Hi all, first time posting on this - I hope it is the right kind of thing to do.
Just looking for some guidance/experience on the matter of user scripts. At around level 6 I added a few of the most popular, one in particular I thought would benefit me was the ‘double-check’. It started out OK but after a while I started to depend on it and ultimately used it to correct more than only typos, especially getting new Kanji up to Guru. This greatly improved my progression, however massively reduced my satisfaction of the challenge. I have since removed this script and although I am now progressing slower, I feel I will continue using WK with more integrity and self-respect, most importantly I will actually learn what I am reviewing.
I guess what I am looking for is feedback on how to use scripts such as ‘double-check’ successfully and not fall into the unhealthy habit of taking advantage. Or is this temptation always too much to withstand?
It takes time and patience to learn to accept mistakes as actual mistakes and not override them. If you don’t feel like making yourself feel s**t for a couple of weeks, it’s best to just disable the script and roll like that. I personally use double check because I want to be able to type fast and not worry about typos. As long as every time you make a mistake, you ask yourself “was this really a typo, or did I get it wrong because I didn’t know it?”, it should be fine.
People’s personalities seem to vary on this one. I don’t do WK, but I do do both Anki and jpdb, which both have “you tell the system if you got it right or not” answering, which similarly lets you say you got it right when you really didn’t. I won’t say I never do that, but I generally don’t, and I especially don’t if I remember that I fudged the answer to this word the previous time around.
The other thing is that it helps to know what matters – in particular that ‘short vowel’ vs ‘long vowel’ (eg ‘ko’ vs ‘kou’) is not a “close enough, call it a pass” mistake, even if it can sound that way to English speaking ears.
One last note is that WK seems to be unusual in having no built-in undo mechanism, so if and when you move onto other SRS systems for future vocab or grammar study you’ll encounter this temptation again later…
Personally I think the way to think about it is: what are you actually avoiding when you take back a missed review, as opposed to living with the missed result and adding a user synonym for future reviews if you think your answer should have been accepted?
Other than some frustration, and maybe in some specific cases a disruption to a level up schedule you were trying to follow, the main mechanical thing avoided is Wanikani showing you the item one or two more times than it would have otherwise.
If it was an item you know perfectly, seeing it one or two more times should be a piece of cake.
If it wasn’t an item you know perfectly, seeing it one or two more times might even be helpful.
And either way, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the number of times you’ll see the item in reading material in the future, and if all goes well, how specific reviews went when doing wanikani will be a distant memory. After all, why review Wanikani items at all if you aren’t hoping to see them again someday while reading? The goal isn’t to eliminate a wanted list of items and be done with them forever, even if it can feel like it systemically.
For me personally, I felt a lot more accepting of missed reviews when I looked at it that way.
I think part of the goal of learning to read a language, is learning to not be afraid of encountering words in that language. And so I felt like I got meaningful practice towards that by avoiding the doublecheck script and when the potential need arose, telling myself “no big deal! I don’t mind seeing this word again,” adding a user synonym and moving on.
That said – the frustration and logistical issues are real, and are more impactful to some than others, so I don’t think that it’s wrong to use a takeback script either. But I mention this perspective in case it helps you like it did me.
I mostly use flaming durtles for reviews. I will only use the undo feature only on apprentice levels if it was close. I did start to use it to start getting kanji passes to guru to level up. I have found that by doing so it was not helping me at all. Now I am onlybusing it for true typos. I have resigned to myself that I will not be getting to level 60 in a year. I am good with that.
I don’t trust English typing all that much, typo or synonym or not.
When I got wrong, context sentences typically explain better than English words. Also, IRL, I don’t translate vocabularies, but rather translate sentences.
Outside context sentences, external resources / dictionaries can be useful too.
Perhaps “Raw” can justify for this one too, but learn to add what as a synonym.
Then, “Raw” doesn’t allow adding English to warning and block lists. I would request that feature, even for official English translations. Some should be put to warning, at least.
Also I would say that, a con of Raw, is reluctance to Show Info. (Needing to get wrong twice first?)
Because I use WaniKani across multiple devices (Mac, PC, and my phone), I only have scripts installed on my PC (easier and doesn’t break my laptop like it does on my MacBook for some reason–Intel Macs suck).
This way, when I’m on my Windows PC, my experience is more forgiving when it comes to typos/brainfarts because I use DoubleCheck. But when I’m on other devices I’m forced to be more deliberate with how/what I answer, so I’m strictly forced to really be careful about what I type.
And so far I dont feel like I’m cheating or being dishonest with my learning. So possibly incorporating this strategy might work for you as well.
I’ve been using various SRS systems over the years to learn multiple languages, all of which have some sort of double check/undo system. I couldn’t really use WK without this feature.
But I think my experience with other languages really helps guide me here, I think I have a decent intuition when it comes to deciding what was a “real” mistake and what was a forgivable typo/inattention mistake. Remember that as long as it’s not a burn review, you’ll always get another opportunity to recall the word later and then fail it if you still haven’t gotten it. I also tend to take into account how useful I deem the entry to see how harsh I want to be. If I fail 食べる I’m unlikely to undo, if I fail 汽笛 on the other hand because I confused 笛 and 管… I’m willing to be a little more lenient.
In my opinion some people are too obsessed with using their tools perfectly right, but the truth in my experience is that it doesn’t really matter. You won’t actually know the stuff you learn on WK as long as you don’t encounter/use it in the wild and start assimilating the meaning of the word/kanji instead of relying on English translations.
WK helps you bootstrap the process and that’s it. It’s a very useful tool but also a rather limited one. Personally I vastly prefer using all sorts of scripts to “cheat” and go fast in WK, then use the time I save to read Japanese texts or play Japanese games for instance.
“Integrity and self-respect” is really a foreign concept for me when it comes to SRS. It’s about efficiency and best effort. If I can get 90% of the results with 50% of the time spent, then it’s well worth doing it. Once you’ve reached a critical mass of Kanji and vocabulary knowledge that lets you consume Japanese content, you can focus on plugging the holes and fixing what needs fixing, IMO.
Thanks for all the useful replies! I am going to continue with WK script-less for a couple more levels as I do not currently feel I can trust my honesty. Hopefully in time this will change, but for now I’ll enjoy the process (slowly).
I actually tried “raw” Wanikani again yesterday and honestly I can’t live without an undo script. Here’s the kind of things WK failed me for:
“to yell” instead of “to yell at”
“running wild” instead of “run wild”
Typo’d ちゆう instead of ちゅう for 営業中
Forgot the made-up name of the 至/attain radical (it’s “mole”)
“to reduce” instead of “to decrease”
“to offer” instead of “to propose”
I just failed a kanji guruing because I said that 誘 was “seduce” instead of “invite” (“seduce” is actually one of the meanings of the Kanji but WK doesn’t allow it)
Maybe you’re more consistent than I am, or you care less about false negatives in reviews, but I just feel like I’m wasting my time when that happens…
A thousand times yes, and don’t get me started on geoduck or today I had 公開 “open to public” was wrong because I forgot to write “open to THE public”, sometimes the simple mistakes are the most annoying, you get punished by silly things.
Also, for people that English isn’t their first language the undo button is very helpful.
I have never used any user scripts. I think WaniKani is well-made in terms of discipline but at the same time very forgiving. I think it is in the sweet spot. English is my second language so I encounter some unknown words or do grammatical mistakes from time to time but I don’t feel that it is an issue. It is very tempting to say that you know answer after seeing it but you have to be honest with yourself. I know that frustration but I always remind myself that there are no race or any obligations. It’s just you and kanji. Relax and enjoy it.