A request (prompted by another thread discussing radicals):
While I understand that WK radical meanings are solely to aid with WK mnemonics, I feel the service would be even more awesome if WK also provided an aside with the Japanese meanings and readings of the more common radicals.
I think many of us discuss Japanese and kanji with Japanese friends and family. It’s very difficult to discuss kanji characters verbally in Japanese without referring to radicals by name sometimes, and WK radical meanings are only familiar to other Wanikani users. Without the Japanese names, we’re reduced to finger drawings in the air. It would also sometimes prevent confusion if we at least realized when a WK radical isn’t normally considered a radical by most Japanese.
I often wish I knew the more common Japanese radical names better. I’ve been slowly learning them by referring to this great resource often, but it’s still hit or miss.
I’d love it, for example, if the lesson for the radical 月 included some additional information beyond the mnemonic about the moon being a sun with running legs (perhaps hiding in an “advanced” or “notes” tab). Perhaps something like:
Traditionally, the radical 月 is called つき in Japanese, or つきへん if it’s on the left-hand side. It also normally means “moon”, but the Japanese sometimes call it にくづき when it’s used in a character more closely related to meat/flesh or the body.
Basically, I wish the WK SRS also taught us the traditional Japanese meanings for common radicals. Of course, this must necessarily be in addition to the WK meanings where they conflict, but I think WK would be even more useful if the Japanese meanings were accepted.
Further, since WK teaches kanji, I think it would be wonderful if it mentioned the Japanese vocabulary for radicals in various places. The meaning description for the vocabulary word 偏 should at least mention that it can mean a radical on the left, 足 one on the bottom, 冠 one on the top, 構え one surrounding a character, etc. I get that you want to teach the most common meanings of words, but a site about kanji should at least mention the kanji-related usage of vocabulary words!
The other thread talks about accepting the WK kanji meaning for a character. When that meaning is the same as the traditional Japanese radical meaning, I agree that it SHOULD be accepted. When that meaning differs substantially from the WK mnemonic meaning, then a shake warning makes sense.
While I don’t think radicals in the WK SRS should ever get quizzed on readings (that’s not their primary purpose here), I do think it would be valuable to make the readings available to users here (and to accept the Japanese meanings for them, with or without a shake warning).
Since we’ve gradually given kanji and vocabulary more context, let’s also start giving radicals a little more love!