Things You Should Know About Watching Anime
This isn't 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, these 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 more mainly two issues that watching anime, movies, TV shows as well as theater will help you with, if you have little to no previous knowledge. You guessed it, listening right? Well that is one. And 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 of the recurring words that you do not 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 that languages do not stay the exact same. They change with time, and sometimes staying in touch 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 an excellent 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 great deal of unique expressions and sentence endings, you should be fine. Checking out some countrywide news could possibly be a great idea, as they tend to be more prone to speak in the standardized accent. For anyone who is not serious about hyojungoć¨?ćş?čŞ?, the standardized accent, but say Kansaiben,é?˘čĽżĺź you can do some study by watching 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 usually very casual, and omits elements one might 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 to be polite by following suit, you might actually end up not being understood, or simply make an incredibly weird first impression.
Should you have already established some base understanding of Japanese grammar, you may learn some basic casual speech by studying the form. Or you can identify when particles are increasingly being omitted, then concentrate on another parts of the sentence. As 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 utilized in other situations.
One thing to note is that the topic is usually omitted from Japanese, even in semi-formal writing. But on the flip side, if you omit it too frequently, people could possibly get confused as to what or who you are talking about, and you have to go back and explain. There's a balance to be found alternatively, and media can definitely be a step forward in the right direction.
In terms of learning value, some genres are superior to others. I might have to claim that for the most part, slice of life may be the most appropriate. You'll find two reasons for that. First off, there is simply simply more conversation involved, even if battle heavy fantasy or science fiction 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, because the challenges they face are not murderous robots, or vampires, they're everyday problems. As well as in the process of going through them, you learn a great deal of more relevant vocabulary and conjugations than you need to do through most other genres.
Sometimes you can see that you're able to pick material that is perfectly suited for you. If you are going to work, or already work, in a big Japanese company, stories revolving around salarymen or the corporate world may help you remember several of the lingo.
Attempt to only absorb things relevant to your age group. While understanding the terms high school students use might seem a way to remain hip, it's going to 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 your normal media consumption with the Japanese equivalent. Locate a band you like, pick out some movies to watch, as opposed to TV watch series relevant to what you will need the Japanese for. This 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 accomplished with a combination of the 2, and should you have the opportunity, interaction with other people in Japanese also.
