So, I’ve been using WaniKani, and got up to level 4. Seriously considering continuing, but need to consider finances etc.
But I came up with a few things that should really be improved, in my opinion.
Context example sentences should be simple!
I should be able to see how the kanji or vocabulary works in the sentence, and I can’t do that if it’s talking about unicorn robots or some other crazy stuff I don’t even know the words for.
Ideally, there should be audio of these sentences, too. Jakiepuu has it built-in, but it should probably come as standard in the web version too.
In the same vein, it would really help if there was some kind of practical exercise to practice vocabulary. Something like: “Translate this sentence into Japanese.” The idea of this would be to get used to practical usage and using various verb forms rather than just learning the “dictionary” form.
Even just a multiple choice “which would be the correct form to use here?” question might be good.
The whole onyomi / kunyomi thing is very confusing, especially since they’re not really explained much, and which one is used for what seems to change all the time.
And what’s the Kanji Reading supposed to represent? It seems to be showing what the reading is when a kanji is with other kanji (onyomi?), but the kanji is presented alone, so the learner associates it with the “lone kanji” (kunyomi?) reading (which gets confusing when they learn the actual lone-kanji vocab). Ideally, imo, the “vocabulary reading” of the lone kanji should be taught first, and then the “kanji reading” should be taught as part of the grouped-kanji vocabulary.
It might be helpful also, when teaching new readings (say, the kunyomi reading of a kanji), to remind the learner of the other readings for the kanji that we’ve already learned. And/or when they get a review wrong. Again, it helps to create associations.
For kanji with multiple readings / meanings, what if occasionally you’re asked to give all of the options, just to make sure you have them all. Don’t want to remember “moon” but completely forget “month”, for example.
Finally, some kind of tooltip or something would be nice so we can remind ourselves what words like onyomi, kunyomi, jukuyo, rendaku, etc, mean.