First, we should probably dispel a few myths.
What you can’t learn from watching anime
I know that using anime to learn Japanese is a very controversial topic.
Obviously, you cannot learn everything about a language by doing one thing alone. Of course, if you watch anime, you won’t learn to read or write Japanese characters, and your speaking ability won’t improve at all.
Watching anime will boost your listening comprehension, but imperfectly, too. There are several reasons for this:
- Anime characters tend to have certain ways of talking… not necessarily the most realistic
- Their speech is slower and clearer than in real life (try watching the Japanese news for a bit of a scare)
- “Ums” and “ahs” are generally cleansed from anime dialogue
There are other limitations you may never have even thought of. For example, in real life, people speaking Japanese tend to use certain body language, gestures, and facial expressions to accentuate their points, which may not be represented in anime.
Clearly, the Japanese anime/TV/movie/music fan misses out on a lot.
What you can learn from watching anime
- vocabulary, common phrases and expressions
- how the language sounds naturally; the natural rhythms and cadences of the language
- correct pronunciation/intonation
- general sentence construction
- distinctions between pronouns, suffixes (-chan, -kun), “levels of formality” in speech, and other things difficult to grasp out of context
- with supplementary reading on grammar and armed with a good dictionary – nearly anything!
Honestly, I think naysayers of learning Japanese through X (X typically being anime) are being a bit overly pessimistic. Perhaps they tried it and failed, I don’t know. Perhaps they learned it “the hard way” and shudder at the thought of anyone actually having fun while learning the language.
All I can say is, with the right attitude anything is possible. This applies to learning a language as well.
As long as you’re willing to put in the hard work required – i.e., actually looking up words in the dictionary, reading up on grammar, Googling anything and everything you don’t understand, reading and listening to indecipherable Japanese news, etc – I think watching anime is an excellent and superbly fun way to improve your Japanese.
Happy learning!
I love Anime! (Blassreiter), I love JRPG themes, I love JRPG games (games like Final Fantasy), I love Chinese music, especially Jrock that play at the beginning of Anime Series. I’m such a huge fan, seriously, that I have no idea where I’d be right now without it. I only began watching Anime about.. 3yrs ago, but since then, I look back and just think to myself…. I wasn’t doing anything! I was so bored! lols
Great site… keep up the good work!
What you said is right, but I think you made a misjudgment on the “naysayers”. You cannot learn Japanese SOLELY from anime alone. And you proved that by stating that one needs supplementary reading as well as other sources of learning. In effect you did actually prove the “naysayers” right.
Hey, thanks for the comment. You’re right of course. I was just hoping to encourage those who might be afraid to learn Japanese, maybe because they don’t like/can’t afford textbooks or classes, or they only want to learn enough to understand anime a little bit better, etc.