My wife is a native Japanese speaker. I was just explaining some things about how WankiKani works to her and happened to mention that the radical 才 is called “Genius” in this tool.
We wound up having an argument for 15 minutes in which I tried to explain to her the distinction between “radical name” and “kanji meaning.” She was very unhappy with some of the names that were assigned to radicals here and felt that we should be learning their actual, Japanese names. I explained that this system is designed around mnemonics to learn quickly, but she got so frustrated…Eventually just saying that at the very least, “才” should be called “talent,” not “genius.” She kept insisting that she wanted to “talk to the guy” who made WaniKani, which made me chuckle a bit (on the inside).
Anyway, just wanted to share. This is her opinion, not mine. Although, I have to admit that I’m now curious where these radical names came from, and whether or not it’s helpful to call them something that doesn’t match up with the Japanese idea behind them.