Suggestion: Allow synonyms for vocabulary entries

WaniKani Feedback
#21

Sure, there are some aspects that aren’t perfect, though there may be other scripts as well. That’s just the first one that came up in the search for me. I don’t know what you mean by data expiring. As far as I know, added synonyms survive even account resets (like my own).

As I said above, their model is that they want you to do it the way they teach it one time, for whatever reason. I don’t know if they’ve ever explicitly said why it’s set up that way, but since this has come up many times I’m guessing there’s some thought process behind the decision.

#22

Oh, he knows alright :wink:

#23

Seriously, why would you ever want to add synonyms during the Quiz? If you were to do it, you should actually do it during the lessons AKA time where you’re learning the items, not during the quiz post lessons. Doing it during the quizzes feels like cheating the system.

1 Like
#24

I want to do it then. Sometimes a synonym doesn’t occur to you while reading the lesson - or you just plain forget to add it. I personally have absolutely no idea why WK doesn’t let you add synonyms whenever you want - especially since their own lack of them is the site’s biggest weakness.

#25

Because that is the first time I become aware of the problem, especially for words I already know. I assume that is the reason for everyone else as well, including those who add it during the lesson.

But allow me to throw your question back at you: Seriously, why would you ever want to add synonyms during a review but NOT when you first notice the problem (regardless of whether that is during the lesson or during the lesson’s quiz)?

#26

Well, the rule of thumb should be to have a dictionary opened while doing the lessons :man_shrugging:

Related to the problem with the synonyms, I feel like the WK team thought that people would become overwhelmed with trying to memorize more of them at the same time. It’s a valid point. I would worry more about improving the example sentences right now. My 2c though :slight_smile:

Well, you’re free to ask for it. I’m not saying that you’re wrong, my point is that doing it right before the Quiz is the way to go, since that’s actually when you’re in the main learning phase. Therefore, you have a better solution available :slight_smile: It should be a rule for everyone to have a dictionary opened while learning vocab. If not, you’ll end up with a bunch of words meaning “use”, “activity”, etc in your head without being able to distinguish them. My only complain about the option to add synonyms is that sometimes the box would bug and I wouldn’t be able to add anything at all. Not sure if it’s related to having a bunch of scripts installed, but I haven’t had that problem recently so…

#27

From looking at the code it actually replicates the functionality of the review page, so it uploads it to WK and makes it a “real” synonym. I think it could also be extended to cover the lesson quiz, not sure if @irrelephant considered this.

There also seems to be a problem with WK that you can only add synonyms after unlocking items, so for example there is no Add button on higher level items to prepare later levels a bit because of this. It is probably the reason why it is not available in the lessons, but the script has a workaround, so there is no reason not to add it to the usual WK. Some people use it extensively, so it would be nice to show up in more places.

#28

With respect, I think you are not considering all usage scenarios.

My specific one is for words which I already know but for which the official “right” answer is overly restrictive. The feature I suggest would help me and others waste less time learning “meta-knowledge” (what Wanikani insists we input) regarding such words and spend more time studying actual new material.

#29

Thank you, that’s good to hear. Unfortunately for me, the game-breaker is the inability to add synonyms during the quiz, but I’m glad the other functionalities are intact. (The description of the script specifically said it will only work on one browser, by the way, but perhaps that information was out of date.)

#30

The description text there is not clearly written, but I think the comment means that entering the synonyms and completing a lesson must be done on the same PC because the synonyms will only be uploaded after you completed the quiz. So if you enter the synonyms on PC and later complete the quiz somewhere else it will not work. But synonyms that are successfully committed with the script will show up on other devices or kaniwani.

Edit: there is some discussion here, you can only retrieve the synonyms from the server after you finish the quiz, “only in one browser” only refers to seeing your new synonyms after you added them and before you finished the quiz. They are uploaded immediately :slight_smile:

#31

Oh that part. Yeah that’s technical info that shouldn’t really even be relevant to anyone who, like most people, does the quiz right after looking at the lesson.

#32

You can definitely see some CS person writing there :slight_smile: But with the old script it was also possible to add synonyms for items on locked levels via their details pages, which would vanish for days or weeks until you complete the lesson.

I wonder why this doesn’t work anymore …

#33

So, this is actually a deal-breaker for me, and I won’t be using Wanikani anymore.

I know the typical response on this forum to such statements is “Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out,” but after a year, off and on, of trying to make this program work for me and running up continuously against the need to spend excess time learning meta-knowledge (knowledge specific to Wanikani and not Japanese as such), of which this is only the latest example, I think it is only kind to let the devs know why I am leaving.

I wish the devs lots of luck! I hope you can continue improving this site and implementing additional flexibility so it can meet the needs of a wider variety of learner types.

I also wish my fellow Japanese learners lots of luck and success, and thank you to everyone in this thread who linked to various solutions and workarounds. It wasn’t enough to meet my particular needs, but not for want of trying, and I am grateful for your attempt.

Farewell.

#34

I think it’s fair to say that the average user here doesn’t think we’re wasting time learning meta-knowledge rather than Japanese, but I’m guessing there’s not much use to continuing that discussion.

1 Like
#35

Godspeed, friend. If you have spent a year with WK and only made it to level two, it seems clear enough that this is not the system for you.

#36

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