WaniKani Content Overhaul

“Chester the Molester” :sob:
lol wot
“Oh yeah, we’re gonna Kevin McCallister this.”
:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Found another rogue Sheen in the reading explanation for 占める :open_mouth:

1 Like

No way, is Charlie Sheen totally gone??

hi, i’m wondering if someone can please explain to me why this is an exciting change? it seems kind of time consuming to go back and relearn the mnemonics using new associations. i know we can still use the old mnemonics but i’m wondering what are the long term gains for the short term pain of relearning the associations?

I had a pet gecko named Gecki as a kid so I just use him, for example for 撃 I imagine a giant version of him attacking and smashing cars and ikeas with his giant gecko hands. Maybe it only works because he was my pet, but you could just imagine a character named Gecki the gecko

7 Likes

Some of it is to remove pop culture references because people not as familiar with US culture wouldn’t know them.
Another reason is to make some of the radical names the same as the kanji if there is a kanji version, or to make the names correspond more closely with actual radical names.
I will say that, at least for me, a lot of these changes make things easier in the long run.

You’re only on level 4, so it shouldn’t be too much hassle to learn the new ones anyway. and if you really don’t want to, you can just choose to display the old mnemonics instead in your settings.

2 Likes

People have been asking for this for years. It makes it so the site doesn’t become increasingly less relevant in the future, with pop culture references to things from the early 2010s and American English-focused words.

They took the opportunity to improve other things at the same time.

It’s a minor inconvenience to current members for a long term improvement to the site.

8 Likes

In my opinion pelican worked better than either spirit or necromancer because it’s much less abstract. It’s a simple, concrete object that even has some visual similarity to the radical.

1 Like

I’m happy pelican got changed, but I would have liked to see it split into two radicals.

The meaning of “spirit” only applies to the one in 神 or 祈, where it comes from a modified version of 示. The relation with the usage to spirit is clear, much better than pelican.

The one in 被 or 襟 comes from 衣, and the meaning reflects that. So it should be clothes or cloth something like that.

7 Likes

There ARE people who live in yurts in Hungary. Though it’s extremly rare I guess. :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

I was thinking of using Geckos in general, since it is fairly close. I should be able to get to Geki the Gecko, if I think about the “Geck” part in gecko, since if you can’t Hear the vowel, it is probably i" :wink:

You have become a cat?! =D
One of us! One of Us! One of us! =D

2 Likes

Since there is a fine line between suggestions/corrections and complaints, I just want to say how much I appreciate this update. Sure, there will always be a few bugs and missights, but you have all been very quick about squashing those bugs and listening to our suggestions with an open mind, taking your time to tell us what can and can not be done and why =)

I’ve come across some very good mnemonics in the new ones already, looking forward to seeing what is ahead! And will try to switch over to the new names of all the radicals tomorrow after completing my second batch of kanji, so I’m ready when the next level swings around =)

I appreciate how many of them have changed to be closer to the kanji they are from, or meanings they general have. And I appreciate how more kanji have gone towards their on reading, even if it will take a moment extra the first few times I see my old kanji, just have to dig them out of my vocab knowledge instead =)

8 Likes

I’m going to miss Sauron and Ent. I’m not a huge LOTR fan, but they were easy and fun to visualise.
Saying that though, it must have been tough deciding what to keep and what to change. And of course, it’s impossible that everyone would like every change made.
Once I’m used to the new radical names, I’m sure things will be just as easy. And knowing some of the stellar mnemonics we’ve had in the now recent past, I’m sure the new ones will be just as engaging too.

2 Likes

I am seriously considering resetting to 2… I stumbled upon a couple of new mnemonics when I got something wrong, and I must say I like them. I also have the feeling that I‘m missing a part of the pre-story concerning ごういち for example…

2 Likes

@anon20839864 Do you guys want reports of Sheen in the wild? Here or via email? Because I stumbled on one today too. (四角) Like I’m not interested in coming up with new mnemonics, so I’m wondering if you guys want to know where you missed him or not. :slight_smile:

I’m happy that he solved the issue so quickly!

Any chance that there will be a tool built that will let us reset the progress for any kanji where the reading has changed from Kun’yomi to On’yomi, just like was done with the radicals?

1 Like

I believe they said they are considering that possibility.

While they’re at that, just build a tool to do this with any item. For leeches, this will be life-changing. It’s way different to reset an item for the next 4h or reset it right into the lessons where it will feel like a new first exposure to it.

3 Likes

I resurrect kanji and vocab all the time. Since I took 3.5 years to reach level 60, lots of mid-level material has been forgotten along the way, so I’ve been resurrecting level-by-level. I might be an exception to the usual level 60er - a turtle with a terrible memory. I thought I’d give up before level 10, but somehow has the tenacity to show up every day and stick around.

There’s a pretty large number of kanji that just don’t appear very frequently in the reading material that I’m able to handle, so using the site to keep these at play is VERY useful. I’m glad I purchased lifetime the first time it was offered - it was an outstanding deal at the time and probably the best money I’ve spent on pretty much anything in the last few years. I’d never be at the level I’ve achieved if not for this site.

I also VERY frequently use the site to look up based on WK radical names, so I used the script to resurrect the new radicals. I’m probably going to re-train using the new mnemonics for some yet-to-be burned kanji that’s been hanging around for a very long time.

6 Likes