I love WaniKani. Its system is the best I’ve seen so far and for some reason I am able to comeback and do my reviews everyday but sentences in WaniKani (Refer to figure 1).
Even for common words, sentences are long, weird and full of unknown vocabulary and kanji I haven’t learned for that or past levels. Unlike the rest of WaniKani and its community I haven’t been able to gain more knowledge even once because they are simply not memorable and some are so convoluted that they are right down annoying.
Not a single WaniKani sentence so far has been added to my anki deck because they don’t offer me a drop of value not even comedic value . Again I love WaniKani I’m definitely not a hater but I would appreciate sentences where the use of a word is clear and they offer some value to my learning experience. Maybe someone has had a different experience and can enlighten (burn) me. Comments are welcomed.
edit:
Ok, I was a bit too harsh. I still think that many sentences are garbage(that’s my subjective point of view) but the I’ve been coming across with sentences like:
位置について、用意、ドン！
It’s short and makes the use of the word clear.
Vocabulary and kanji is restricted to my current wk level or below my current wk level.
It actually provides me with value by helping me to remember the word.
Hi, I kind of get what you’re saying. May I propose a different way to approach the context sentences?
First try to read the Japanese sentence. Pay attention to the particles in particular, see if you can suss out the relations between the verb and other parts of speech. Do you know some of the grammar if not the meaning of the whole sentence.
Second, look at the English sentence. Usually good to know in what kind of contexts the word can be used. Especially for seeming synonyms, looking at the context sentences can help you tell them apart. Is it casual, or formal? Technical word or everyday speech?
If I come up with a third point, I’ll let you know!
They already are aware of this criticism, and it’s why they’ve been adding more sentences, first to levels 1-10, then 11-20… They just aren’t done with the whole thing yet.
And saying there isn’t even a single good sentence seems needlessly antagonistic.
I disagree with them having 0 comedic value! I had a lot of good laughs with them. I do agree that they are overly complicated, so I no longer try to read them in Japanese, at least until I know more vocab/grammar.
Some of the sentences (especially in higher levels) seem to have been written to showcase the vocab item in a most convoluted way possible, and then some others are too simple. It’s hard to find the right balance, I guess.
I sometimes want to show the sentences to my Japanese friends to ask if they could explain the grammar to me, but the sentences are often too weird. I did, however, buy the 4500 Japanese sentences from Tofugu Store and the quality is better.
Example of a weird sentence:
フェミニストの中には、生理中に血を垂れ流しにすることが女性の権利だと主張する人まで出てきました。
Some feminists started claiming that free-bleeding during their period is a women’s right.
I think it’s architecture in the local “language” or local style. Typically architecture made by locals rather than by somebody who studied architecture and knows the expression vernacular architecture.
Agree completely.
The sentences are way too hard, and not funny at all (unless you’re 12 years old).
This is classic example of the copywriters trying too hard and trying to be clever. Needlessly.
They really don’t understand the concept of KISS. Pity. WK could be so much better.
Until they change their copy writer, I don’t think this will be resolved.
I pretty much agree with the OP. Luckily, there are many more sources of useful sentences out there, and as Leebo mentioned, they are improving them.
This is part of making a small thing for yourself and a small group, and then gradually growing it until it reaches a huge audience. One’s quirky sense of humour doesn’t often scale well. Wanikani has many quirks that you have to learn to live with or ignore.
Don’t beat them up too hard, though. They really do try their best to make a quality product that many can enjoy and benefit from, and 99% of the time, I think they succeed.
I’ve actually noticed that at around the level I’m at now, I’m able to understand more and more context sentences and so they’re becoming much more useful.
They’re slowly adding more sentences in where at least one sentence doesn’t seem to have any unknown kanji so they’re already fixing this problem.
