Content suggestions and issues thread

[TofuguNico]

@joeanderson

Is there a difference between “beer can” and “canned beer” in English? I can’t find a dictionary definition for “canned beer,” but it sounds like it refers to the beer itself (uncountable); if you poured it into a glass, it would still be canned beer, but no longer in a beer can.

From what I can tell, 缶ビール seems to refer to either meaning. Since WaniKani doesn’t teach ビールの缶, is there a reason not to accept both of them?

I’ll need to ask and get back to you on that one.

Update: So as you said, “canned beer” refers to the beer whereas “beer can” refers to the can which makes them distinct enough to not accept one answer for the other. On the page that you mention, whilst ビール缶 is used for a beer can (as well as ビールの缶), 缶ビール only refers to canned beer.

@polv

What is “to pike up”, though?

Oh that’s just a mistake that slipped through the cracks, I’ll remove it now. Thanks for the catch!

[TofuguNico]

Some more changes we made recently, thanks again for all the suggestions:

経済学 (23) - Added “economic science” to the allow list and added “economy” to the warning list.
出張 (23) - Added “work trip” to the allow list.
現役 (25) - Added “currently working” to the allow list.
有益 (26) - Added “profitable,” “helpful,” “instructive,” and “advantageous” to the allow list.
絶望 (25) - Added “desperation” to the allow list.
葬式 (37) - Added “burial" to the warning list.
株式会社 (26) - Added “stock company” and “joint-stock company” to the allow list.
小遣い (39) - Added “pocket money” to the allow list.

もう (12) - Added “another” and “again” to the warning list. (Note: もう一回 or もう一度 means “again” but もう itself doesn’t mean “again”)

陣 (37) - Added “camp” and “army camp” to the allow list.
博 (27) - Added “gamble” to the allow list, and added “exhibit” to the warning list.
囚 (39) - Added “convict,” “prisoner,” and “inmate” to the allow list.

[HotAirGun]

Thank you!

@TofuguNico

陣 (37) - Added “camp” and “army camp” to the allow list.

Oh, actually I meant vocab 陣, not the kanji. The vocab deserves a warning for “camp”, because it particularly refers to army camps, not any generic camps. For the kanji this meaning works fine though.

@TofuguNico

葬式 (37) - Added “burial" to the warning list.

Just answered “burial” and it didn’t trigger the warning, it just marked the answer as incorrect.

Also please note those suggestions: 1, 2. (Just making sure you didn’t miss them!)

Some more:

• 普及 – warning for “dispersion”
• kanji 拠 – foothold
• kanji 懸 – hang (I already asked for this, is there any reason to not add it?)
• 嬉々 – merry
• 傾向 – warning for “attitude”
• 患う – warning for “to suffer”
• 掛ける – to suspend
• kanji 型 – warning for “form”
• vocab 型 – form
• 目的 – target
• 極める – to be extremely
• kanji 揃 – warning for “arrange”
• kanji 杯 – cup (or at least add a warning)
• kanji 包 – “home” in the Reading Mnemonic doesn’t have black reading highlight
• kanji 鉱 – ore
• kanji 至 – reach
• 御覧になる – warning for “to have a look”
• 片〜 – warning “Oops, we want the vocabulary meaning, not the kanji meaning.” doesn’t trigger for “one-sided”
• kanji 抑 – oppress, oppression (or add a warning if it’s too far from “suppress”)
• kanji 営 – run a business
• kanji 質 – matter
• 幼稚 – infantile
• kanji 乾 – warning for “dry up”
• 満員 – full of people
• 廃棄 – abandonment

Also a suggestion for verbs that consists of a single kanji and okurigana. If user gives an answer like “to %kanji/radical_name%” and this answer is incorrect, then yield a warning “Oops, we want the verb meaning, not the kanji/radical meaning.”

[TofuguNico]

Thanks!

I’ll forward the suggestions and check on all your questions.

@HotAirGun

kanji 懸 – hang (I already asked for this, is there any reason to not add it?)

It got overlooked last time so just adding it to the list now.

@HotAirGun

Also a suggestion for verbs that consists of a single kanji and okurigana. If user gives an answer like “to %kanji/radical_name%” and this answer is incorrect, then yield a warning “Oops, we want the verb meaning, not the kanji/radical meaning.”

I’m sorry I don’t fully understand, would you mind rephrasing or using an example to illustrate what you mean.

[HotAirGun]

@TofuguNico

I’m sorry I don’t fully understand, would you mind rephrasing or using an example to illustrate what you mean.

For example, 譲る consists of a kanji 譲 (defer), so “to defer” would trigger “Oops, we want the verb meaning, not the kanji meaning.”

And some more suggestions:

• kanji 稚 – childish
• vocab 嘘吐き Meaning Explanation – no pink kanji highlight for “puke”
• 奇数 – warning for “odd”
• 素直 – candid
• kanji 至 – arrive

[TofuguNico]

@HotAirGun

For example, 譲る consists of a kanji 譲 (defer), so “to defer” would trigger “Oops, we want the verb meaning, not the kanji meaning.”

