I’m on level 1 just starting the Kanjis. I really don’t understand how to enter the “commas” in between multi-character kanjis. For example, “ricky the rock” requires two characters for the “ricky” piece. Then, the answer key shows a “comma” in between “ricky” and “rock.” But when I try to enter a comma to indicate the difference, it won’t let me enter anything! And then when I just try to type everything with no spaces, it says I’m wrong.
I’ve tried a space, I’ve tried no spaces, I’ve tried commas, nothing works. How on earth am I supposed to type “ricky” separate from “rock” and have this stupid website recognize it?
Perhaps stupid is a strong word, but with how many new users ask this question it at least indicates bad website design. Besides causing confusion for new users, it also wastes our time in the community since we have to answer the same question over and over again. Finally, with how many new users ask this question in the forums, imagine how many new users just give up and stop using WaniKani without ever coming here. It’s potentially a huge loss of revenue, and honestly I’m surprised that it hasn’t been addressed yet.
It wasn’t self-explanatory to me at all, actually, and I did read both the FAQ and the guide before commenting in the forum.
Perhaps my confusion is because I have exactly zero experience with Japanese…or with any language that isn’t rooted in Latin. Or maybe I’m just not as smart as the average new user on this site. Either way, it wasn’t obvious at all to a very motivated new user (me). Seems like it’d be a pretty easy fix to add a “hint” to these items in Level 1 saying something like, “Remember you only need to type in one of the readings, not both.”
A simple solution (imo, I don’t know what their backend looks like, but assuming it has the flexibility) is that if there’s a comma and text after it in the answer, shake and bring a pop up saying you need to only answer one reading/meaning. This would behave similar to if you answer a different reading than WK is looking for in kanji reviews.
I know it’s argued about but I personally don’t think wanikani is a platform for absolute beginners. It doesn’t teach kana or the most basic grammar.
Maybe can see why the comma thing may not make sense if your still trying to learn hiragana and don’t know basic grammar.
I spent time with memrise, and genki and had basics in Japanese’s before I found out what wanikani is.
I don’t want to go on a rant though.
Wanikani should have a better step by step tutorial that explains everything in depth and does the first few lessons with you.
Has little text box that explains what memronics are, how you type stuff in and what the colors mean and just does the frist couple ones “holding your hand” if that makes sense.
Also offer a optional “level 0” that puts hiragana/katakana in the same SRS it does kanji
For many people WaniKani is the first SRS they experience. It can be confusing at first so I understand some of these new questions. I just think that if they pop up enough the site itself should do a better job explaining it because what they’re doing now clearly isn’t working well enough.
Maybe they can add a note in level 1-3 readings to only choose one reading and to ignore the comma. Kind of like how for counter words/vocab they remind you not to type the “~”.