I know questions like this have been asked a lot but most of them center around things like black hole or poop radical which I really don’t mind.
After making a list it also occurred to me just how little of a problem this is after level 25ish considering there are 4 of these in one level, I’m just wondering why. Do some people value the mnemonics highly enough to have to relearn definitions?
Note: All these definitions are taken from KanjiDic so I may very well just be wrong when compared to the JP definitions.
I am at a loss as to why WaniKani makes up certain radical names. I don’t mind things look Poop or Geoduck, only the Kanji that are introduced as radicals, I would hope they somewhat allude to an actual meaning. But with things like 冓 Lifeguard using made up words makes it much harder to infer the meaning.
Now to be fair this is clearly not a big problem, just something that bugs me. From I could tell only about %1.5 of the radicals are this way so really not a big deal at all, just something that bugs me.
Maybe add the “real” definitions into the meaning field of radicals just so people like me don’t need to look it up every time.
I don’t mind the random radicals that don’t mean anything, just the ones that do and that are taught to mean something completely different.
Not trying to complain too much, I really do love wanikani and respect the insane amount of work put into balancing the SRS. Just trying to understand why mnemonics take precedence over characters with actual meaning. Ideally mnemonics would only take precedent if the meaning is far removed from the vocab/kanji you will learn. Sorry if the tone is off, I’m really not trying to be aggressive. If I didn’t have Wanikani I really don’t know how I would study Kanji.
Lists:
Don’t have actual meanings and only used for the sake of mnemonics, these are fine just annoying.
Scarecrow- to fill,roll of cloth seemingly no relation
Death Star- No meaning to be found, mnemonic only
Wedding- For the first time- seemingly no relation
Pirate- To move on- seemingly no relation
Rocket- rare beast,strange,elegant- seemingly no relation
Hot Pepper- false,punish,crime,law- seemingly no relation
Football- lead on to,therefore,then- seemingly no relation
Has meaning but assigned random name for sake of mnemonic even though the meaning of the radical/Kanji has relation to the meaning of the Kanji/Vocab. As well as not having an intuitive shape to the wanikani name, so learning ease is should not be a factor.
** 莫 Greenhouse-*
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must not,do not,be not,endless… Used in a whole lot of Kanji.
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This one has been talked about a lot on the forums so I won’t go too far into it but one glaring issue is 模(imitate). If this radical was taught with the primary meaning of, be not, inferring the meaning of imitate is simple. Tree + do not makes sense, greenhouse + tree obviously doesn’t.
** 冓 Lifeguard-*
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put together,inner palace… 購(Subscription) 講(lecture) 構(Set Up) 溝(Gutter)
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This one is pretty bad imo, with the meaning of put together, 講,構,溝 can all be easily inferred. But you are stuck with nothing if you learn it as lifeguard. I mean come on now, put together + tree=構(set up) put together + say is clearly a lecture. Inferring these is simple with the proper definition. You could even use a mnemonic with using something like treehouse for 構.
** 禹 Mantis-*
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name of a Chinese emperor… Used in 属(Belong) 嘱(Request)
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Feel like associating a flag with a Chinese Emperor would be a lot easier, to me that conveys a strong sense of belong
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But this one is mostly fine I guess considering the really outdated usage
** 乙 Nose-*
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the latter,duplicate,strange,witty…Used in 乙(latter) 乾(Dry)
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Literally just wrong, serves no relation to any meaning.
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Surely it would be better to associate the radical with what the Kanji actually means.
** 示 Jackhammer-*
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show,indicate,point out,express,display…Used in 示(indicate)
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Seems it would be better to not have to relearn a meaning so far down the road.
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I can sort of understand this one cause yeah it looks like a jackhammer but why 10 levels before learning indicate.
** 享 Sock-*
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enjoy,receive,undergo,answer(phone),take,get,catch…Used in 享(recieve) 郭(Enclosure) 塾(Cram School) 熟(Ripen)
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Surely it would be better to associate the radical with what the Kanji actually means.
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Literally just wrong from what I can tell, serves no relation to any meaning.
** 甚 Crab Trap-*
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tremendously,very,great,exceedingly…Used in 堪(endure) 勘(intuition) 堪(Very).
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Obviously would be easier to associate very with very, intuition with very power, and endure with very dirt.
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Literally just wrong from what I can tell, serves no relation to any meaning.
** 頁 Geoduck*- page… Literally just wrong, serves no relation to any meaning
- But eh its a good meme at this point
** Cat Pirate-*
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lofty,high,raise,high-priced…
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Used in 仰(look up to) 仰(Welomce).
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Obviously much easier to associate look up to, with lofty or high, than whatever a cat pirate is supposed to be
** Black Hole-*
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return,repeat,repeatedly…
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Used in 復（restore） 複(duplicate) 腹(Belly) 覆(Capsize)…
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Here duplicate and restore can both be easily associated with return making the association much easier
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Can sort of see what they were thinking but the actual definitions are much better at for association imo.
If I’m missing something, please let me know cause obviously my Japanese knowledge is not that great, and sorry about the formatting.
