ふじさん vs ふじやま what is "Vocabulary Reading"?


I'm using wanikani, and I'm confused by this question I keep getting wrong.
The app is showing me `ふじ山` and asking for "Vocabulary Reading". At this point
I always type ふじやま but the correct answer by wanikani is ふじさん. What is
vocabulary reading? What is さん and what is やま other than they both mean
mountain? Which ending sound do people use in which contexts?




I don't know about "vocabulary reading". Please ask about it elsewhere.

Anyway, the highest mountain in Japan is normally called ふじさん in Japanese.
Fujiyama is more of a nickname used mainly outside Japan. From Wikipedia:

> ### [Mount Fuji](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Fuji)
>
> In English, the mountain is known as Mount Fuji. Some sources refer to it as
> "Fuji-san", " **Fujiyama** " or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Japanese
> speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". This "san" is not the
> honorific suffix used with people's names, such as Watanabe-san, but the
> Sino-Japanese reading of the character yama (山, "mountain") used in Sino-
> Japanese compounds.

Occasionally, Japanese people intentionally use the reading of ふじやま to add an
"exotic" or "foreign" flavor. Many "gaijin" characters in anime often say
Fujiyama with a foreign accent. And there is a roller coaster called FUJIYAMA
near Mount Fuji.

> ### [Fujiyama (roller
> coaster)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiyama_\(roller_coaster\))
>
> Fujiyama is a steel roller coaster at Fuji-Q Highland, Fujiyoshida,
> Yamanashi, Japan.
>
> Fujiyama is named after the iconic Mount Fuji, which stands to the west of
> Tokyo. The term Fujiyama comes from "fuji", and "yama" which means mountain.
> Mount Fuji is seldom referred to as "Fujiyama" in Japanese culture, but is
> instead more commonly referred to as "Fujisan", using the on'yomi
> pronunciation of the "mountain" character. **The roller coaster Fujiyama is
> named as a play on the common foreign mistransliteration**.

(Trivia: there are actually some little-known mountains whose formal name is
ふじやま. For example,
[this](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AF%8C%E5%A3%AB%E5%B1%B1_\(%E6%B8%8B%E5%B7%9D%E5%B8%82\)).)




I don't know about "vocabulary reading". Please ask about it elsewhere.

Anyway, the highest mountain in Japan is normally called ふじさん in Japanese.
Fujiyama is more of a nickname used mainly outside Japan. From Wikipedia:

> ### [Mount Fuji](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Fuji)
>
> In English, the mountain is known as Mount Fuji. Some sources refer to it as
> "Fuji-san", " **Fujiyama** " or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Japanese
> speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". This "san" is not the
> honorific suffix used with people's names, such as Watanabe-san, but the
> Sino-Japanese reading of the character yama (山, "mountain") used in Sino-
> Japanese compounds.

Occasionally, Japanese people intentionally use the reading of ふじやま to add an
"exotic" or "foreign" flavor. Many "gaijin" characters in anime often say
Fujiyama with a foreign accent. And there is a roller coaster called FUJIYAMA
near Mount Fuji.

> ### [Fujiyama (roller
> coaster)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiyama_\(roller_coaster\))
>
> Fujiyama is a steel roller coaster at Fuji-Q Highland, Fujiyoshida,
> Yamanashi, Japan.
>
> Fujiyama is named after the iconic Mount Fuji, which stands to the west of
> Tokyo. The term Fujiyama comes from "fuji", and "yama" which means mountain.
> Mount Fuji is seldom referred to as "Fujiyama" in Japanese culture, but is
> instead more commonly referred to as "Fujisan", using the on'yomi
> pronunciation of the "mountain" character. **The roller coaster Fujiyama is
> named as a play on the common foreign mistransliteration**.

(Trivia: there are actually some little-known mountains whose formal name is
ふじやま. For example,
[this](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AF%8C%E5%A3%AB%E5%B1%B1_\(%E6%B8%8B%E5%B7%9D%E5%B8%82\)).)

