana.
I would say we still spend the majority of our lessons in English, but I do expect that will start to change as we progress and I improve, but that’s a natural progression anyway.
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I am level 8 but would love to join in on the challenge!~
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Yeah I doubt I will be either, I more mean getting to the level where I can understand enough of an anime to get the general idea (accepting that it won’t be everything) - with the Japanese subs there to pause and try to read if just not getting something (rather than having the English subs which I just read out of habit). Will see how it goes!
And thanks @trombonekun91 - that sounds much less scary than I imagined!
welcome @alylei31! There’s quite a range of folks at different levels and you’re more than welcome to join in
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I did take italki lessons with two different teachers and neither expected me to have some greeting prepared 
Throwing in my not so much asked for opinion on italki lessons, i feel like you should give them a try, even if you’re scared. Maybe especially because you’re scared. Worst thing that happens is you wasted an hour and some lunch money.
Personally I stopped taking Japanese lessons though. I’m not good enough, in terms of grammar and vocab, to have an hour of meaningful conversation and I’m not too big a fan of grammar lessons. That’s just me though. I’m more of a self-study kind of guy with everything.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with letting your speaking fall behind as long as you get enough immersion/practice through things like shadowing.
Last time I started WaniKani I dropped out around level 10, so I’m mostly just hoping to keep going this time… 
For Japanese in general I’m really excited about learning more grammar. I wanna get started on J ⟷ J studies and finish that N4 material already 
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