All About 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, 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 will find mainly two issues that watching anime, movies, TV shows or maybe theater shall help one with, if you have little to no previous knowledge. You guessed it, listening right? Well that's one. And the other is vocabulary. You may learn to pick up grammar also, but that can 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 word used repeatedly over 20 minutes, and it's not something limited to 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 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 thai dubbed anime, or movies, or TV shows, is the fact 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 otherwise, 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 great deal of unique expressions and sentence endings, you should be fine. Checking out some countrywide news could be an excellent idea, as they tend to be more likely to speak within the standardized accent. When you are not considering hyojungoć¨?ćş?čŞ?, the standardized accent, but say Kansaiben,é?˘čĽżĺź you can do some study 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 attempt to be polite by following suit, you could actually end up not being understood, or just make an incredibly weird first impression.
If you have already established some base familiarity with Japanese grammar, you can learn some basic casual speech by studying the form. Or you can identify when particles are going to be omitted, then concentrate on the other parts of the sentence. While 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 employed in other situations.
One thing to note is that the subject is usually omitted from Japanese, even in semi-formal writing. But conversely, if you omit it too frequently, people could possibly 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 conversely, and media can definitely be a step forward within 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 beneficial. There are actually two reasons for that. Initially, there is simply 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 are everyday problems. As well as in the process of managing them, you learn a lot of more relevant vocabulary and conjugations than you do through most other genres.
Sometimes you can see that you're able to pick material that's perfectly suited for you. In case you are going to work, or already work, in a big Japanese company, stories revolving around salarymen or the corporate world can help you remember several of the lingo.
Try to only absorb things relevant to your age group. While knowing the terms secondary school students use might seem a way to remain hip, it's going to only work against you within the long run. If you start slipping in incredibly informal words or conjugations into conversation in an official context, you are bound to give a bad impression.
If you discover yourself in a position in which 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. Find 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 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, do not let yourself fall into the pattern of only watching, and not doing any real work. The most effective effects will be achieved with a mix of the 2, and should you have the opportunity, interaction with other people in Japanese as well.
