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This is not some fanatics guide to learning Japanese through only relentlessly watching anime, and not doing any work at all, a feat that I have seen attempted, as well as in all cases miserable failure was the result. No, they are some pointers as to how you can better take advantage of watching anime online Japanese popular media, adding to your other studying efforts.
There are mainly two things that watching anime, movies, TV shows and even theater shall help one with, should you have little to no previous knowledge. You guessed it, listening right? Well that’s one. And also the other is vocabulary. You can learn to pick up grammar also, but that may have to be after you recognize some core sentence structures.
Take notes of all of the recurring words that you don’t know. If you see the phrase used repeatedly over 20 minutes, and it is not something limited to the confines of science fiction or fantasy, jot it down and memorize it. The thing about a language that makes it tough to learn from just textbooks and old audio CDs, is the fact that languages don’t stay the exact same. They change with time, and sometimes keeping up to date with popular media, is the only way to have an up-to-date vocabulary, short of actually living and breathing the language.
One thing about anime, or movies, or TV shows, is that there can sometimes be a great deal of different dialects in play. If you already have experience from living in Tokyo, or someplace with a relatively neutral accent, you should be fine. But if not, paying attention and not mixing up accents is a good idea. Identify where the different characters are from, in anime this is often not possible, but usually if you steer clear of the characters using a whole lot of unique expressions and sentence endings, you should be fine. Checking out some countrywide news could possibly be a great idea, as they are more more likely to speak within the standardized accent. For anybody who is not thinking about hyojungoć¨?ćş?čŞ?, the standardized accent, but say Kansaiben,é?˘čĽżĺź you may do some research by watching comedians from Kansai, even though you might want to refrain from using all the expressions you hear.
Speech in anime, or movies for that matter, is often very casual, and omits elements one could have to use in normal or formal speech. On the opposite side of the spectrum, in samurai themed animes or movies, the grammar is riddled with old conjugations, and the vocabulary is archaic. If you try and be polite by following suit, you might actually end up not being understood, or just make an incredibly weird first impression.
Should you have already established some base knowledge of Japanese grammar, you may learn some basic casual speech by studying the form. Or you may identify when particles are going to be omitted, then focus on the additional parts of the sentence. While you proceed, you realize some parts of Japanese grammar can be learned almost as vocabulary, you learn the specific context in which to use it, and after that you simply expand when you see it used in other situations.
One thing to note is the fact that the topic is usually omitted from Japanese, even in semi-formal writing. But alternatively, if you omit it too frequently, people can get confused as to what or who you are talking about, and also you have to go back and explain. There is a balance to be found on the other hand, and media will surely be a step forward within the right direction.
In regards to learning value, some genres are superior to others. I would have to state that for the most part, slice of life can be the very best. You can find two reasons for that. First off, there is just simply more conversation involved, even if battle heavy fantasy or sci-fi is often riddled with crazy monologues, there is actual dialogue. Dialogue made to portray actual conversations between people, from our world.
Then perhaps more importantly, since the challenges they face are not murderous robots, or vampires, they’re everyday problems. And in the process of managing them, you learn a great deal of more relevant vocabulary and conjugations than you need to do through most other genres.
Sometimes you can discover that you’re able to pick material that’s perfectly suited for you. If you are going to work, or already work, in a big Japanese company, stories revolving around salarymen or perhaps the corporate world can assist you remember several of the lingo.
Attempt to only absorb things relevant to your actual age group. While understanding the terms secondary school students use might seem a way to remain hip, it shall only work against you in the long run. If you start slipping in incredibly informal words or conjugations into conversation in a formal context, you are bound to give a bad impression.
If you find yourself in a position where you have to learn a lot of Japanese in a short time frame, you may substitute all your normal media consumption with the Japanese equivalent. Locate a band you like, pick out some movies to watch, in place of TV watch series relevant to what you need the Japanese for. This really is especially effective in between study sessions, as it provides a necessary break, while not completely losing focus of the task at hand.
While you’ll find definitely things you may do to benefit more from simply consuming popular media, do not treat it as a complete substitute to actual studying. If you find yourself lacking motivation, don’t let yourself fall in to the pattern of only watching, and not doing any real work. The very best effects will be achieved with a mix of the 2, and should you have the opportunity, interaction with others in Japanese as well.
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Shoshana Wiles created the group
Watching Anime At A Glance 4 years, 7 months ago