The Reality of Learning Japanese From Anime
In this video, I dive into the details of why anime is a great resource to learn Japanese from. I start off by pointing out that most forms of Japanese media (including novels, the news, drama, etc.) are technically “unnatural”, so it doesn’t make sense to single out anime as the one form of media Japanese learners should avoid. I then explain how yakuwarigo, one of the signature aspects of anime Japanese which makes it “unnatural”, counter-intuitively provides many benefits for Japanese learners. And finally, I conclude by covering a few additional features of anime that makes it quite an ideal resource to learn Japanese from.
This video is meant as a follow up to the video I released last week, “Why You SHOULD Learn Japanese From Anime”. That video lays the foundation for the idea that it’s perfectly fine to learn Japanese from anime (and in fact, for some people, anime may actually be a golden ticket to becoming fluent in Japanese). So, if you haven’t seen last week’s video yet, make sure you watch it before this one!
Why You SHOULD Learn Japanese From Anime: https://youtu.be/V9ND6uw6-QA
Yakuwarigo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuwarigo
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MUSIC:
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Intro
0:28 – All Japanese media is “unnatural”
3:34 – Not all anime is the same
4:14 – Yakuwarigo: the signature of anime Japanese
5:54 – Yakuwarigo will help you, not hurt you
9:49 – Summary
12:00 – Benefit of anime 1: abundance of content
13:03 – Benefit of anime 2: comprehensibility
14:44 – Benefit of anime 3: listening practice
15:28 – Benefit of anime 4: content on every level
17:03 – Conclusion
If you only learned English from 'natural' everyday language your speech would lack articulation, be full of unfinished sentences and just generally be very dull.
How do you start though I wonder? At first you would understand nothing and I'm not sure how you would get past that. Wouldn't you have to translate every sentence as you go? How much do you have to watch without understanding a single word until you actually knew what they were saying? I understand once you knew a fair bit of Japanese into would be really worthwhile but it's hard to picture it in the early days. Not being negative, just truly trying to understand.
15:53 n1
8:33 track
I mean, most self learners of Japanese are literally learning it because they love anime and that side of Japanese culture, usually not initially from novels or news..
So anime is what you should learn with. It also uses little keigo, so you will learn the basic structure of the language without this added on
what's the anime on the thumbnail
Yes, ～わ or ～かしら have not actually fallen into disuse. We use them fairly often. I think that such anime characters just EXAGGERATE and are basically 100% in ojōsama mode, overusing those words or particles compared to usual/real situations, where they would be used less systematically.
I live in Switzerland and all Ghibli animes are dubbed in German only and they sometimes can‘t even be removed! How am I supposed to improve as an A2 speaker using full blown anime with no japanese subs?
Has someone said they want to learn japanese from only jdrama or japanese news? I'd imagine they want to include more media than just anime.
@mattvsjapan how many times do you rewatch a single work (movie or TV episode)?
one-and-done regardless of how much or how little you understand, or rewatch again and again until you reach a desired threshold of comprehension, or somewhere in between?
Very good point!
Ideally, we should learn from all different kinds of media and content. These days, it's not too hard to find everything from super casual Japanese conversations to super formal political speeches on YouTube. I try to watch a little bit of everything to practice learning how to understand different formalities, vocabulary, and grammar used in different contexts. If we want to "sound native" we have to hear the same things a native would also hear.
first time hearing of yakuwarigo but I already knew it was a thing just from watching anime lol… Learning from anime really isn't gonna mess you up at all, you'll become aware of all the anime speech quirks pretty quickly
It all makes sense as even in English language people in real life don't speak and behave like characters in film and TV same thing applies for anime and Jdrama. Your videos have been a great help with learning thank you 😊
我学中文。不了解anime或日文。在中文语境里我不会考虑的那么多。但是有一点确实比较麻烦。那就是译文。这个方面一直困扰自己。因为我喜欢阅读英文著作的译本。曾经买了不少译本书籍。后来发现其中的不少烂文。有的翻译不敬业或者瞎弄，英文不及格。还有，某些网络新闻也翻译的不精确。情况与书籍的情况类似。某些西方媒体提供的中文版本报道不太精确。其实还好。我没有发现什么的问题。更多的考虑是中文好不好，而不是翻译的好不好。就是我阅读中文的一个大动机是提高我的中文水准。就是深入学习immersion了嘛。当然要阅读中文比较好的作品而不是机器中文，对吧。我的印象是大陆媒体出的作品文采搞了一个等级。至于中文自然不自然，我反倒不担心。我基本不与华人打交道。管他们怎么说话！我要的是准确的中文。偏向正规formal的中文。曾经有中国人告诉过我的。诉称汉语太formal的。是因为平时不与人交流。也不怎么看电影，看小说的通俗语言的。我中文里的这个方面一点不让我感到担心。唯独怕听不懂。我还是愿意精通汉语。能够理解来自各角落的中文信息。只是不是我的一个重点。具备proper正规，正宗的中文技能是我更大的心愿。
Anyone know the music used from 15:29 till 17:02 ? I can’t find it anywhere and would love to know what it is!
Is Shingeki no kyojin a good anime to learn japanese?
Literature and movies are never exactly how we talk in real life, aren't they? I don't watch a lot of anime but I read manga. And I would say that it gives you a decent example of what the language can be like in ALL its forms. And if you like manga you get all that variety in one package.
So I should focus on learning from JoJo. Got it fam.
Yeah, the clear enunciation from the voice actors is one of a number of reasons I've really liked watching anime for listening practice. And if you think about it, anime voice actors would probably be some of the most skillful speakers of the Japanese language in their society, so you're learning a very high quality of Japanese pronunciation if you watch anime.
わしって話す知り合いがいるが笑っちゃうわ
This guy really made me understand the language
Thanks to share m8, here come a new subscriber!
Finding this channel has been a blessing.
man I miss Matt videos
What dictionary is that one in 12:44 can someone help me ?
Dude I wanna learn Japanese so bad
The use of Yakuwarigo kinda exists in english too. In finnegans wake, it often never says who is speaking ,but you learn who is speaking by the way they talk.
But we need to be able too read first right ?
I could use Japanese subtitles but my kanji knowledge isn't as great as my other reading or conversation. I can pause and learn the kanji but wont know the stroke order. At least the reading/comprehension part is gonna help. I can recognize some kanji while reading way more than writing.
I guess I can use this method to familiarize myself with the kanji visually while I slowly learn how to write them from the book.
Your videos are inspiring to double down and focus. I was taking lessons and learning everyday but covid disrupted that and after I quit my job and currently creating a new business, all my time was put in my livelihood. Now I'm going to listen to Japanese learning videos and start using my books again while I work on emails and logistics..