Hiya.
I just want to vent something. 
The biggest reason I get things wrong is not that I forget the meaning of a kanji, it’s that I forget the specific thing WaniKani wants me to put. E.g.: I put ‘verb’ instead of ‘to verb’, or ‘synonymous meaning’ instead of ‘WaniKani-accepted meaning’ (which is a problem when you don’t see a word in WaniKani for a month or so, but use it regularly), or on’yomi instead of kun’yomi (for a kanji that clearly has a common on’yomi, e.g. 色, but WaniKani teaches kun’yomi only).
It’s reeeaaally frustrating to see all these cards dropping back to apprentice when I know I know them.
Grrrrrrrrr.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Okay, back to the review stack.
8 Likes
Heya,
I think this might be helpful to you 
6 Likes
The kanji item 色 will accept いろ, and it will ask you to try again if you input しょく or しき.
色 would likely only have the reading しょく when it’s in a compound with other kanji. しき can be a standalone reading, but it’s not common.
It’s going to happen, that WaniKani won’t have every possible wording listed, so the user synonym tool is going to be your best bet. It doesn’t stop it from being frustrating, but it fixes it going forward.
12 Likes
Whoah! That’s some dangerous stuff! Power corrupts…
However, thanks! … I guess it’d resolve my issues indeed.
3 Likes
@色… yeah, when it’s in the vocab section of course. But in the kanji section WK usually wants the on’yomi even for kanji that usually are on’yomi only in combination with others. But then, randomly, there are kanji where they teach you only the kun’yomi, at least where I am now, e.g. for 色, 声, 林, 見 and so on.
@user synonym: Huh, so it does accept user-defined answers? I haven’t tried. Great hint, thanks!
Yes, definitely should have put a disclaimer on there. It is only to be used if you know the temptation will not be too strong to handle. 
3 Likes
Well, you won’t get a chance to try again if it’s in the vocab, only kanji. If you answer しょく or しき for the vocab, it’ll just be a wrong answer.
I really couldn’t tell you why they went with kunyomi for the small minority, but you will learn the onyomi later. It’ll just be in the vocab items.
4 Likes
Thanks! Thanks for listening, sharing your thoughts, and even pointing out solutions! It’s actually quote uplifting to know that I’m not doing this alone.
1 Like
It’s also important to always be aware what is being asked in the quiz. Inputting the reading when the meaning is asked, and viceversa, for example, is a thing to watch out for. Also, if the background is pink, it’s a kanji quiz. Those are more lenient with readings, like Leebo mentioned. But if it’s a purple background, it’s a vocabulary quiz. And those usually have only one accepted answer, so keep that in mind. Good luck in your studies!
1 Like
Having to put “to …” when it’s a verb is just not going to go away. You’ll get used to that. I hear you on the synonym thing, though. After a long break it’s frustrating to me right now that I’m wrong with “malicious intent” and the correct answer is something like “evil intent, malicous”. But they can’t put every possible right answer, it would take a human deciding “same thing”.
I actually wish we had to select for verbs whether it was the transitive or intransitive, because I find I don’t pay attention to that the first time enough. That’s something I can do myself, though.
3 Likes
I have the same issue and it can be really discouraging to get a failure when you put the right answer but misread the directions.
I actually don’t think that it’s such a bad idea for WK to add a simple algorithm to ignore "to " in front of verbs (that is, the answer should be accepted with or without "to ").
2 Likes
Personally I’d pass that review (with Double Check’s help). I don’t ask myself “have I remembered the word WK wants me to remember”. I ask “have I understood the idea the Japanese word expresses”. There’s plenty of stuff I’m genuinely not retaining at a conceptual level. (Curse you, 屈!) I’d rather put energy into that instead of being blocked because of a typo or not recalling the exact same word that WK wants me to recall when it’s clear I know what the word means. (Curse you also, 工作!)
I mean, the goal here is associating a particular idea, sound, part of speech and other stuff with a chunk of Japanese writing. Knowing the Japanese word means associating meanings and concepts and ideas with that Japanese word, not just being able to rote regurgigate the specific English words which WK uses to form that bridge of meaning. Rote memorising is a means but it is definitely not the end, so I prefer to stay flexible within reason.
Reviews passing or failing on specific terms is because they have to be checked by a computer using a superficial model of language: (meaningless) sequences of letters. In the real world, similar ideas don’t mean similar letters/sounds (except for Japanese onomatopoeia maybe?). “Dark” doesn’t sound like “tenebrous” (which means dark), and does not carry a similar meaning to “duck” (neither the noun nor the verb).
That’s another useful aspect of Double Check - if I put in “to burn” thinking “I’m burning X” while reviewing 燃える and it turns out to be “X is burning”, I fail that review even if WK says it’s OK. Transitivity is too important and regurgitating a word to the satisfaction of a website isn’t always sufficient to demonstrating I honestly understand what the word means and how to use it.
The power of Double Check is great and requires honesty, humility and wisdom. Use it well!
4 Likes
To be honest though, differentiating between “paint” and “to paint” is still quite important
9 Likes
More honesty and self-awareness than I have. That’s why I can’t use paper flash cards, because I keep telling myself “oh yeah, I knew that” and “I was just about to say that” and “oh, same thing”.
Maybe it’s habit. I learned much of my job initially by rote memorization of “key words and tricky phrases” and the promise that I’d really understand later. (Galvanic corrosion: when two metals are in such intimate contact… I still remember a lot of the spiels verbatim 30 years later. And damned if I didn’t sometimes, when I least expected it, get a light bulb turn on trying to figure something out because the verbatim phrase went through my mind just at the right time.
Maybe I’m giving Koichi and crew too much credit for having carefully chosen the precise words that work best, but I’m willing to go on faith and learn those words exactly, even if it takes a touch more discipline.
4 Likes
Flashcard Dishonesty haha… that reminds me though of a video about the Iversen method. I think someone else on WKC already linked this…
Double Check is a userscript, and like other userscripts (except Ultimate Timeline, Heatmap, and Jitai) should never be installed anywhere.
1 Like
If you don’t install Leech Tables once you hit Burn reviews, that’s just masochism.
3 Likes
- Honesty
- Humility
- Wisdom
I knew there were reasons I shouldn’t use it. Just couldn’t put names to them…
3 Likes
Just know that if you use the Double Check script, cheating on an item only cheats you out of learning, which is what you’re here to do
2 Likes