Hello guys,
we all watch animes and we all are interested in the japanese language and culture to some extent. And most of us have an ingrained aversion against dubs of any kinds, because lets face it, japanese can really put their heart into voicing the characters. With the english dub I often have the feeling the voice actors have the attitude: "Oh geez, I am voicing a lame cartoon character. I hope my family and friends wont find out..." or maybe it is a question of costs, I dunno. Either way, I love to watch my animes in original, because the quality is much better and also for me listening to japanese is half the fun of an anime.
Now.... I have been watching animes for the past 6 years and I remember how in the beginning I had the aspiration to become fluent in japanse in 2-3 years max. I thought that if I will watch anime on a daily basis, I must learn it quickly. It was an unrealistic ambition. Maybe, just maybe if japanese was an european language, I might have learned it by now, but japanese isnt an european language. It has a completely different structure and logic and without taking any classes, it is impossible to learn from just listening to it.
In the past there used to be a relatively active thread on my old forum about learning japanese. Some people where really enthusiastic about wanting to learn it and not only took classes at their university, but even learned kanjis. I admired that, I just dont have the patience to learn how to read and write in japanese.
I got into thinking about how proficient you can get from just listening to japanese. Sometimes, I watch my animes raw and I understand 80-90% of the conversations and in other episodes (even in the same anime) I barely know what the hell they are talking about. It really depends on the complexity of the dialogues.
So here are my questions:
1. Do you take any classes or try actively to improve your japanese?
2. Do you try to catch new vocabulary by closely listening to the japanese language while watching animes?
3. How good is your japanese after watching anime for several years? Do you think you will ever reach a level where you wont need subtitles?
4. What are your methods to work on your japanese? Do you use an online dictionary or write down vocabulary? laugh.gif
5. Do you care at all? I know a few people who dont bother with japanese at all and look at me like I am crazy for trying to learn it. But I think it would be really nice one day to be able to fully concentrate on the plot without having to switch between reading and watching. Also, it may be an ego thing with me. I just want to prove to myself I can do it, but at the same time I feel discouraged from taking classes in japanese, which would of course be the best way to get to where I want to be.
Let me know your thoughts biggrin.gif
we all watch animes and we all are interested in the japanese language and culture to some extent. And most of us have an ingrained aversion against dubs of any kinds, because lets face it, japanese can really put their heart into voicing the characters. With the english dub I often have the feeling the voice actors have the attitude: "Oh geez, I am voicing a lame cartoon character. I hope my family and friends wont find out..." or maybe it is a question of costs, I dunno. Either way, I love to watch my animes in original, because the quality is much better and also for me listening to japanese is half the fun of an anime.
Now.... I have been watching animes for the past 6 years and I remember how in the beginning I had the aspiration to become fluent in japanse in 2-3 years max. I thought that if I will watch anime on a daily basis, I must learn it quickly. It was an unrealistic ambition. Maybe, just maybe if japanese was an european language, I might have learned it by now, but japanese isnt an european language. It has a completely different structure and logic and without taking any classes, it is impossible to learn from just listening to it.
In the past there used to be a relatively active thread on my old forum about learning japanese. Some people where really enthusiastic about wanting to learn it and not only took classes at their university, but even learned kanjis. I admired that, I just dont have the patience to learn how to read and write in japanese.
I got into thinking about how proficient you can get from just listening to japanese. Sometimes, I watch my animes raw and I understand 80-90% of the conversations and in other episodes (even in the same anime) I barely know what the hell they are talking about. It really depends on the complexity of the dialogues.
So here are my questions:
1. Do you take any classes or try actively to improve your japanese?
2. Do you try to catch new vocabulary by closely listening to the japanese language while watching animes?
3. How good is your japanese after watching anime for several years? Do you think you will ever reach a level where you wont need subtitles?
4. What are your methods to work on your japanese? Do you use an online dictionary or write down vocabulary? laugh.gif
5. Do you care at all? I know a few people who dont bother with japanese at all and look at me like I am crazy for trying to learn it. But I think it would be really nice one day to be able to fully concentrate on the plot without having to switch between reading and watching. Also, it may be an ego thing with me. I just want to prove to myself I can do it, but at the same time I feel discouraged from taking classes in japanese, which would of course be the best way to get to where I want to be.
Let me know your thoughts biggrin.gif