WaniKani is a kanji learning tool, not a vocabulary learning tool.
That’s all there is to it.
Vocabulary is there to help reinforce other readings for words, but the point is to be able to recognize/read the kanji. And that’s exactly what it’s accomplishing, isn’t it?
For words by common usage, there are core decks that have the 2k, 5k, etc most common words.
Based off of OPs reply to my post, I think he is very badly mixing up vocab and kanji in his head. Who knows.
I agree with all this. Could it be better still? I think yes. Is the current incarnation worth it? I have to say no. I’ve thought about this for a long time, that’s just my opinion.
I think this might give you some clue of the why behind wk method
It’s less about usability and more about understanding the concept of kanji and kanji reading - something that is completely foreign to English speakers and other Latin based languages.
So, you you think that usage>simplicity. Then, isn’t 人 way more common than 達?
I still disagree that it’s not a vocabulary learning tool. You are forced to study way more vocab items than kanji. If it’s not a vocab tool then that’s a waste of time (and I think it often is). Hey, if they just skipped all the vocab and only focused on kanji then you would get to useful kanji (like the 友達 example) pretty quickly - that would be more effective.
Then again it’s pretty rare to see certain kanji all by themselves - you need the vocab. Do you ever see 達 by itself? Maybe you do, I don’t. I think the vocab would be more valuable if it was taught differently (I’m repeating myself).
They’re to reinforce your learning of the kanji and readings. Jesus dude. Do you think you’d remember all of those kanji as well as you do if you didn’t have that vocabulary?
You are not forced to study vocab items. Vocabulary is not required to “level up”. You can use something like WaniKani Reorder Utimate Wanikani Reorder Ultimate 2 to completely ditch vocabulary items and learn kanji and nothing else.
**It’s not recommended to do so because, y’know, vocabulary → more readings, but it’s up to you.
I just want to point out that, for the most part, WaniKani teaches kanji in a similar order to how Japanese students themselves learn kanji, so complaining about the order is effectively telling Japan they don’t know how to teach kanji. >.>
For example, 友達.
人 Grade 1 | Level 1
友 Grade 2 | Level 3
達 Grade 4 | Level 18
Putting that aside, the very link to WaniKani says “a kanji learning application,” not a vocabulary one, so if you want learn the kanji to words you already know, let me point you to jisho.org.
The kanji lessons only teach 1 reading. You need vocab lessons to teach you other readings.
I wouldn’t go so far as to distill that equation into my personal be-all-end-all thoughts on learning Japanese. But most of the time, yes! If your goal is to learn the language effectively. Your goal may differ.
Yes, 人 is way more common than 達. And??
Totally agree
It really sounds like you’re using WaniKani as your only study method, which should never be the case. You should be learning the useful vocabulary elsewhere.
That’s why 友人 comes before 友達. The goal is to reinforce the simple kanji first.
But you also just said that the vocab are a waste of time if they don’t teach you words you’re going to use in conversation.
I just want to say that I get this word a lot and I also live in Japan. 里心 specifically made me appreciate WK all the more cause I finally could get what the older generations meant. Maybe, and just maybe, it’s also not as useful for you because of the age range you’re exposed to? YMMV, after all.
These are all great replies btw. I think it should say “a kanji learning application for…” whatever that “for” is. It’s not for adults like me, at least it should be better.
I don’t think adults should be taught kanji the same way as Japanese schoolchildren. At least it’s not as effective. I don’t think schoolchildren know 飲み放題 but it’s pretty important for me 
Can you read??? The quote from the FAQs specifically states that WK does NOT aim to teach English-speaking adults the same way as Japanese school-children.
Maybe??? I mean, she’s native and that’s what she said. Your mileage may vary, but I haven’t seen that kanji anywhere since learning it. We can talk about very specific instances of “I saw this, I didn’t see that” but I’m addressing issues more holistically.
Better ask Leebo’s girlfriend what she thinks of all of this.