How 10 Things Will Change The Way You Approach 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, and in all cases miserable failure was the result. No, they are some pointers as to how you can better benefit from watching Japanese popular media, adding to your other studying efforts.
You can find mainly two issues which watching anime, movies, TV shows or maybe theater can assist you 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 which will 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 term used repeatedly over 20 minutes, and it is not something limited by the confines of science fiction or fantasy, jot it down and memorize it. The thing about a language that causes it to be hard 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 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 great idea. Identify where the different characters are from, in anime this really is often not possible, but usually if you steer clear of the characters using a lot of unique expressions and sentence endings, you should be fine. Checking out some countrywide news may be an excellent idea, because they are more likely to speak within the standardized accent. In case you are not excited about hyojungoć¨?ćş?čŞ?, the standardized accent, but say Kansaiben,é?˘čĽżĺź you can 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 also 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.
If you have already established some base knowledge of Japanese grammar, you can learn some basic casual speech by studying the form. Or you may identify when particles will be omitted, then focus on the additional parts of the sentence. As you proceed, you realize some parts of Japanese grammar may be learned almost as vocabulary, you learn the specific context through which to use it, and after that you simply expand while you see it utilized in other situations.
One thing to note is the fact that the subject is usually omitted from Japanese, even in semi-formal writing. But having said that, if you omit it too frequently, people can get confused as to what or who you are talking about, and you have to go back and explain. There is a balance to be found on the other hand, and media can definitely be a step forward within the right direction.
On the subject of learning value, some genres are superior to others. I would have to claim that for the most part, slice of life can be the most appropriate. You'll find two reasons for that. Initially, there is simply 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, because the challenges they face are not murderous robots, or vampires, they can be everyday problems. And in the process of dealing 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 see that you're able to pick material which is perfectly suited for you. When 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 age group. While knowing the terms high school students use might seem a way to remain hip, it shall only work against you within the long haul. If you start slipping in incredibly informal words or conjugations into conversation in an official context, you're bound to give a bad impression.
If you discover yourself in a position the place you have to learn a great deal of Japanese in a short time-frame, you can substitute all your normal media consumption with the Japanese equivalent. Find a band you like, pick out some movies to watch, rather than TV watch anime online 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 you'll find definitely things you can 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 into the pattern of only watching, and not doing any real work. The very best effects will be accomplished with a variety of the two, and if you have the opportunity, interaction with other people in Japanese as well.
