Sixteen Common Misconceptions About Watching Anime
anime collection with new subtitled and dubbed titles" style="max-width:440px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;">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, these are some pointers as to the way you can better benefit from watching Japanese popular media, adding to your other studying efforts.
There are actually mainly two issues which watching anime, movies, TV shows or even theater can help you with, should you have little to no previous knowledge. You guessed it, listening right? Well that is one. As well as the other is vocabulary. You can learn to pick up grammar also, but that will 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 term used repeatedly over 20 minutes, and Longisland explains it is not something limited by the confines of sci-fi or fantasy, jot it down and memorize it. The thing about a language that causes it to be challenging to learn from just textbooks and old audio CDs, is the fact that languages do not stay the exact 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 the fact 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 in any other case, 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 might be a good idea, because they will be more very likely 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 of the expressions you hear.
Speech in anime, or movies for that matter, is often 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 also the vocabulary is archaic. If you attempt 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 knowledge of Japanese grammar, you may learn some basic casual speech by studying the form. Or you can identify when particles will be omitted, then concentrate on the other parts of the sentence. When you proceed, you realize some parts of Japanese grammar may be learned almost as vocabulary, you learn the specific context by which to use it, and after that you simply expand as you see it used in other situations.
One thing to note is that the subject is usually omitted from Japanese, even in semi-formal writing. But at the same time, if you omit it too often, people will 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 on the other hand, and media can definitely be a step forward in the right direction.
On the subject of learning value, some genres are superior to others. I could have to say that for the most part, slice of life can be the most appropriate. You can find two reasons for that. Initially, there is just simply more conversation involved, even if battle heavy fantasy or science fiction 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, since the challenges they face are not murderous robots, or vampires, they can be everyday problems. As well as in the process of coping with them, you learn a great deal of more relevant vocabulary and conjugations than you need to do through most other genres.
Sometimes you can find that you're able to pick material that's perfectly suited for you. For anyone who is going to work, or already work, in a big Japanese company, stories revolving around salarymen or even the corporate world may help you remember some of the lingo.
Try and 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 within the long term. If you start slipping in incredibly informal words or conjugations into conversation in a proper context, you're bound to give a bad impression.
If you find yourself in a position where you have to learn a whole lot of Japanese in a short time frame, you can substitute all of your normal media consumption with the Japanese equivalent. Find a band you like, pick out some movies to watch, instead of TV watch series relevant to what you 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, do not let yourself fall into the pattern of only watching, and not doing any real work. The most effective effects will be accomplished with a variety of the two, and if you have the opportunity, interaction with others in Japanese also.