i agree 100%

I shall remember this!
...all of a sudden, a part in Hana Kimi, where a girl is talking in Japanese and they all give her weird looks and ask her where she learned her Japanese, and she said from some Anime, makes sense...

FACT: FALSE!!! i know some one that learned japanese from anime...

i hate to somewhat cmpletely disagree with you, but i shall.
ive been studying japanese language for a year now, and started doing so when i got transferred here in japan.

im an anime fan since i was young and so i can relate with this topic.

yes, you WONT learn REAL japanese from anime, jdrama and manga.
the reason is already stated by the topic starter.

japanese always tend to use polite language, aka TEINEI Go. those form of verbs ending in -masu, -desu.
they even have words that express extreme humbleness and politeness like irrasshaimase, itadakimasu etc. wherein in anime you will often here the plain verbs, plain unpolite words.
so if you learn those words, and try to apply it here in japan, unless the one your talking to is close or intimate to u, you will be marked as impolite.
and unless you know how to conjugate verbs like from "taberu na!" to making it polite like "tabenaide kudasai".. unless you know how to manipulate those verbs, you will learn unpolite japanese which will mark u as a rude foreigner.

and yeah, youll only get to learn words, but not the real grammar.
smetimes the translation is not the actual meaning of the sentence. its not always direct, thus misleading many people.

my 2 / 3 cents.

if thats from anime alone, then i can say thats impossible. since it will take u months if not years to learn nihongo by classes and books..

ive been here for a year now and i have friends here who have been here before me and i know how hard it is. but its fun to watch anime now cause i can now understand them smetimes without looking at the subtitles.

I'd love to hear him speak.

Ugh.. Idiot otakus at my school think Death Note and InuYasha are the "keys" to the doors of Japanese language. =_= It makes the desire for me to move away from Texas that much more severe. >.<

Well anime does help with SOME listening skills and helps you familiarize yourself with some of the language.

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You can not learn the Japanese language via anime/drama and other media.You maybe able to learn some words and informal speech, however its impossible to just up and one day deside to watch nothing but anime to learn from it. I have been learning Japanese for about a year now and when I watch subbed anime I often find that things are mis-translated or half-assed translations.

I know a person who was learning Japanese though anime...for 5 months. She was bragging and said to another.

"Watashi wa nihongo ga desu ka?" She said that it ment "Do you know japanese." She didn't even know how to say you or myself...

You can't go around using ore, teme, omae to everyone. You will just look like a fool. When talking to others I use watashi when talking to my friends I use boku I haven't used ore yet and I haven't seen a need to at the moment.

As far as listening practice. JDramas, games shows, cooking shows, talk shows. those I feel are good.

Shouldn't it have been, "Anata wa nihongo ga shirimasuka?"

YA. I think she was aiming for "Anata wa nihongo ga wakarimasu ka?" though.

The only things she said correct were nihongo and ka.

what do you mean?

That goes without saying.

I would love to hear her ask me "I am the Japanese language?"

A note of the translations - Sometimes they're off because the translator was in a rush, or perchance lazy, othertimes its just what would fit better in English. I know there are quite a few common Japanese phrases that you just wouldn't say in English.

Easiest example:　頑張りましょう (ganbarimashou)

How often would you say "Lets do our best!" at a sporting event? "Let's kick some ass!" would be more likely.

What about during a test?

I'm sure MMM will probably correct me, but direct translation does not always work. Most non-professional translating will be interpretative at best.

Often Animes and even some JDRAMA's are not subbed correctly. Granted you get whats going on. But sometimes words are added, sentences are moved around or even something like swear words are thrown in to make it cooler. Go fig on that one.


The only thing you learn from an anime is how to talk like an idiot. Don't get me wrong, I love anime(the good kind) so I'm not knocking it at all.

As said a few comments up, try watching music shows(HEYx3 is full of slang, that you would probably learn or use with close friends) Live action movies, Drama or the News(you can practice listening practice with the News since they use formal speech):vsign:

The trick with any translation is knowing your audience. Anime isn't intended to be used as study guides, so the translations aren't always accurate. It has nothing to do with being in a rush or laziness when it comes to professional translators doing legally licensed translations (I can't comment on fansubs). You have limitations in time and space, so sometimes what the character is saying in the screen in Japanese and what is written below isn't the same thing.

so therefore, please go easy on the translators

Again I can't speak for fan-subs but professional translators won't have a very long career if they can't get projects done on time or are lazy.

With anime, expecially, there are a dozen or more hands touching the script, besides the translator...

My comments were in reference to fan-subbed translations. Sorry if it came of as me insulting professional translators. Studying a language even for a year makes you realize the amount of time and effort professional translation takes.

In most cases with fan-subs, its not a professional translator. It's usually multiple hands, as stated, and in some cases its also between people that don't fully understand the other's language. For example, a Japanese national assisting English-speakers, without a solid grasp on English or the English speakers not having a solid grasp on Japanese, or even a 3rd language being used as the middle ground.
Fansubbers deal with limited resources, and so for the most part they are not direct. I respect the amount of personal time they invest into the project, but its simply not what a professional would have done. Then again, the fansubbers aren't being paid to be accurate, unlike the professional.

If a fansubber is wrong, someone somewhere gets upset. If a professional is wrong, someone somewhere gets upset and doesn't get a contract.

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In language learning, accuracy is the most important thing.

In anime, entertaining the audience is the most important thing, not accuracy.

Therefore I believe the title of OP is right on.


And thanks for clarifying, Nathan. I've never watched a fan-subbed anime, but have heard horror stories.

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Yare-yare so that's why! no matter how many years i have been watching Animes, in japanese, i could only utter bits & pieces of it :p

I still luv Anime though :)

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.

eeeeh wassup doc! lol i don't think so too :D

I could see someone picking up a word or two out of anime, maybe a couple short phrases, but never a much more. Mainly because the grammar of Japanese is so different from English.

First of all let me just say that I agree with the statement that you can not and should not try to learn japanese completely from TV shows of any kind.

However I agree just as much with those who say that it is a good tool for listening practice, and for picking up phrases and words you otherwise wouldn't.

In Sweden, we learn english in school from an early age, however this is true for many countries. But because we don't dub TV, atleast I personally have learned massive amounts of english that I wouldn't just by going to school. Try comparing our english knowledge to countries who dub all tv shows, and see who you'd rather try to have a conversation with.


"Japanese is not like english", you say. Of course it's not. But it's not like english doesn't have levels of politeness, much like japanese. You wouldn't get far in your career by learning english from The Wire or OZ, and then going to a job interview talking "yo, whazzaa!! can i aks if i'm be gettin this j-o-b or nawh?".

My point just beeing that watching shows enhances your language skills, if used correctly. I think you SHOULD try to broaden any language you're learning with TV/plays/shows/whateverthehellyoucanfind, just understand what it is you're learning!

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.

I think you are selling people a bit short. Just because the grammar is different won't mean people cant comprehend it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.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.

lol i grew up with sesame Street :p

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

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.

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.