Hey, everyone! Hope you’re all soaking up the fall vibes!
Just a quick heads-up that we’re planning to add some new items to WaniKani next Tuesday, November 12. We’ll also be moving a couple of items, and replacing one.
As always, there won’t be any site downtime, and you don’t need to do anything to access the new items. They’ll automatically show up in your lessons if you’re at the right level or above.
Here’s the list of new additions, along with items that will be moved or hidden, together with the reasoning behind the changes. Happy studying!
We’re adding the vocabulary word 海水魚 (7) and moving 海魚 (7) up to level 9. This change comes down to the nuance in how these words are read and used. 海魚 (かいぎょ) sounds a bit more technical and less common, compared to its more common kun’yomi reading うみざかな. So we’re planning to move it up after the vocabulary 海 (9), and change its primary reading to うみざかな. By moving 海魚 up and introducing more common 海水魚, we can still have the same number of words that consolidate the on’yomi reading of kanji 海 (6).
We’re adding the new radical Again (亦) (15) because a few kanji currently use 赤/Red (4) as their radical when the component is actually 亦. After this update, kanji 変, 恋, 湾, 跡, and 蛮’s component will switch from 赤 to 亦, and we will update the content accordingly.
We’re adding the kanji 貰 (21) and the vocabulary word 貰う (21) because they’re common and useful in most subject areas.
We’re adding the vocabulary word 年配 (25) and moving 年輩 (25) up to level 27. This is because 年配 is simply a more common way to write ねんぱい, so we’d like to teach it first before the less common one.
We’re adding the vocabulary word 応える (27) because it’s common and useful in most subject areas.
We’re adding the vocabulary word 第一弾 (38) to clear up some confusion. Right now, we only teach 第一段 (27) without explaining the difference between them, which is a bit confusing. By adding 第一弾, we’ll be able to highlight the distinction between these two words and make things clearer.
We’re adding 飛び込み (34) and hiding 飛び込み自殺 (34) because we realized that learning 飛び込み and 自殺 (13) separately gives enough context to understand 飛び込み自殺, so it isn’t necessary to teach it as its own vocabulary word. 飛び込み is a versatile word that can be used in common, everyday situations—like diving into a pool or jumping into something without an appointment. By teaching 飛び込み, we’re setting learners up to understand a wider range of words than we currently do by teaching the more specific 飛び込み自殺.
Finally, this is an official WK radical!
I’ve been using it for ages as my own custom radical (I named it “comet”), now I just need to change the name to “again”!
貰 is not jouyou actually, which kinds of shows that these lists are rather arbitrary and not all that useful. There are plenty of non-jouyou kanji that are quite common, while a good chunk of the jouyou not on wanikani are frankly rather niche and probably only in jouyou because they’re used in some official documents in very specific contexts.
I see. It is in Jinmeiyou huh… I did hold out to hope that one day I’ll get to know most of Jinmeiyou, so this is still a good thing if Wanikani starts adding those Kanji here.
For now, I’d be happy enough to not be behind my kids in recognizing these Kanji (looks like they will end up learning all of Joyo kanji by 9th grade).
Thanks for your hard work on the updates.
However, I’m a bit confused on 海魚 (かいぎょ ）becoming 海魚(うみざかな). I looked it up out of curiosity after not finding うみざかな on Jisho nor a physical dictionary I have. And the top result is a Wanikani thread asking why this was included as a reading two years ago.
While うみざかな may not be the official reading in some dictionaries, it’s more commonly used in everyday life to read 海魚, similar to how 川魚 is commonly read as かわざかな. For example, this reading material shows うみざかな and かわざかな as the furigana for 海魚 and 川魚.
The reading かいぎょ is still used in more formal settings, often for official categorization. However, even in formal contexts, it’s more common to see 海水魚 for ocean/saltwater fish to make the distinction with 淡水魚 (たんすいぎょ) for freshwater fish.
Instead of teaching the less common vocabulary, we thought it would be more helpful to introduce 海魚 as うみざかな—the everyday reading—along with 海水魚, which is more widely used term for saltwater fish, especially for learners at an early level.
I recoiled in fear when I noticed my lessons bar suddenly wasn’t cleared anymore. Joke aside, 飛び込み made no sense to me at the time, so this change is probably for the best lol
I am currently on level 8 and the 海魚 change threw me off. The old reading was still in review queue, but suddenly I was getting it wrong and I had no idea why. Also it is now showing I have 1 vocab from level 9 unlocked and nothing else.
- Vocabulary: 海魚 (かいぎょ, うみざかな)
