Yeah, the system can be a bit rigid, but basically after learning a kanji WK give all the vocab associated to it. Most of the time it works great and reinforce the kanji, but there is a few times where it can be confusing or a bit tedious.
Btw I just took a look at the vocab list again and I think it’s the first five levels that are firmly into beginner territory with high level of repetition for counter, number, next day/week/month/year, previous day/week/month/year and stuff like that. It get better past those. For example at level 9 there is a new counter, 度, and there is only one vocab associated to it 〜度.
Just wanted to defend the OP here; I don’t think your comment here was fair or necessary. People are allowed to have negative opinions on things. And just because they have negative opinions on some parts of a service doesn’t mean they don’t have positive opinions on other parts of the service. Case in point:
Also, there are plenty of other threads where people have posted negative opinions about different aspects of WK, the most recent standout, imho, being when WK did a major update on the dashboard, resulting in a tirade of “I hate x-y-z about this!” comments from lots of users.
P.S. - People should still be able to get along fine even if they disagree with each other. Criticizing someone else’s negative opinion doesn’t help in this regard; it only adds to the exact “negative energy” being criticized in the first place.
I still remember trying WK out as a beginner with not much previous Japanese or Kanji experience, and I had the opposite experience. I found it really cool that I could learn multiple vocab just by combing kanji and numbers. I didn’t find it excessive, but I did spend quite a bit of time on those levels compared to my current pace.
One thing to note is that the first 3 levels are also the free trial, so there is quite a lot of value that you get without paying and it has to serve as both an introduction and selling point, so they may have added extra vocab there to let new users get more practice with the SRS system and WK’s own quirks.
The later levels up to where I’m at now will only include multiple vocab per counter for special readings, like 一杯 二杯 三杯
I guess I need to consider that wanikani prime customers are absolute beginners. Since the whole start from zero probably scares off many people past upper beginner.
And the people that started as absolute beginners got a sense of comfort out of it.
It would be nice if wanikani had a system for non beginners but I guess it’s just not their audience and find it easier to put everyone through the paces.
Thank you. My tone probably wasn’t great and I know wanikani has plenty of detractors so I guess people are sensitive to critics since many might come in bad faith and to start trouble.
Yeah, I’d say many of the people who have to reset for one reason or another have clamored for a quick skip option but it just doesn’t seem to be something the WK wants to do. It’s a good resource because it’s focused but that also means less flexibility.
I’d say it’s more a case of some types of complaints coming up so often in the forums that people’s gut reactions to them become a bit needlessly hostile…
But just like with the counters seeing the same thing over again is frustrating so I get people’s hostility. They don’t know me from Eve so probably just think I’m another noob that doesn’t get it. And frankly they are right.
Since so many talented people are on the forum I forget wanikani is aimed at beginners and me being jerky isn’t cool.
Describing it like “padding” and “patronizing” suggests that there is some kind of bad faith on WK’s part for including the words they do. Whether they ultimately adjust the included words or not, I don’t think it’s fair to ascribe attempted malice or deception to the decision to include a certain number of 台 words.
You weren’t being jerky.
I also highly doubt you’re just another noob that doesn’t get it.
Food for thought:
Sometimes I wonder how much the little level number displayed next to our avatars has an influence on how other forum members “see” us. Every single one of us has to start from level 1 here regardless of our experience with Japanese in real life. Then we all have to progress upward within the constraints of the SRS system, so the speed at which the little level number increases is limited. There’s no way we can judge another user’s real Japanese ability based on that number.
Still, we’re all noobs at one point or other, and regardless, noobs or experts are both allowed to have opinions
Also… I’ll just point out that what is conspicuously absent is 台 itself…
Like, it took me some time before I figured out that the word itself actually means platform and not big machine… (And when I did, a bunch of words like 台所 or 滑り台 started making more sense)
You are absolutely right. I was being kinda mean and judgemental. No I don’t think the creators had any malice when creating the levels. Of course it’s not perfect and I stand by some of my criticisms like including 下がる下げる上がる上げ上る all on the same level. But I understand a little better about why the counter practice is the way it is. I’m glad it was explained to me so kindly.
Yes I realized some common readings and words associated with the kanji were not introduced. It could be just how it’s set up. I guess wanikani assumes people are studying on their own or with a class so the cracks will be filled.
In some ways coming as intermediate has it’s benefits.
While it’s not a good indicator of overall Japanese level, it is a fairly reliable metric for how long you’ve been doing the WK specific SRS system and what kind of perspective that provides.
I’ve only recently started noticing that the complaints and comments within level brackets have been fairly consistent and that things that would hold true for say, level 10-20, may not hold up for levels 30-40.
The other thing it indicates is longevity. You’re more likely to see people stick around once they’ve hit 30 and beyond. I’ve seen tons of resurrected threads where the OPs left and never came back.
So its like, I’m happy to see you here and I hope you stick around, but realistically the odds are not in favor of that.
