I’ve started using Kamesame alongside Wanikani for practicing production of the Wanikani material and quickly felt like practicing producing the readings of kanji that you don’t actually use in spoken Japanese in that context to possibly be a waste of time. Absolutely worthwhile to understand and recognise when you see it written down which is what Wanikani already teaches but I’m practicing production in Kamesame so I can get better at speaking the vocab I’m learning here, and learning how to produce the two readings of say 山 when I’m only ever going to need to produce one when trying to speak that word seems a little silly to me. I’m super new though so I want to know from more experienced learners if I’m misleading myself here. Cheers!
So there IS a distinction in certain types of words in Japanese being primarily only used in writing, but I think you’re mistakenly thinking all compound words fall into that, or something? やま is the reading of that word when it’s on its own, but if you’re talking about Mt Fuji you’re going to say ふじさん.
1 Like
You absolutely need both readings. Sure, 山 on its own is やま, but you’re gonna get a bit of side-eye if you try to pronounce 富士山 as ふじやま. And that’s quite aside from any ordinary nouns like 火山 or 登山.
1 Like
Oh yes I practice recognising all the readings wanikani teaches on wanikani, but when practicing speaking 山 on Kamesame I’ll only practice speaking it as やま when I get a prompt for it, whereas if I get a prompt for 火山 I’ll speak かざん which I learned on wanikani. Like, I wont practice speaking the word 山 as さん even though that’s what Kamesame would want if I’m practicing ‘producing’ the kanji as opposed to ‘producing’ the vocabulary word. Does that make sense? I’m basically asking is it worthwhile to practice speaking the kanji readings that wanikani teaches on kamesame
2 Likes
You should definitely only practice words as they actually are read and said, Wanikani teaches readings in isolation as an option to help you use them in future words, but definitely stick to just reading/typing the word correctly as you’ve been doing. Doing the other way would just be actively harmful.
3 Likes
Does Kamesame actually care how you type the kanji in? (both やま and さん are valid ways to “produce” the kanji 山 in any case)
That’s what I thought based on intuition, but I’m a beginner so always good to check with people who know more than me. Cheers!
2 Likes
When I want to practice kanji (as opposed to words) production, I prefer to draw them.
With handwriting recognition I can write 山, and 仙岩微島岸…
3 Likes