Prompt for Typos?

So, a not insignificant number of my failures are due to typos. I try to be more careful, but sometimes when I’m in the flow on a batch of reviews, I goof. Here are my most common typos:

Mistyping Provided Hiragana
I sometimes mistype the hiragana from the question. It would be nice that if the hiragana in the word are missing, bounce the interface and suggest there is likely a typo. A recent example, for ”決定する” I managed to type "けっていすつ” … so the typo was not in the Kanji at all.

Close on Mobile Keyboard
Another common typo for me is fumbling “s” and “z”, so for example, accidentally typing ”かならす” instead of “かならず”. I also fumble “i” and “u” a lot. These are because they are right next to each other on the keyboard. The すーず one is particularly insidious because even if I’m looking sometimes the " is so small I miss the difference.

Oh, that might be a good idea. I had mistyped for a radical (typed “powe” instead of “power”) and pressed send before I could correct it. The system did say I almost got the answer right and passed me for it, but it would be nice to get a prompt.

Do want simply a message that told you it might have been a typo, or a “buffer” like the Meaning does that allows you to correct it?

The latter is fundamentally a problem, since many “typos” in hiragana are, to the system, indistinguishable from user error. To use your example, typing す instead of cず or vice versa is often a case of forgetting the rendaku. Giving a second attempt for that ruins the SRS system of of which WaniKani is based. Sure, it may have been just fast and/or clumsy typing on your part, but the system can determine that. Unlike English, where “powe” is obviously a mistype for “power,” is it much less obvious than something like "かいてんすし” (回転寿司), where it is likely someone just forgot to rendaku.

I recommend the Override script if you have faith in yourself to be honest about answers you legitimately got wrong. I suffered much frustration about my typos due to laziness about scripts in general, but the override script has saved me a lot of time and patience for those moments when I type too fast and put しゅううちゅうう (集中) instead of しゅうちゅう. Or, as is said below, do your reviews at times where you don’t need to rush, and take your time. I’m ungodly slow whenever I have Burn reviews come up, even with the Override script, because getting those wrong due to typos would make me want to kill myself. :rofl:

If you meant the former, then I think that should be noticeable simply by checking the correct reading then comparing it with your own.

WK already helps you with wrong reading type (on/kun), and english answers that are <3 characters different to the answer (powre == power). I’d say that’s already being overly generous.

The thing is, a line has to be drawn somewhere. Having a system check if every letter happens to be next to another letter on a keyboard (wait, is this a UK keyboard? a German keyboard? a Japanese kana keyboard? etc), and guessing if you actually meant the other letter, and then would it have been a right answer, but also that you didn’t actually answer incorrectly due to your thinking…

Seriously this simply boils down to: double check your answer before submitting.

[Edit. Sorry! But coming from a programming background, some requests are just silly :stuck_out_tongue: ]

1 Like

A prompt for typos would be easy to abuse, so I don’t see that being built into WK.

However, I would definitely appreciate an okurigana check that prompts a retry. It’s rare, but still frustrating to miss an answer solely because of a misspelling of what’s already in plain sight.

1 Like

Yeah, that’s a perfect example of a “reasonable” measure WaniKani can take. It’s quite obvious it’s a typo when you mess up something that is provided, such as okurigana. Otherwise, the Override Script (or Double Check script if that is functional again) would be what you’re looking for.

3 Likes

And if you want something on mobile you can get the AlliCrab app, which runs an in-app browser with the Override Script available (as well as a few others), that you can turn on/off. It’s saved me more than a few times! idk if it’s on android though…

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.