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Does watching anime really help learn Japanese?

Discussion in 'Entertainment and Technology' started by rudysteiner, Mar 27, 2016.

  1. rudysteiner

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    Hey everyone,

    I am a person with a huge interest in Japan as a whole. I don't think there's anything I know of, that I don't like.

    My dream job, as I've mentioned before, is to teach English as a foreign language, as I would love to teach, and it gives me the opportunity to become fluent in another language. I want to be able to teach in a few countries, with Japan being one of them, and with Japanese being so distant from English as a language, it wouldn't seem right not to learn Japanese, even if I don't become fluent.

    I've been using Memrise to learn Japanese for the last ten minutes, and I don't want to brag, but I can already say four words. I know there's a big anime fanbase on this site, and more than a few (?) people learning Japanese, so, is it true that anime can help learn Japanese, or do you need some sort of foundation in Japanese first?
     
  2. Jellyfish Clear

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    It can help you get a feel for the pronunciation of the words and how the language is actually spoken as well as it helps to reinforce things you already know but actually properly learning the language itself not that much.
    Plus it is absolutely useless at actually learning the aplaphets
    But good luck ^.^ Even if you don't get to learn that much Japanese it is still a really fun entertainment medium with all sorts of different shows haha
     
    #2 Jellyfish Clear, Mar 27, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2016
  3. radicalmuffins

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    Anime is a nice way to get introduced to the language HOWEVER, the Japanese in anime is not "standard" Japanese. Most anime use very colloquial or exaggerated speech which would be considered abnormal for most native speakers. If you choose to speak that way, people would give you weird looks or would just consider you an otaku of japanese culture and therefore, not take you seriously.

    For a better feel of the language, I suggest you watch Japanese movies (drama/action/romance) instead. They are more natural sounding. You also have the option to listen to Japanese people speaking on random youtube videos, twitcasting... etc.
     
  4. CJliving

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    Dramas or talk shows would probably be better. Kids anime (like Anpanman, Doraemon, Ultraman, etc.) would work too. It would definitely help with listening skills, word order, and such. For anything above kids shows I think it'd be more useful with a good foundation (grammar/vocabulary), otherwise you won't understand much anyways. Once you've got the basics, you'll be able to pick up some stuff though.

    Learn the writing system hiragana first, then katakana. Worry about kanji later. Do Not rely on romaji. Try to find a pen pal or someone to talk to in Japanese. I'd be happy to help (off of EC of course) if you want, just send me a PM.
     
  5. Skaros

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    A lot of people who move to a new country learn the language by watching TV, but it's of course not the best way to learn a language. It can help, certainly. I've picked up a few words by watching anime. However, I find that TV is good as a "back-up" for learning a language. You need to have some sort of primary source of language learning, and you can supposedly test your skills by watching TV and comparing for yourself the languages.
     
  6. SHACH

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    Yes. Absolutely. But not by just watching it. Here's my advice, built up from reading thousands of learning theories and doing stuff myself:

    1. Learn hiragana and katakana. Do each in one week. Its simple. Don't you dare start learning words using English letters, it'll set you back.
    2. Focus on learning the 100 most common words.
    2. Learn basic grammar from Tae Kim: Japanese Grammar Guide | Learn Japanese
    3. Then continue your learning of the first 1000 words while watching a really simple anime. Like Nichijou (I found whole episodes on dailymotion), which has simple everyday themes and lots of visual humour to use as a crutch. The technique is watch without subtitles, then with subtitles. Then rip the audio off the video (there's lots of free software or websites to do that) and listen to it a couple times when you're commuting or whatever. Basically what you're doing, is forcing your brain to pick out words you know and put together all the visual and emotional clues by watching without subs, then you can correct your assumptions with subs, and then solidify anything you might have learnt by relistening. Keep going through Tae Kim's essential grammar.
    4. If you've got this far you're really serious so now you're in for hard work. Time to learn some kanji for real. Use Heisig's blue book or something Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not To Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters: Amazon.co.uk: James W. Heisig: 9780824835927: Books . And decks on memrise or anki or something. Write them a lot. Learn about 600 before moving on. Many people reccomend you learn all 2000 before doing anything... I think that's a bit demotivating.
    5. Now you start USING the anime to learn. You're doing the same thing as you were in step 3 but you're really doing for real understanding this time. I mean, there are several things you can do at this point. Use some more premade flashcards and stuff, or you can really mine material out of the anime. You'll need anki not memrise for sure now Anki - powerful, intelligent flashcards and this program https://sourceforge.net/projects/subs2srs/ and anime either on DVD or downloaded. You process the anime through this program, you get flashcards with audio and snapshots. I could talk for a long time about this, its sort of complicated to set up but basically means you can learn words directly from your anime. When you're thinking about doing it, hit me up.

