Forum - View topicGood anime for learning Japanese?
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RDespair
 Posts: 263 Location: California |
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So I'm fluent in Chinese & I know a little Japanese (took a few Japanese classes in college) and I've decided to stop messing around and try to finally get my Japanese up to a fluent level. I'm planning on going over to Japan to teach English sometime later this year to work on my conversation skills, but in the meantime, in addition to my regular grammar and vocabulary study, I've decided to try to use anime & videogames to study as well: might as well learn vocabulary that I'll actually use, right?
I was wondering, are there any series with an option to have English & Japanese subtitles on simultaneously during the whole episode? I know some OP & ED songs have this set-up and I've found them rather useful both for learning new vocabulary and for practicing grammar. Aside from that, are there any good series that you all would recommend with relatively easy to follow dialogue? Oh and I'm already know about http://www.yale.edu/anime/glossary.html and http://www.solon.org/cgi-bin/j-e/dict. The first one was fun to study and the second one is immensely useful. |
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one3rd
 Posts: 1820 Location: アメリカ |
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I wonder if there are better places than anime to learn Japanese. It reminds me of this post:
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=206537#206537 |
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morsmaestro
 Posts: 172 Location: Sacramento |
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Thats all well and good, it explains a lot of sources for learning Japanese, but I'd like to know about any anime with dual subtitles (at least I'm calling it that) as well. I'm learning Japanese too, but its going V...E...R...Y... ...S...L...O...W...L...Y  due to a lack of study material, and no classes in my town (I checked thoroughly)
So yes, if anyone knows any anime with 'dual subtitles' please speak up. |
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v1cious
 Posts: 6282 Location: Houston, TX |
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sometimes looking at the Karaoke is useful, at least for pronounciations
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6921 Location: Kazune City |
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Aww, was that my post in particular that you were linking to? Anyway, to answer the OP's question, no, I don't know of any anime with dual-language Eng/JP subs. There's simply no reason to put it them there--most non-Japanese viewers don't know and can't read Japanese, and Japanese viewers have no reason to need English subs on their anime. Aside from OP / ED sequences, the only instance I can think of is a few lines in Ghost Stories, where the English VAs read the Japanese lines and the "dubtitle" track shows the Japanese. But aside from the post that one3rd quoted, my general advice is to get some child-oriented or romantic comedy anime, watch it with subtitles, and use the basic knowledge you have from those college classes to pick up words. Of course, take everything with a grain of salt, since words like "baka" certainly aren't used as much IRL as they are in anime. |
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RDespair
Posts: 263 Location: California |
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Of course there are much better places to learn Japanese than anime if all you're interested in is being able to communicate with a Japanese person. Still, I would like to learn the Japanese for a bunch of fantasy and science fiction vocabulary and I can think of few places better than anime for that. For example, today I learned the word uchujin (alien) and chikyuuzin (earthling) from anime; those aren't the kinds of words you're likely to find in a Japanese textbook.
Plus since I already watch anime, I might as well get some language practice in while I'm at it. Thanks for the link though. As someone who knows Chinese rather well, I was most entertained by the Asians learning Japanese versus Westerners learning Japanese arguing. Dual subtitles...I like that term. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Uhh...read manga in Japanese?
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MorwenLaicoriel
 Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
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I should warn you--my Japanese teacher told me that almost always the type of Japanese used in anime is VERY INFORMAL compared to what a fluent adult would typically use. It's sort of like the difference between saying "Hello, sir. It's nice to meet you." and "YO. How YOU doin'?"
For example, in Spirited Away the baby refers to Yubaba as 'Baba'. I asked my teacher if this was a nickname or another word for 'mother', and she was horrified. She told me that 'Baba' basically means "old hag"--and that's the mild translation, appearantly. When I asked it, she basically said 'Never, EVER call anyone that!!" So...while I don't think it's nessisarily bad to use anime to suppliment your studies...you shouldn't use it exclusively. You'll probably end up sounding pretty rude and harsh, maybe even unintelligent. I mean, I love Fullmetal Alchemist, but I'd be pretty offended if a random stranger came up to me and started talking like Ed. 
(Although I do know that Tohru from Fruits Basket talks very politely, so there are SOME characters you could learn from. Becareful with that, though.) |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Umm, yes. It's not nice to call someone that, but me and my WHOLE family call my grandma: "Baa" and that's stuck from seven years ago. It originally started off as "Obaba-sama." If you read Fruits Basket vol. 9 in Japanese Megumi refers to his grandma as "Obaba". Don't get me wrong, 3/4 of the time it's gonna be bad, but sometimes it just might be a reference. |
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one3rd
Posts: 1820 Location: アメリカ |
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Actually, I always remember the last part of the post that was done for humorous effect rather than the informative and perhaps useful first part. |
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pawnsacrifice
 Posts: 18 Location: Ohio |
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There are a few Japanese dvds that contain both Japanese and English subtitles, but these are rare and don't show both at the same time. Your best bet would be to read bilingual manga which has both English and Japanese on the same page. As for using anime to learn Japanese, it would be better to watch J-dramas. J-dramas tend to reflect the use of the language in real life, which I assume is what you want. My native Japanese teachers have all encouraged me to watch J-dramas to improve my fluency at one time or another.
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Ah, I know precisely what you mean. As a long-time SF fan (more than three decades now), I'm always interested in reading SF in new languages, and SF has a quite specialised set of jargon terms that you can't normally look up. And even worse, SF authors tend to create new jargon on the fly. Try reading the manga of Awatake Takahiro, and blood vessels in your brain will start to pop from the effort... 
As for myself, I just recently learned the term 超能力者 (chounouryokusha, "person with supernatural power, person capable of extrasensory perception" -- i.e. an esper). Handy. - abunai |
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RDespair
Posts: 263 Location: California |
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Why on earth would you assume that someone on an anime forum would want to learn Japanese for real life?  Anime, manga, fiction, cheesy live action videos, and videogames all the way!
超能力者 chounouryokusha, I'm going to have to remember that one. I could understand the meaning just fine with my Chinese since I recognize all the characters (although they would never combine them like that in Chinese) - Exceeding Ability Strength Being - but it's cool to find out how the Japanese would say such a thing. You didn't happen to learn that word from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by the way did you? |
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pawnsacrifice
Posts: 18 Location: Ohio |
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RDespair: I suggested J-Dramas because you say you want to get your Japanese up to a fluent level. In order to get it up to a fluent level, you need to be exposed to real-life Japanese. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9903 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Wrong.  It's exactly the same in Chinese. The way you interpreted the phrase character by character was slightly misleading. It should be like this:
超 = Super, ultra. 能 = Be capable of (...) 力 = Strength, power 能力 = Capability 超能力 = Super-capable; a capability that wouldn't be posessed by a normal human; supernatural power; ESP. 超能力者 = A person with supernatural powers; ESPer.
Most likely, he did.
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