Is this a new feature? Looks fantastic.
Hi, and thanks for posting on the forums! The information itself is not new, but the implementation on the vocab page is.
For several years now, we have had nuance hints that appear either in Japanese or in English to help with guessing vocabulary or grammar during reviews. Due to many users requesting that we add this information to the vocab/grammar itself over the years, that is exactly what we have done! Please note that not all vocab has hints/summaries yet, but weāre making great pace to get these all out as soon as possible.
This information will still appear within reviews to help jog your memory if sometimes the sentence translation and target word is not enough to help narrow down the possibilities.
The intention with these descriptions is basically to behave in the same way a learnerās dictionary would for any given language. A nice succinct description that isnāt too over the top, and should be able to be read by anyone around the B1 (European) or N3 (JLPT) level.
It is definitely recommended to try setting your in-app language to Japanese as soon as you feel semi-confident reading these, as they are a fantastic way to get in a bit of extra reading practice, and an even better way to help you get a sense for how to describe different words in Japanese .
I think Asher summed it up really well, but Iāve been working with @Fuga on fine-tuning our hints for N3-N1 and trying to come up with concise phrasing that provides more context for when and how these words are typically used. Iām really glad to hear youāre finding them helpful!
As Asher mentioned, these arenāt meant to be comprehensive ādefinitionsā that cover every nuance or use case as that would be impossible. But they definitely offer more clarity than youād get from just looking up a word in something like Jisho.
I also use Bunpro to study, and aside from a private tutor once a week, Iāve been entirely self-taught, so Iāve tried to draw from my own experience, especially with words I personally struggled to grasp. These nuance hints have absolutely helped my retention, and adding them directly to the vocabulary pages is a big step forward for our system.
I believe everything up through N2 and just over 50% of N1 now includes these hints, with the rest of N1 actively being worked on. As always, if you come across a hint thatās confusing or could use improvement, weād love your feedback.
Also, Iāve been working with Bunpro since February and was formerly JBrat96 here on the forums. I guess this is my official introduction!
Yeah just want to agree that these have been super helpful so far. I think conceptually understanding the general idea behind the word especially when itās used in a variety of somewhat different situations is really helpful for actually āgetting itā. I wasnāt using the hints in the vocab so didnāt know they existed. Much appreciated!