    Recommended reading for learning techniques:
    Japanese Level Up - Your Adventure. Your Quest. Make It Memorable. (they also have amazing premade kanji and vocab decks)
    AJATT | All Japanese All The Time | You don't know a language, you live it. You don't learn a language, you get used to it.

    I have to agree with other people here though - dramas genreally have more useful language. Anime is full of slang and weird quirky unuseable words.
     
    #6 SHACH, Mar 27, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2016
  7. rudysteiner

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    Hey, thanks for the info.

    Is romaji phonetically spelled Japanese or just a romanised version? For example, would kuchi (mouth --> くち) be romaji? I've got almost half the hiragana alphabet mastered now, I think. It's not too bad. I haven't started katakana yet. Do you have any tips for learning both of these?

    Also, just because your location is in Japan, I thought I'd ask a question: what alphabet(s) is/are used on things like road signs etc? The sign writing is quite intimidating to me, hahaha. Hope you don't mind me asking.

    I'll be sure to drop you a PM as soon as I become a full member, I applied earlier this evening and I'm not sure whether regular members can send PMs unless it's to a mod. Correct me if I'm wrong and I'll do it right away.
     
  8. GermanEmily

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    Just by watching anime, i have learnt like 30 words in Japanese. I think thats pretty cool and brag about it A LOT. :slight_smile:
     
  9. PANictime

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    Well, I am currently learning Japanese, and almost all of the Japanese words I know, I learned from anime. Just so you know, I know I know 13 Japanese words (!).
     
  10. Kira

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    I think I might actually know some Japanese if everybody wouldn't talk so fast, it takes me a little while to process when I'm not fluent in the language. :icon_wink

    French would be a lot more useful though, as I'd love to live in Ontario someday.
     
  11. CloudBurst

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    Watching anime probably does help, as would most television or videos in any language. probably
    I've picked up quite a bit of Japanese from it (only just enough to hold a small conversation), and I'd say it's similar to when you're shown videos in language classes in school in the sense that it's pretty easy to pick up what they're saying after a while
     
  12. Batman

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    I'm not learning Japanese, nor do I really have an interest in doing so, however, through watching anime I have picked up some words and phrases.

    Whoever said that exposing yourself to media of any sort in the language you wish to become fluent in is key is totally right. In my experience, lots of language learning apps (I'm not familiar with the one you mentioned) provide formal phrasing and structuring, and isn't always the best reflection of how the language is used by native speakers. So in that respect, watching Japanese shows, or even reading magazines or whatever can help a lot in understanding the best word choices for whatever you're trying to say.

    I suppose it really just depends how you want to use the language :slight_smile:
     
  13. kibou97

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    Watching standard anime is not the best idea for learning Japanese when you're just starting out as you have very little foundation to build upon. However, going by my personal experience as well as my classmate's experiences, It starts to help a lot more if you've already been through a year or two of Japanese classes. You'd just have to watch out and make sure you don't confuse actual speech with small character nuances otherwise people will think you're strange.