A Short Guide On Anime
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 the way you can better take advantage of watching Japanese popular media, adding to your other studying efforts.
You can find mainly two issues which watching anime, movies, TV shows and even theater can assist you with, if you have little to no previous knowledge. You guessed it, listening right? Well that is one. As well as the other is vocabulary. You may learn to pick up grammar as well, but that may have to be after you recognize some core sentence structures.
Take notes of all 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 can make it difficult to learn from just textbooks and old audio CDs, is the fact that languages do not stay the same. They change with time, and sometimes keeping up to date with popular media, will be 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 good amount 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 wise 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 be a good idea, since they are more more likely to speak in the standardized accent. For anyone who is not considering hyojungoć¨?ćş?čŞ?, the standardized accent, but say Kansaiben,é?˘čĽżĺź you can do some research by watching anime online comedians from Kansai, although 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 also the vocabulary is archaic. If you try and be polite by following suit, you could actually end up not being understood, or simply make an incredibly weird first impression.
If you have already established some base knowledge of Japanese grammar, you can learn some basic casual speech by studying the form. Or you can identify when particles will be omitted, then concentrate 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 by which to use it, and after that you simply expand while you see it employed in other situations.
One thing to note is that the subject is often omitted from Japanese, even in semi-formal writing. But however, if you omit it too frequently, people can get confused as to what or who you are discussing, and also you have to go back and explain. There is a balance to be found in contrast, and media really can be a step forward within the right direction.
With regards to learning value, some genres are superior to others. I would have to claim that for the most part, slice of life can be the best. There are two reasons for that. Initially, there will be simply more conversation involved, even if battle heavy fantasy or sci-fi is usually riddled with crazy monologues, there is actual dialogue. Dialogue made to portray actual conversations between people, from our world.
Then perhaps more importantly, because the challenges they face are not murderous robots, or vampires, they can be everyday problems. As well as in the process of handling them, you learn plenty of more relevant vocabulary and conjugations than you need to do through most other genres.
Sometimes you may see that you are able to pick material that's perfectly suited for you. If you're going to work, or already work, in a big Japanese company, stories revolving around salarymen or the corporate world can help you remember some of the lingo.
Try and 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 discover yourself in a position where you have to learn a lot of Japanese in a short time period, you can substitute all of your normal media consumption with the Japanese equivalent. Find a band you like, pick out some movies to watch, as opposed to 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 there are 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 if you have the opportunity, interaction with others in Japanese also.
