Perhaps a little QoL update?

[Neldolas]

Hello, I’m new here, and I’ ve been enjoying the heck out of Wanikani thus far. I’m learning kanji and vocabulary faster than ever, but I still have one liiiiitle teeny tiny gripe with it. It’s nothing major, but, when doing reviews, if it asks me for a word that I already learned both readings, if I use the kun’yomi reading when it asks for the on’yomi reading, it will not validate my answer and tell me to write the on’yomi reading, but, if it’s the opposite, if it asks for the kun’yomi reading and I give the on’yomi, it automatically counts it at false.

Now, I understand that some on’yomi readings are similiar, and that’s perhaps why they’re automatically counted false, would it be possible to add which reading we’re supposed to give?

[morteASD]

If it’s a kanji (pink background) it shakes, because WK only teaches one reading, and either is kind of a correct reading for the kanji. If it is a vocab word (purple word), they represent an actual word and are usually the kun’yomi. The on’yomi reading is incorrect, since they aren’t words on their own, although there are exceptions.

[d-hermit]

You must be confusing kanji and vocab items.

Kanji warn you when you enter a reading that’s not expected and say that WK expects on’yomi (or kun’yomi).

When kanji appear on their own in vocab there’s only one way to read them. You need to input their kun’yomi in 99% cases.

If you enter on’yomi of the kanji WK will mark it wrong to let you know you can’t use it in a vocab item.

[Neldolas]

Ooooooh. So, pink background, it will shake if I don’t enter the right reading, but purple is vocabulary, so I have to use the reading that can stand for itself, so, kun’yomi, did I get that right?

[Joeni]

As @morteasd says, the kun’yomi is usually the right one to go with. There are some exceptions, but you’ll learn them in the say way we all manage to remember all the weird spellings and pronunciations in our own languages ^-^

Oh, and since it’s your first post…

\textcolor{pink}{\huge \textsf{WELCOME! ^-^}}

Take the time to check out the FAQ and GUIDE if you haven’t already.

There’s also a lot of good stuff on the forum to help you, like:

The Ultimate Guide for WK
The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List!
The New And Improved List Of API and Third Party Apps

I hope your Japanese learning journey goes well and that you enjoy your time with us on the forums.

[Leebo]

@Neldolas

I have to use the reading that can stand for itself, so, kun’yomi, did I get that right?

Often kunyomi, but it could be either. And a lot of single kanji vocabulary for beginners actually does use onyomi. In those cases kunyomi would be wrong.

[Kai_973]

Purple vocab reviews are actual Japanese words, which usually (maybe >99% of the time?) only have 1 correct reading. If you’re reviewing 水 as (purple) vocab, arguing that スイ is a valid answer would be kind of like arguing that it’s okay to call water “aqua” in English.

[rwesterhof]

I think of it as pixels on a computer screen. If you ask what the color of an individual pixel is, it could be red, green, blue - all of those are correct answers. But when an image of a red square is on the screen, you would not call the pixels in that red square blue. In that instance, they are only red.

Kanji is like pixels - they can have multiple readings (colors), but when used in a vocab item (screen image) they’ve settled on a single reading (color) and the other readings are wrong.

Note that there are exceptions (there are vocab items with multiple readings). When WaniKani shakes the answer box on a kanji, it means that technically your answer is valid, but it’s not the reading that was taught with the kanji.

[Calebhk98]

I get what everyone is saying, but it still feels really counterproductive to say that you get the whole vocab wrong if you use the other saying. Would it not be beneficial to, atleast for the vocab that is just 1 kanji, to shake and ask for the other saying? In the vocab is more than 1 kanji, or has hiragana included it should obviously immediately mark it wrong. Idk, I may just not have seen enough to understand it yet.

[Leebo]

How is it counterproductive? The user answered incorrectly. The system needs to show it to them again on a quicker interval than if they had answered correctly.

[Saida]

It helps keep you from accidentally asking for すい when you actually want a drink of water. It’s important that you know the difference between what reading is actually a word, and which readings aren’t.

[Neldolas]

Guys, I understand now when I’m supposed to use one reading or the other. The rest is just practice:). Thanks for your help!