FACT: You cannot learn Japanese from Anime

[SSJup81]

Not all fansubs are bad. Yeah, some are, but not all. It is good practice for those learning the language. I notice differences between what's said (sometimes) and what's put up in the actual sub, and it could be a situation where there's just no way of phrasing it in English.

Even on Ninja Warrior [Sasuke], if you listen to the announcer, some of what he says, doesn't match up with the subtitles, and that's something official.

Originally Posted by MMM

Do you think it's possible to learn English just by watching Bugs Bunny or Aqua Team Hunger Force? Of course not. Same with anime. No one says you can't love it, though.

An old friend of mine said that he learned English through Sesame Street. He said it helped him a lot.

[SSJup81]

Originally Posted by Henbaka

On a side note, I don't remember who it was that claimed japanese people mostly always talk in the polite "-masu"-etc way. Well, surely that's true for the professional world where you don't know those you talk with. In my experience (lived 4 months in a mixed gaijin-japanese guesthouse) however, my japanese friends _very_ often used/use the shortest possible way to communicate anything Like "baiku motteiru?" and such things.

So really, I wouldn't have been able to understand any of those things they said with just knowledge of "proper" japanese.

The main problem is that casual speech and short sentences, if getting formal learning, aren't really taught much in the classroom. For me, I still have trouble with forming sentences informally because I've learned formal for so long. I have a time trying to remember the correct endings and such.

That aside, I do feel that watching Japanese programs will help with maybe pronunciation improvement, as well as vocabulary, but, as it was said earlier, one shouldn't try to learn the language solely from that.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by SSJup81

Not all fansubs are bad. Yeah, some are, but not all. It is good practice for those learning the language. I notice differences between what's said (sometimes) and what's put up in the actual sub, and it could be a situation where there's just no way of phrasing it in English.

Even on Ninja Warrior [Sasuke], if you listen to the announcer, some of what he says, doesn't match up with the subtitles, and that's something official.An old friend of mine said that he learned English through Sesame Street. He said it helped him a lot.

I never said all fansubs were bad. I've never watched one, so I don't know if they are good or bad...I am sure there are both.

Ninja Warrior and Ultimate Banzuke are often different in the subtitle. They don't put in things that won't make sense to an English-speaking audience.

And Seseme Street is designed to help people learn English, so that doesn't surprise me.

[Henbaka]

Originally Posted by SSJup81

The main problem is that casual speech and short sentences, if getting formal learning, aren't really taught much in the classroom. For me, I still have trouble with forming sentences informally because I've learned formal for so long. I have a time trying to remember the correct endings and such.

That aside, I do feel that watching Japanese programs will help with maybe pronunciation improvement, as well as vocabulary, but, as it was said earlier, one shouldn't try to learn the language solely from that.

We are on the same page then. Really, to learn _any_ language well, one shouldn't rely on solely once source in my opinion. The best is to get a foundation in class and _not stop there_, but instead watch alot of tv-stuff in the desired language, try to talk to people (even though you might feel you suck), read whatever you can, and so forth...

Although I have to say I know a number of people who skipped the "class" part of that recipe. That's not to say they learned it all from TV, my point is just that it is absolutely possible to learn a language without studying it in school.

I think that practicing conversation also is neglected way too much in classrooms (for japanese as well as other languages). But oh well that's just OT, so I won't go there.

[SSJup81]

Originally Posted by MMM

Ninja Warrior and Ultimate Banzuke are often different in the subtitle. They don't put in things that won't make sense to an English-speaking audience.

Yeah, that's probably it, although, I did notice that they might repeat some things that they don't bother putting it in the subs, like say, a contestant's age or even the number of people who advances to the next round.

I know that Sasuke is broken up here. One episode I noticed, they said in the subtitles that "he's the first person to win today" or whatever, but the actual announcer said that he was the third person to complete the first stage.

And Seseme Street is designed to help people learn English, so that doesn't surprise me.

As surprising as it may sound, I never really noticed that. I'm one of those who never watched it much. As a child, I watched Reading Rainbow and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood a lot compared to Sesame Street.

[duron]

lol i grew up with sesame Street

are the guys doing the Fansubs local japanese guys or foreigners who understands japanese

[Nathan]

On a note to Sesame Street.

I saw it a few times when I was in Japan. They air it Saturday mornings 1/2 in Japanese, 1/2 in English.

Yes, I did sometimes use children's programming to study. It actually comes in handy. I still sometimes refer to a children's story book to help myself understand simple sentence structures.

[ChisaChi]

I agree with the general consensus - Japanese media might be good for some degree of listening practice and for picking up random words, but when it comes to learning a language properly to a useful extent it really isn't enough.

I'm an anime fan and in my second year of studying Japanese part time, so I can relate to people who find the stiltedness of -masu and -desu forms a bit frustrating and hard to relate back to anime or the way Japanese friends speak... but those formal forms give a solid basis that let you easily convert to other forms, whereas if you start straight from plain form it would be harder to make it more formal, I think. It helps a lot to know the rules and structure behind things rather than disjointed words and phrases without any background.