Please spot the difference in answers for me

[LilLamplight22]

Maybe I’m missing something, but I can’t see why this answer was wrong the first time around, but correct the second time. I’ve had this happen before, but thought that I had made a mistake.

This time I really can’t spot the problem. The only reason I can think of is that maybe I had added a space after the reading. Would the system consider it incorrect if there is an extra space after the answer?

TBH I don’t mind getting it wrong and having the redo that level for that word. I would just like to know if it is something I’m doing wrong or whether the system is “confused”

[Kumirei]

Could it be that the first one is ベ (katakana) and the latter is べ (hiragana)?

[Jonapan]

I just tried submitting a review with a space at the end, and it shook and wouldn’t accept the answer. Happy troubleshooting! (You can also contact hello@wanikani.org if it doesn’t turn out to be a katakana/hiragana issue)

[Kumirei]

I’ll add that you get katakana if you capitalize the first character. “Beikoku” will make the “be” katakana, while “beikoku” will be all hiragana

[LilLamplight22]

Ah, thank you for answering. That could happen accidently. But, I doubt I used shift when answering. I don’t even capitalise place names, like America, when answering. But, then again, I can be a bit too quick to submit at times, not checking whether there are typos.

I usually do reviews on an iPad, using the Japanese keyboard, so that would not have been an issue with the Kanji I got “wrong” the other day.

I’ll just work a bit slower and monitor my answers for a while to see if it happens again.

[Kumirei]

Actually, looking closer at your screenshots it does seem to be the case that one is katakana and the other is hiragana

[WillAiemi]

Yeah, it looks like a katakana/hiragana problem.

@LilLamplight22

I usually do reviews on an iPad, using the Japanese keyboard, so that would not have been an issue with the Kanji I got “wrong” the other day.

In most cases when you hit space using a Japanese keyboard, it changes some hiragana to kanji/katakana and etc, so it might be the problem…

[Haios]

I think the First one is Katakana

[LilLamplight22]

Ok, yes. The first one was definitely katakana. I’ve just overlayed them in Photoshop and the incorrect one has straight lines and the second one is slightly bent.

Thanks everyone for pointing that out.Will need to slow down when doing reviews as to not make silly typos.

When would you need to use katakana for readings on WK?

[Omun]

There are barely a handful of words that use katakana on WK, like ビー玉 or エッフェル塔.

And while technically the only correct way to write those is with katakana, WK allows you to answer in hiragana. At least I’m assuming it’s still the case. I burned them some time ago, so I wouldn’t know if they changed it.

[_Guysjek]

Wait, what? Why are you writing in katanana or hiragana? WK has a built-in IME so it converts romaji entered into the reading portion into hiragana. They even say not to use another IME for WK, probably for this very reason.

Typing in Japanese

[Omun]

@egg-taco

Why are you writing in katanana or hiragana?

But like with basically every Japanese IME, hiragana is converted to katakana when you hold down shift. So using shift without thinking still has you mix the two, in-built WK IME or no.

[_Guysjek]

Why would you press shift while typing into WK? All the readings accept hiragana, plus you have to hold shift and press two letters to convert it to katakana

[Kumirei]

@egg-taco

Why would you press shift while typing into WK?

Accident/habit

@egg-taco

you have to hold shift and press two letters to convert it to katakana

One is enough

[_Guysjek]

Weird. Just tried on a review and you’re right. My IME on my computer must be set up different. Why doesn’t WK just turn off katakana for reading input since it’s going to be marked as incorrect?

[BreadPit]

Not sure if there’s something similiar for Wanikani on the iPad, but I really love having the Wanikani Override script for such moments, saved me from a lot of frustration so far (typos, entering meaning for reading or vice-versa, or WK not accepting “famous” for a kanji meaning “popular” etc. Also bless the “add synonym” function for that last issue.)

EDIT: Be warned, your milage may vary depending on how much restraint you have. That “ignore answer” button is powerful.

[Carolin]

Hi, I face these problems on my mobile phone when doing reviews within the wk website (I’m using chrome on android)… It spontaneously switches to katakana… And I don’t know why… At that moment it just sticks to katakana writing… And I have to skip the review and open the app (third party for wk) there I can type in hiragana !!
Strange…
And on my android I’m never using the shift tab of course…

[Saida]

Could be that your keyboard settings are set to automatically capitalizing. I think I remember that being an issue for me on mobile.