I mean, the way I see it I’m trying to test my memory of the kanji, not my typing ability. I wouldn’t want to be penalized for getting distracted and pressing the i instead of the o, especially if that could set me back for quite some time, and I actually know what is the right answer.
It seems to be that most people who stay on this for some time use scripts or apps to regulate the level of “forgiveness”, so I think the WK team is on the right track by trying to keep it accessible to absolute newcomers.
I wanted to give a bit more context to this update, because I think it touches on what some people have said!
We really intend for this shake animation to be a sort of “safety net” so it doesn’t mean we won’t keep working on ways to make WaniKani more intuitive, effective, and nice to use
For example, with the small versus large hiragana typos, we hope the shake will mostly appear for first-time users, and will help them to get the hang of typing in Japanese. If it’s doing its job, it shouldn’t appear much at all for everyone else. If we realize it doesn’t fix those typos quickly, this means it isn’t doing its job very well, and we’ll look at other solutions!
For other scenarios, we’re trying to get the balance right between not penalizing anyone for a slip-up, but also correcting mistakes. As I say, this is a work in progress and doesn’t stop here
Going too fast on ones like 親友 - I’ll type in しにゅう instead of しんゆう.
I figure if I can’t watch what I’m doing I deserve to be marked incorrect, but I’ll be very happy with a gentle reminder
I’m glad you brought up this point, because it was my initial concern too. However…
Jenny’s point is why I see this as a non-issue. Experienced users could encounter this issue, but it’s a problem that affects newer users at a much higher rate.
So, I’m not saying your concern is wrong, but I am saying that the more important issue is making sure newer users don’t get frustrated with WK so they will keep coming back. I support this change because it will have a minimal impact for most of us and a positive one for newer users.
I would also point out that if the concern that newer users aren’t learning hiragana is actually the reality, then instead of going against these changes, I would be advocating for a level 0 that includes all the hiragana so make sure the newer users do, in fact, have the knowledge.
It’s about removing barriers when we can to try to make Japanese more accessible for everyone.
Indeed. The difference is that if experienced users get it wrong, they’ll look at their answer, see what they did, and go “oh, I’m such a fool”. Meanwhile, new users are looking at their answer, looking at the expected answer, and going “uh… aren’t these the same?”
If you think it’s being too lenient on you, you’re free to follow up a shake with a deliberately wrong answer.
I think this alleviates a lot of concerns people have when first starting out on WK. ん typos are so common and frustrating to get wrong. It’s also great that you’ve included the small hiragana typos that some users don’t know how to distinguish and end up posting about why their answer doesn’t show as correct. (we’ve had a number of threads like that).
To be perfectly clear: I might disagree with this decision, but I still wholeheartedly appreciate the work that the Wanikani team puts into this service. I know you’re trying to create a better experience for learners. I just personally think it’s better for new learners to have these kinds of mistakes firmly corrected, rather than having a “safety net,” so they don’t form bad habits. I could easily see, for example, a new learner who doesn’t understand the difference always answering with a “big version” because they know the site will correct them if they’re wrong.
Oh I’m obviously not worried about experienced learners. New learners should be the only ones getting confused by these points, and they’re the ones I’d be concerned about. A “level 0” or similar could be a great idea, and like I mentioned, I totally support a pop-up explaining the difference to make it more accessible, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of firmly correcting the mistake. It’s in new learners’ best interests to have easy-to-make-mistakes corrected.
I’d be having the same response if they tried to make it so it shakes when a user puts すい for the 水 vocabulary word — that’s also something a lot of new learners get confused by, but being lenient sends the wrong message.
Yeah, and it’s called Steady Cam cause it stops the shaking.
I think most of these changes are innocuous enough except for じゆ vs. じゅ. I do see that as wrong and should be marked as such, but I understand WK’s desire to put training wheels on new users.
Oh yah that’s exactly what I mean, I guess I misread the announcement but if that could be added it would be wonderful. (I’ve been trying to be more careful but its a very common mistake of mine sadly).
The update is now live, so you should see these shakes and messages come up in your lesson quizzes and reviews in the scenarios mentioned in the original post. As a quick reminder, they are: