I love the concept and implementation of Wanikani, but there is one annoyance that I wish could be resolved. Looks like the on’yomi is most commonly used in the kanji section, and the kun’yomi is used in the vocabulary section if the kanji is not part of a compound (generally), but it seems more inconsistent than it needs to be. And while I understand the motivation of using the kun’yomi in the kanji section when the on’yomi is hardly ever used (or perhaps doesn’t exist?), it creates unnecessary frustration on the part of the user.
I think the simplest solution might be to add the “no” shake or “bump” feature to the vocabulary section that exists for many if not all the kanji in the kanji section. Just respond to the opposite reading with “Wanikani was expecting the other reading” and allow the user enter it. It’s fine to expect a specific kun’yomi or on’yomi and user fluency for both, but don’t penalize the user for not remembering which reading was used for which category based on Wanikani’s specific application.
But that would be incorrect. If you were to, for example, type こう for the vocab 口 instead of くち that is just plain wrong. It’s not an “other reading”. That multiple on and kun readings can be valid for an individual kanji in isolation, does not mean that all of those readings are correct for the vocabulary word using said kanji (whether it be single or compound).
Other examples, are 山 is やま not さん as a vocab word and 車 is くるま not しゃ in the same situation.
Heh well, not sure how to tell you this, but that’s a complaint with the Japanese language, not wanikani.
The shake in the kanji section is because both on and kun readings are technically correct, but wanikani just wants one. But the other answer isn’t wrong, so it doesn’t penalize you. However, vocabulary is vocabulary. There’s only one(ish) right answer.
Thanks for the quick and helpful responses! I guess for the most part, considering how the kanji
should be read in complete isolation should decrease my errors. I think there are many exceptions, though… For example, wouldn’t「にち」and「ひ」both be appropriate standalone readings for 「日」?
No. にち is only valid in compound words, as a suffix/counter, or say when its an abbreviation for a word like 日曜. 日 as a standalone word is only pronounced ひ. If a word actually has multiple valid readings as a word, WK will allow you to type either one. For example, 根本 for which you can either type こんぽん or ねもと.
This is a very understandable mistake, but what @athomasm said. “A day” 日 would be pronounced ひ.
I want to hammer in on this. I get what you’re thinking, and I understand why you’d come to think this, but words are not about kanji. Don’t think about “how a kanji should be read in isolation”. There’s no such thing. Think about words.
日 isn’t pronounces ひ because 日 is being used alone. It’s pronounced that way because ひ is a word.
There are a number of words using the same kanji that sound different. 金 かね is money, 金 きん is gold.