Jisho and many other resources say “nice” is correct, but WK prefers lovely/dreamy/beautiful. Is “lovely” truly a better translation, or should I add/request nice as a synonym?
The non-existence of a particular gloss here on WaniKani isn’t necessarily a statement on the part of the staff that said gloss is wrong. They just don’t have every gloss listed.
Personally, nice is a bit blander than 素敵 to my own ears, but whatever suits you.
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When I hear 素敵 being used it always seems a bit better than merely ‘nice’ but I think nice is a fair translation even if it doesn’t get the nuance of the word.
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I always think of 素敵 as “lovely”. I feel like it matches the meaning and nuance much better than “nice”.
One aspect is also who would say the word. As a guy, I don’t think I would use the word “lovely”, other than in a sarcastic tone such as when something bad happens at work (I’d also say “great”, “perfect”, etc. in similarly sarcastic tones). I can’t think of a situation where I’d use the word “lovely” in a serious tone. I think there is a similar “feminineness” to the word 素敵, but I could be wrong.
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The phrase あら素敵 stereotypically comes to mind.
That’s an interesting thought - I think 素敵 can be used for both females and males, but I’ve never thought about whether the people who use it are more likely to be female themselves. Guess I’ll be paying attention to that now. 
Conversely, I’ve always seen lovely as kind of having a feminine connotation to is, as in you’d more likely use it about females (and animals and things) than males.
Is this somewhat correct, the part about the English word usage? You’ve got me questioning my assumptions here.
Edit: So many typos D:
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Hmm… Personally I think it’s more common to describe situations as lovely? Lovely weather. A lovely relationship. That kind of thing. I think it’s more common to describe animals at least as “cute” rather than “lovely”. Maybe it depends on the person or region?
Huh, I see. I’m sure I’ve seen ‘She’s a lovely dog/cat’ (or something like that) in the comments section on facebook at least.
But I’ll adjust my mental concept more towards ‘personal/regional thing’ then. Thanks!
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It could also just be me haha. 
I hear a lot of 素敵な (insert some item of clothing or accessory) too.
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Said by men, women, or both?
What does あら素敵 mean? I couldn’t find it in any dictionary I know.
It’s just something like 'ah, lovely". あら is a feminine interjection meaning something like ‘ah’ or ‘oh’.
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Definitely by women to women.
I just asked my husband. He says he never uses it, it’s a word women use. He’d say, ええね
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Thanks for the explanations, I think I understand it better now. While I can see many translations to “nice” (examples: すてきの英訳｜英辞郎 on the WEB), if I put it together with these responses and with what I can understand from https://kotobank.jp/word/素敵・素的-303062, it does sound like it’s a stronger word than most uses of “nice”.
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