Thanks for the example, I see what you mean now. We might not be able to look into this right away but we have a list of ideas we are looking into for more “grayshake” warnings so I’ll add it to the pile.

[HotAirGun]

こちらこそありがとうございます。
Some more suggestions:

• kanji 視 – warning for “look”
• 偽る – to falsify
• 掛かる – warning for “to take”
• kanji 袋 – bag
• 炒飯 and 拉麺 – it yields “Did you know this item has multiple possible readings?”, but there’s only one reading displayed

[TofuguNico]

@HotAirGun

Just answered “burial” and it didn’t trigger the warning, it just marked the answer as incorrect.

This should be fixed now.

I’ve forwarded over your last two batches of suggestions too.

@HotAirGun

炒飯 and 拉麺 – it yields “Did you know this item has multiple possible readings?”, but there’s only one reading displayed

I’m not getting a prompt for 炒飯 and there are two visible meanings for 拉麺.

[HotAirGun]

Thank you!

@TofuguNico

meanings

I wrote about readings

[ctmf]

Just read the initial post so sorry if I’m duplicating:

As an initial step before trying to figure out what people’s common wrong answers are, I would just collect stats on which items are missed the most (as a fraction of attempts). Then you could triage your attention to the “hardest” ones - the problem might not be a synonym issue at all, it could be any number of things. Maybe the mnemonic is just not sticking with people. Perhaps analyzing the outliers for “why” would be a bigger bang for the buck than doing all that work collecting answers for every item.

Also it would be interesting as a user to see in the descriptions sometimes “this one is frequently missed, so beware!” warnings. Or even a ranked list of empirically “easiest” to “hardest” measured by how many people fail reviews on them.

[TofuguNico]

@HotAirGun

I wrote about readings

Oh of course! We’ll look into that now.

In the meantime we’ve made the following changes:

営 (22) - Added “run a business" to the allow list.
拠 (41) - Added “foundation” and “foothold” to the allow list.
懸 (41) - Added “hang" to the allow list.
鉱 (41) - Added “ore" to the allow list.
訴 (25) - Added “accuse” and “accusation” to the allow list.
至 (41) - Added “reach" to the allow list.
質 (24) - Added “matter" to the warning list.
抑 (38) - Added “oppress" and “oppression” to the allow list.
揃 (22) - Added “arrange" to the allow list.

型 (24) - Added “form" to the allow list.
乾 (29) - Added “dry up" to the allow list.
杯 (29) - Added “cup" to the allow list.
包 (41) - Updated the reading mnemonic.

衣 (24) - Added “clothing" to the warning list.

嬉々 (40) - Added “merry," “joyful,” and “happy” to the allow list.
着替え (27) - Added “change clothing” to the allow list and added “change” to the warning list.
独身 (26) - Added “alone” to the warning list.
言葉遣い (36) - Added “speech” to the warning list.

倒れる (22) - Added “to be overthrown” to the allow list.
掛ける (25) - Added “to suspend” and “to suspend something” to the allow list.
幼稚 (27) - Added “infantile” to the allow list.
目的 (16) - Added “target” to the warning list. (target is usually 目標)
満員 (25) - Added “jam-packed” as the alternative meaning, moved “sold out” to the allow list, added “packed” and “full of people” to the allow list, and updated the translation of a context sentence.
廃棄 (41) - Added “abandonment" to the warning list.
極める (27) - Added “to be extremely” to the allow list.
型 (24) - Added “form" to the allow list.

普及 (36) - Added “dispersion” to the warning list.
販売 (24) - Added “sell” to the allow list.
御覧になる (39) - Added “to have a look” to the allow list.

片〜 (39) - Added “one-sided” to the warning list.

偽 (41) - Added “counterfeit" to the allow list and updated the translation of a context sentence.

@HotAirGun

Oh, actually I meant vocab 陣, not the kanji.

This was added.

@HotAirGun

傾向 – warning for “attitude”

Our team was curious about your reasoning on this one.

@ctmf

Just read the initial post so sorry if I’m duplicating:

Thanks for the feedback! I’ll share it with the team.

[Humin]

Hidden readings is definitely a new one.

[HotAirGun]

Thank you guys for your hard work!

@TofuguNico

Our team was curious about your reasoning on this one.

