/how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/ You don't know a language, you live it. You don't learn a language, you get used to it. Sat, 04 Jul 2020 16:09:19 +0900 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.13 /how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/#comment-196718 Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:52:10 +0000 /?p=6403#comment-196718 Saying that Japanese you hear in anime isn’t real Japanese is like saying that the cartoons in America don’t use real English. 

]]> /how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/#comment-189660 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:28:09 +0000 /?p=6403#comment-189660 Are people still asking this question? Wow, I mean, how can you learn languages if you don’t USE the language?
Tell you what, I’ve been brushing up on my French by reading the Smurfs. Some people would say it’s not even real French–I disagree.
 
 

]]> /how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/#comment-188100 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:18:08 +0000 /?p=6403#comment-188100 So what if anime isn’t “real” Japanese? It’s Japanese so it’ll help you learn.

]]> /how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/#comment-188092 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:27:51 +0000 /?p=6403#comment-188092 Are people seriously saying the whole ‘you can’t learn Japanese from anime’ again? I thought we’ve been over this:
1. If learning from anime would make you incomprehensible to Japanese, the Japanese wouldn’t be able to understand anime
2. People argue that anime isn’t the way people really talk, which isn’t true. The pronunciation is the same, it’s the words they use. And trust me, a not stupid person isn’t going to go around talking about giant robots or aliens in their normal sentences.
3. Every anime has some ‘everyday words/sentences’. (‘Hello’, ‘Goodbye’, etc.)

]]> /how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/#comment-188079 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:14:32 +0000 /?p=6403#comment-188079 I pity the person who seriously believes anime is bad for their Japanese.

]]> /how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/#comment-188053 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:53:59 +0000 /?p=6403#comment-188053 I know what you’re saying: if anime is your only source of Japanese then you’re probably not going to learn how to talk like a normal person, but this site is All Japanese All The Time. If a person is following the guidelines that Khatz has lain down, they couldn’t possibly only be using anime as input. Anime is perfectly fine to watch sometimes. If you read Japanese books, listen to Japanese podcasts, and browse Japanese websites, I highly doubt watching anime will hurt you. You can think of anime as like dessert. Something to do after you’ve had your fill of healthy salad Japanese. People who denounce anime seem to think you’re going to be eating anime ice cream for every meal. Even if you deem anime not a genre worth sentence mining, and I won’t say you’re wrong, there are still definite advantages to watching it (with no English subs, of course): listening practice and comprehension, and reinforcing words and grammar you already know. 
I just don’t get the anti-anime argument. I don’t know of a person who seriously studies Japanese and at the same time ONLY watches anime. That person just doesn’t exist.

]]> /how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/#comment-188050 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:36:16 +0000 /?p=6403#comment-188050 Um, have you ever been around English speakers?  ‘Cause that sounds pretty damn accurate to how we speak in relaxed, casual conversations.  Sure, I don’t go around saying “fuck you” to my boss, but that is because I’m not an *idiot* and I can recognize the appropriate context for different speech styles.  (I also don’t talk to my friends with “How do you do?” or call them sir or ma’am, because we’re not on a formal footing.)
 
No one’s saying “you can/should/must learn *everything* from anime”.  That doesn’t work, any more than watching exclusively dramas or only listening to music, not speech.  (And frankly, there’s so much other good media in Japanese, I dunno why anyone would *want* to limit themselves to anime.)  Fluency requires more than keigo; yes, it’s nice to be polite, but you’re not going to bother with clunky phrasing like 「・・・いたしませんか？」 when hitting on girls in a bar.  (Not to mention, overuse of keigo makes you sound like you’ve got the world’s largest stick up your 尻.)  Even if you don’t use it personally, understanding slang and impolite language is pretty important — and anime provides a nice first step.  (Because 声優 speak clearly, rather than mumbling like the average person; and once you learn a phrase, it’s easier to recognize it mumbled.)
 
(And for what it’s worth, I’ve learned useful Japanese that I use on a daily basis… from playing エロゲー.  I don’t think your argument holds water.)

]]> /how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/#comment-188027 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:31:15 +0000 /?p=6403#comment-188027 That’s some terrible advice.
Learning from anime is like learning English from R-rated movies.  Sure, it’s “real” Japanese.  But conversely, you’ll be saying “damn” or “hell” every other word if you learn sentence patterns from anime.
 

]]> /how-to-know-if-something-is-good-or-bad-for-your-japanese/#comment-187974 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:15:15 +0000 /?p=6403#comment-187974 I hate when people speak bad about learning from anime. They are all like “It is distinctively different from real spoken japanese!” When in reality, it’s just real japanese. Sure, you probably won’t say お前をゲットしてやるぜ！ in a normal day, but you will say
お前
～～して
やる
and ぜ
 

]]>