Adding user synonyms

Is there a reason not to use synonyms for vocabulary that has an identical meaning, but isn’t one of the accepted translations?

Examples(Using recent stuff, because I just finished a round of reviews. I might have another 5 or 10 in the master and enlightened categories from earlier levels):
社長 - company president/manager/director/president of a company
I added CEO, since it’s the same role in some cases, but then with each time I see the word, I try to use one of the other meanings.

一斤 - 1 loaf of bread/bread loaf
I added “a loaf”, since the word typically describes loaves of bread anyway, and “a loaf” is equivalent to “1 loaf of bread”(but mostly because I’m too lazy to type that on mobile)

In other cases, I added a synonym because the slang makes it easier to remember:
全力 - full effort/every effort/full power/best effort
I added “full throttle”, because when I decide to do something with all my power, I go full throttle.

首になる -to be fired/to get fired
I added “to get axed”, because when someone is fired, they get axed(also, it works since the head is cut off using an axe, so it works with the mnemonic too).
I try to use “to get fired”, but I just want to be sure that if I put to get axed instead because I just woke up, it won’t reject the answer

大会 - convention/tournament/meetup/event
I put “con” and “tourney”.
Con is just modern day shortening of “convention”, and tourney is old english for tournament.

I do this for some words, too! As long as your synonyms work for you and you still understand what the word is for, I see no problem with saying ‘con’ instead of convention, or using a phrase like “getting axed.” I can’t recall any off the top of my head right now, but I have some silly short cuts for some words as well, just because I am dyslexic and some words are difficult for me to spell without triggering a ‘wrong’ answer.

Now, if you’re asking why ‘con’ isn’t already on the vocabulary list, or slang terms in general, I think has to do with the fact that a lot of WK users’ first languages aren’t English, but something else, and having ‘con’ as a synonym off the bat might confuse some users because ‘con’ can also mean “the negative points of something.”

As long as it helps your studying, I would encourage using the synonym feature the way you see fit!

1 Like

English is actually my 3rd language.

Sometimes if I don’t know the perfect word but just a description, I put that one in the user synonyms as well. It’s a bit strange to force myself to know the English translation of a Japanese word, while I should actually link a concept or idea or object to the Japanese word.

For example, (of course not a real example), if I were to know what a train was but not what the word for a train was, then I am right, but the SRS won’t know that. So adding like “car but on rails” would solve that problem.

Also of course synonyms in my own language if English words are too difficult or don’t have the Japanese nuance built in.

2 Likes

In some cases, adding a synonym is perfectly okay. For example, one of the words you will eventually get is 水彩画, or すいさいが, meaning “watercolor painting.” However, I added in a synonym of “watercolor” since in art class, we often talked about how this is a “watercolor [painting].” I feel that no one can possibly confuse that with something like “the color of water.”

In other cases, you really have to exercise caution, adding in a synonym that you aren’t sure is exactly right isn’t a good idea – especially those 自動詞/他動詞 (jidoshi tadoushi) pairs. For example, 開ける and 開く, are two words with different meanings and different usages, and until you are sure you know the difference between the two, I wouldn’t add in user synonyms.

2 Likes

Most of these examples seem okay to me, however 社長 is company president, not CEO. Often times these are the same individuals, but often times they are not. According to Jisho.org, the term for CEO is 最高経営責任者. And the full title for one who is a CEO and president is 社長兼最高経営責任者. I’d probably remove that one, and keep the others if you’re okay with typing in slang to save some strokes.

1 Like

I would just be careful, I guess. You said you added “con” for 大会, but you’re not imagining something like Comic Con, right? That would be called a コンベンション in Japanese, not a 大会, even though both words fit the basic definition of “a large gathering of people.” For whatever reason, Japanese people are less likely to call something like Comic Con a 大会.

1 Like

Sorry for the question, but does adding your own synonym enable that word to be accepted as an answer in the quiz?
Many times I’ve gotten it wrong just because the word I used was not the exact match of the words they had but the meaning was exactly the same.

2 Likes

Yes, that is exactly the way the user synonyms work!

2 Likes

I did mention that to be the case in some cases.
Also, as I said, I mostly put these synonyms as a safety net so that I won’t get a reject if my answer is technically correct but not quite, and usually try to use the proper translation.

However, if there’s a slang term that fits perfectly, I’ll use that instead.

Upon first seeing that vocab, that’s what I was thinking.

Then I thought that there’s other types of conventions.
Shareholder meetings, political party meetups, etc.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.