I have been learning Japanese for about 3 years and my spoken is about N4/N3 level so I thought it was about time to learn to read.
Is it possible to turn off mnemonics and have more example phrases? I can’t find anything in settings and mnemonics never really worked for me. Associating kanji with English words and meanings rather than Japanese example words is really throwing me for a loop. Especially with kanji that rarely use the on’yomi.
it seems you are looking for bunpro which is centered around example phrases, I think WK and bunpro are complementary you may want to try to use both.
Keep in mind that you can add customs keywords and mnemonics/stories in WK.
Bypassing entirely mnemonics sounds like shooting yourself in the foot to be honest, I would rather suggest building your own.
I personally barely use the WK ones which are most often confusing and unmemorable IMO.
Wanikani isn’t really designed to teach you reading through reading, it’s more of a tool to help you build up kanji and vocabulary knowledge so that actual reading becomes easier later. I like the mnemonics and think they are pretty helpful when you’re learning for the first time, but whether you use them or not, Wanikani isn’t really a “reading” platform. From what I’ve heard, Wanikani is just there to give you the building blocks to make actual reading easier. That’s why they teach English meanings and such.
If your goal is reading practice, you’d probably want to supplement WaniKani with graded readers, manga, books, Satori Reader, etc. WaniKani helps make those things less painful. Bunpro has more example sentences but its still not a “reading practice” platform either. I like bunpro though and I use it and Genki for grammar.
You can’t. Just ignore if you don’t need mnemonics yet. Use when you need one.
Compose your own mnemonics if you need a Japanese-based one.
Rather than having more, you might look into reading those example phrases more properly.
Using Userscripts, something like Hide Context Sentence Translation or Context Sentence in Review. (imo, the first one is already good enough that WK should implement it. Don’t say something like people don’t read context sentences.)
There is another script for more context sentences, though imo, it’s more important that you really parse those sentences – [Userscript] Media Context Sentences (formerly Anime Context Sentences 2)
A long while ago, I also made Monolingual Definitions script, which also gives more context sentences.
Maybe also look into Double Check or Anki Mode for meaning quiz, if you want to de-emphasize thinking of words as English equivalents.
Though for N4/N3 level, it might be better to just start reading – Resources for Starting to Read Japanese Content. Get into the pace, look up as much as needed, and your reading would become at least N4/N3 level too.
tbh, it’s hard to judge the usefulness or not of WK at Level 1, barely started, though I don’t mind personally if you end up not using WK.
They just don’t work for me. I am a visual thinker not a verbal thinker so the sound association of mnemonics doesn’t work for me, I don’t hear the mnemonic in my head, I see the associated things.
My ideal would probably be those picture cards (Guy leaning on a tree is having a “rest”) style. I have only seen them in paper form for kids games though.
I have started using Bunpro as well. It is a bit better for context but often mixes in other kanji I don’t know.
The kakehashi app provides additional media context sentences including sound clips:
I stopped paying attention to the WK mnemonics pretty early in, just scroll past them or make up your own as others have advised.
I am a bit confused here because mnemonics are precisely doing what you are describing here, using visual images in your head to facilitate the learning process.
Maybe the pronunciation mnemonics specifically put you off but regular meaning mnemonics are just about associating a visual or a story. If your mnemonic is well done it should ideally give an emotional connection too which helps a lot.
If you don’t want a story, build an image, that’s really up to you.
I think you may want to push the concept a little more before dismissing it entirely,
more specifically make the effort to build custom ones that would be visual images that connect to you, not necessarily stick to what WK gives you if you don’t resonate with it.
