Hello all, a quick reminder that we’re publishing the first three kana vocabulary items today. They are:
You should see them appear in your lesson queue shortly. Each time we publish words, I’ll update the original post, with links to the item pages.
Thank you also for the detailed feedback. It’s much appreciated, both positive and negative, and we’re taking it all on board. I think it’s fair to say that the biggest concern here is whether kana vocabulary will be opt-in, and I want to confirm that we’re looking at the best way to make it opt-in (but not excluding current WaniKani users who do want to learn it, because we don’t want to do that).
There were also a few questions about words in both kanji and kana, like 未だ. For words like this, we’re planning to move the kanji version to a higher level once we’ve published the kana version. That’s because 未だ is almost always read as いまだ, though まだ is also a correct reading. If a Japanese person sees 未だ, they’ll usually read it as いまだ unless it has furigana. いまだ is a fairly advanced word compared to まだ, and we’ve been trying to figure out the best way to deal with these cases for a long time now. We think that the best solution is to teach まだ at a low level in kana, then teach 未だ at a more appropriate level. The same logic applies to 申し申し, which can be pronounced もしもし, but that’s very rare. We plan to move the kanji version to a much higher level once we have the kana version, because even the もうしもうし reading is very specific in its use. I hope the longwinded explanation answers that point!
To answer some other points about the intentions of the WaniKani team: our goal is to help as many learners as possible to learn as much Japanese as possible. And especially to be able to read the stuff they love to read. That’s what is guiding us in all of this. I know lots of people are passionate about what WaniKani should and shouldn’t do, and that’s great. And we’re passionate about it too. I know we won’t always agree on how to get there, but I’m pretty sure that we all have the same end goal. Thanks to everyone who’s given constructive feedback and kept the conversation civil.
Anyway, for those of you who don’t know them already, I really hope you enjoy learning these new words. For those who do, I hope it won’t be too much of a hassle, and that maybe the explanations and context add to your understanding of how some of the words are used.
Thanks again for all the feedback so far, and happy studying. 