Never mind, just a brain fart

Some more suggestions:

• 吹き込む – “to inhale” to the block list
• kanji 柄 – character
• 一番目 – “number one” to the warning list
• 微妙 – iffy
• 転がす – “to fall” to the block list
• 貿易 – trading
• 駆け出す – to run off
• 繰り返す – to do again and again
• 詰める – to pack
• 絶景 – astonishing view
• 根拠 – foundation
• kanji 魅 – lure
• 仮称 – working title
• kanji 込 – eeeeh, that’s nice you’ve changed the meaning, but how would I know what’s the correct meaning now? Why don’t just keep “crowded” acceptable or at least add a link to the kanji page in the warning text? (And I believe “packed” could be acceptable too.)
• 高等 – warning for “high”
• kanji 精 – semen
• 航空 – warning for “aircraft”
• kanji 揚 – warning for “fry”
• 込める – to charge
• 素麺 – ソーメン should be acceptable too, as per any other noodle vocab on Wanikani
• 交互 – mutual
• 故障 – breakdown
• 吹き出す – to blow
• 段階 – stairs

[TofuguNico]

@HotAirGun

Never mind, just a brain fart

Ah no worries, it happens

I’ve sent over your latest suggestions to the team and here are some changes we recently made too:

稚 (28) - Added “childish” and “infantile” to the allow list.
袋 (42) - Added “bag” and “pouch” to the allow list.
至 (41) - Added “reach" and “arrive” to the allow list.
視 (24) - Added “look" to the allow list.
素直 (25) - Added “candid" to the allow list.
偽る (41) - Added “to falsify" to the allow list.

奇数 (29) - Added “odd” to the warning list.

@HotAirGun

vocab 嘘吐き Meaning Explanation – no pink kanji highlight for “puke”

“to puke” is referring to the vocabulary 吐く, we didn’t highlight it in order to distinguish it from the subject meaning.

@HotAirGun

掛かる – warning for “to take”

Our team also wanted to know what the reasoning was with this one

[HotAirGun]

Thank you!

@TofuguNico

Our team also wanted to know what the reasoning was with this one

Because it’s a valid answer for 掛かる (like 時間がかかる – to take time), but indeed an ambiguous one. Now WaniKani just marks this answer as an incorrect.

Some more suggestions:

• 死刑囚 – warning for “condemned” and probably for “convicted”
• 着替え – clothes changing
• 豚骨ラーメン – “tonkatsu ramen” to the block list
• kanji 延 – stretch
• kanji 匂 – smell
• kanji 盗 – rob
• 妨げる – “to protect” to the block list
• 痛む – “to be damaged” to the warning list
• 起床 – waking (up)
• 堅い – strong
• 鋭敏 – cleverness
• 受託 – be entrusted
• 敷金 – warning for “deposit”
• kanji 樹 – tree
• 排出 – ejection
• 漏水 – warning for “leakage”
• 田んぼ – warning for “field”
• 機敏 – quick-witted
• 生き甲斐 – worth living
• 総理府 – PMO
• 総括 – summary
• kanji 豪 – gorgeous

[Humin]

If “Gloomy” is actually a valid synonym for 鬱気, then 鬱気 needs to be noted as being an adjective of some kind on its item page.

[Humin]

On the other side, “Gloomy Mood” is a nominal phrase written as a synonym for the い adjective 鬱陶しい, which is almost certain wrong.

[TofuguNico]

@Humin

If “Gloomy” is actually a valid synonym for 鬱気, then 鬱気 needs to be noted as being an adjective of some kind on its item page.

@Humin

On the other side, “Gloomy Mood” is a nominal phrase written as a synonym for the い adjective 鬱陶しい, which is almost certain wrong.

Thanks for the feedback, I’ll share this with our content team.

@HotAirGun

Some more suggestions:

Thanks for these, as always! I’ll pass them on.

Some changes we have made:

素麺 (42) - Added ソーメン to the allow list.
微妙 (28) - Added “iffy” to the allow list, and moved “complicated” to the allow list.
貿易 (36) - Added “trading” to the allow list.
駆け出す (42) - Added “to run off” to the allow list.
繰り返す (40) - Added “to do again and again” to the allow list.
詰める (29) - Added “to pack” to the allow list.
絶景 (26) - Added “astonishing view” to the allow list.
根拠 (41) - Added “foundation,” “ground,” and “reason” to the allow list.
仮称 (36) - Added “working title” and “tentative title” to the allow list.
込める (36) - Added “to charge” to the allow list.
故障 (26) - Moved “breakdown" to the allow list.

一番目 (10) - Added “number one” to the warning list.
高等 (18) - Added “high” to the warning list.
航空 (29) - Added “aircraft” to the warning list.
吹き出す (42) - Added ”to blow" to the warning list.
段階 (26) - Added “stairs” to the warning list.

吹き込む (42) - Added ”to inhale" to the block list.
転がす (11) - Added “to fall” to the block list.

交互 (35) - We did not add “mutual” and we believe this is an error on Jisho’s side, we’ve reported it to them.

[HotAirGun]

Thank you guys for your hard work!
Some more suggestions:

• kanji 繁 – luxuriant
• 教わる – warning “Oops, we want the verb meaning, not the kanji meaning.” for “to teach” (now it’s wrongly accepted)
• kanji 巻 – add まき to kun’yomi list
• 戒告 – warning
• 鉱業 – mining
• 明らか – bright
• radical 耒 – plough
• 凄絶 – absolutely gruesome
• 拳骨 – warning for “fist”
• 侵害 – invasion
• 傾ける – “to be inclined” to the block list
• 求職 – seeking a job, seeking employment
• 偽る – to tell a lie
• 募る – to recruit

[TofuguNico]

Thanks, I’ll pass these on.