Thanks all, this is very useful. Iām not too concerned with single words but more with (eventually) making up whole/complicated sentences and the speed Iāll be able to do that with from Dutch to English to Japanese 
. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Hi! Indonesian here. Just my two cents as an addition to what @Omun had said (I used Google Translate to find out what he had said btw). I stick to English, so Iāve never added my language as synonim as an alternative answer so far, but I have many notes in my language(s). If things got hard on me, I even use my language to explain Crabigatorās default explanation and also Vocabās example(s). I create my own mnemonics (in any language I know) to help me remember some meanings & readings. If Iām really stuck after I search online and Iām still confused, I can always ask on this forum (usually this thread), as far as I know many people here are nice and helpful.
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Native Finnish speaker here - I do it mostly in English, but when there are words I havenāt really heard before or feel like I wonāt remember in English, I add a synonym in Finnish 
Sometimes I may also add a simpler version of the same word in English and add extra explanations / mnemonics in any language I know (Finnish, English, Spanish, French).
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Iām a native German speaker but Iām also one of those people that is more comfortable with English so Iām fine with sticking to that.
Sometimes I still get tripped over. I recently looked up č»äø which Jisho lists as āunder the eavesā and then got out my English-German dictionary for āeavesāā¦
I actually thought geoduck was a pokemon. Then I looked it up and it turns itās just as creepy as a pokemon in real life would be.
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Yukā¦ I just checked it outā¦ people eat that?? 
I meanā¦ it looks likeā¦ Hmmmā¦
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People generally eat almost everything 
Wanikani is an excellent way of learning English words.
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Yep, for non-native english speakers Wanikani ends up helping to learn two languages at once.
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As a Dutchie myself, Iād say stick with English, you might learn some new vocabulary along the way (win/win imo!)
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iāll only add synonyms in german, when i feel there is some meaning lost in the ja-en translation where it is (more) preserved in ja-de.
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German native here. I never really thought about the german equivalents during my learn sessions. However, what I sometimes find useful is creating my own pronunciation mnemonics if something sounds just like a german word (or similiar at least). For example: north = kita = another word for āKindergartenā in german. I find it easier to memorize that than the wanikani mnemonic. Other than that you might learn some new english vocabulary which is also nice!
hello! i tend to use the english words to remember whatās going on, sometimes adding my own in english or native (like population i describe myself with biiiig mouth full of people haha). i remember english words first usually.
i think whatever helps is useful, so i donāt think the language matters as long itās sticking to your mind (try to build own mnemonics if wanikaniās arenāt sticking to your memory)!
ofc this website asks for english translations, so you probably canāt get around that issue. but i think itās naturally and good to also think about the kanji in your mother language to remember the meaning. i hope you wonāt get too discouraged!
i donāt get the connection between north and kindergarten ^^ even the reading of north is kita. the german meaning of ākitaā has no logical connection to the japanese åć
Kita is short for KindertagesstƤtte, no? Sure, å is pronounced differently but it still sounds somewhat similiar.
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Hiya, another German native speaker here. Iāve made it a habit to add the German equivalents to every Kanji and vocab item during my lessons. Sometimes Iāll think of the English version first during reviews, sometimes of the other, so I can type in whatever comes to mind first.
I use this userscript to add synonyms during lessons.
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I stick with English for almost everything, except for some mnemonics, when Wanikani is too convoluted and I can think of a better one in my own language.
But yes, be prepared to learn new English words. I was fairly confident in my English vocabulary before starting wanikani, not anymore 
Also, I think for non-native English speaker the ignore script is probably much more importantā¦ I would have quit wanikani a long time ago if I had to suffer the countless setback due to my English imprecisions, like wanikani expecting eating instead of eat, abandonment instead of abandon, letter of introduction instead of introduction letter, rear entrance instead of back entrance etc etc
yep, also iām german too. but to accociate two words just because of the āsameā pronunciation, but completely different meaning. 
welll live and let live
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sure thing, thatās why I came up with a ridiculous story to connect these two things, just like wanikani does sometimes. I thought about christmas elven moms, sending their kids to the kindergarten while theyre at work. I know that it sounds stupid, but ever since I came up with this I had no trouble remembering the pronunciation of å anymore. Thatās all that matters to me.
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I pretty much always use English without much trouble. The whole Wanikani system is in English so my brain is in āEnglish modeā to start with. But there are exceptions: for reading mnemonics I often use my native language Finnish because it makes more sense to me and sticks much better.
Something Iāve had a little trouble with lately has been words that I think are synonyms in English but turn out not be (in Wanikani at least). Like getting āto talkā and āto speakā mixed up.
Also, I donāt know if this applies to your language, but sometimes certain Japanese vocabulary or grammar concepts translate much more naturally to other languages than English. For example transitive/intransitive verbs work the same way in Finnish and Japanese, so it makes sense to me to think that concept through Finnish grammar instead of taking the long way through English.
Indonesian here.
I stick mostly to English.
Although sometimes I end up adding some synonyms in easier-to-understand words for unfamiliar ones such as deter, cleat, eaves and so on.
With WK, you can learn both Japanese and more english at the same time.
But sometimes some mnemonics WK gives donāt really suit my thoughts when using those unfamiliar words for examples, so I end up making my own mnemonic and adding synonyms to compliment it.