Crucial Facts Concerning Anime
This is not some fanatics guide to learning Japanese through only relentlessly watching anime online 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 the way you can better take advantage of watching Japanese popular media, adding to your other studying efforts.
There are actually mainly two things which watching anime, movies, TV shows or even theater can assist you with, should you have little to no previous knowledge. You guessed it, listening right? Well that is one. And the other is vocabulary. You can learn to pick up grammar as well, but which will have to be after you recognize some core sentence structures.
Take notes of all of the recurring words that you don't know. If you see the term used repeatedly over 20 minutes, and it is 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 difficult to learn from just textbooks and old audio CDs, is the fact that languages don't stay the same. They change with time, and sometimes keeping up 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 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 otherwise, 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 might be a good idea, because they tend to be more prone to speak within the standardized accent. If 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, 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 familiarity with Japanese grammar, you can learn some basic casual speech by studying the form. Or you may identify when particles are going to be omitted, then focus on the other 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 through which to use it, and then you simply expand when you see it employed 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 will get confused as to what or who you are speaking about, and also you have to go back and explain. There's a balance to be found on the flip side, and media can definitely be a step forward within the right direction.
When it comes to learning value, some genres are superior to others. I would have to state that for the most part, slice of life can be the most appropriate. You'll find two reasons for that. To begin with, there is simply simply more conversation involved, even when 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're everyday problems. As well as in the process of coping with them, you learn a lot of more relevant vocabulary and conjugations than you do through most other genres.
Sometimes you may find 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 even the corporate world will help you remember several of the lingo.
Attempt 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 will only work against you in the long run. If you start slipping in incredibly informal words or conjugations into conversation in a proper context, you are bound to give a bad impression.
If you end up 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. Locate 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 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 actually definitely things you may do to benefit more from simply consuming popular media, don't treat it as a complete substitute to actual studying. If you find yourself lacking motivation, do not 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 two, and if you have the opportunity, interaction with other people in Japanese as well.