Learning Japanese via Anime isn't easy
I'm not actively learning Japanese via anime. But it is a tool in my arsenal. I know a bunch of sites recommend against it, or, even worse (as I've discovered), try to find ways to make it work.
Don't get me wrong, watching anime isn't useless if you're learning the language. In fact, it is a great reinforcement tool. But, I think in most cases, that is where it should end. And I hope to outline why in this post. I'll also, try and outline use cases where it could work.
My problem with Anime is a simple one. Translations are too rough and inconsistent in quality and approach. So, as a standalone tool for learning a language it is pretty terrible. You would need to immerse yourself in it, in an engaging way, for the bulk of your days, every day for longer than it would likely take you to learn via other methods. And that inconsistency isn't just from Anime to Anime. It can even be within a single season of a single series.
Keep in mind, most translations these days come from companies like Funimation or Crunchyroll. There are certainly independent groups out there, but they are by no means much different in the following respect; they work as a team. In other words, it isn't always the same person translating.
That wouldn't be a huge problem in and of itself. But, what I've found is that the translations are more than just direct translations. And, by direct I don't mean literal. I mean, a lot of times the translators are actually adding to or changing the original dialog. Some times it is because the literal translation doesn't really have a good direct translation. But other times it is because the writers are trying to preserve the "feel" or meaning of the translations. And some times they go overboard.
If you watch a few episodes of a few different Animes, and you know what you're looking for, you'll find the simplest examples quickly. A simple はい becomes a small sentence. Names get added or omitted all of the time. A simple grunt, not even Japanese words, getting translated as full sentences.
With a literal translation, the show probably wouldn't be enjoyable to anyone other than those trying to learn the language, so it isn't done that way. But that would probably be the most efficient, especially if direct translations were supplied as well. Then, you could identify words and their associated meanings. Figure out how conjugation worked, etc... Even with JUST direct translations it could still work to some degree, after all, most direct translations are just literal translations with words arranged more appropriately and with the appropriate grammar for the target language. Patterns would still be fairly evident.
But, with Anime translations, there is simply too much artistic license being used though. Some times I understand the changes, but honestly, far more often than not it feels like the translators know that Japanese omit more words than Westerners and so they simply take every Japanese sentence they see and add as much crap to it as they can. In far too many cases I hear sentences being altered beyond a simple direct translation in ways which seem not only in-necessary, but in many cases alter the feel beyond the original author's intent.
The example I had most recently comes from 十二大戦 (Juni Taisen: Zodiac Warriors). Unfortunately I don't remember the specifics. But, I remember the situation and what I felt wrong about it; Tiger was drunk at a bar in a flashback, the Bartender asks a question and Tiger gives a brief response in Japanese. Tiger's character likes to numb herself from the world with Alcohol. She is young. And pretty much always terse. Her response in Japanese was perfect for her character. It was something like 2-3 words of rough simple language. It not only fit the character, it fit the scene where she was drunk out of her mind and not very talkative. The English translation was a long, somewhat eloquent sentence. It didn't contain a direct translation of ANTHING said in Japanese and the directly translation of the Japanese would have come over perfectly fine in English, and fit the mood.
Put simply, there was no reason at all to fluff up the translation, but the translator did so anyway. If I were trying to translate my way back from English to the Japanese sentence... I'd never get there. Not even if I took the English sentence and dropped all excess detail I could. If I was trying to use Anime as my sole learning tool, I'd have hit a roadblock on this translation. And the best case is that I'd simply know to walk away feeling confused, but the worst case is that I would actually try and find a way to associate the Japanese I heard with the translated English.
This comes back to using Anime to learn Japanese. The one site I found (Nihongo Shark had an article on it) came with recommendations of tools and strategy. And I can't really disagree with the conclusions. Note: they weren't really keen on people using Anime either. They just stressed that you needed to get a lot of information in place and make sure you understood everything. Basically, you needed the anime itself, in Japanese and subtitles for both Japanese and English.
But here is where several problems start. I tried this approach. I got subtitles from various locations and it became difficult to be sure everything line up both with the other sets of subtitles and with the audio. Added on top of that is that fact the English subtitles suffered all of the above translation problems. Now, all of a sudden, you, the person learning Japanese needs to do your own verification of the content before you can even study.
Dead in the water.
When you consider the rather vast differences between English and Japanese and the existence of phrases and words with no simple translation it is likely impossible for most beginners to verify on their own.
I've been at this a year now. I probably could have gotten to this stage sooner with a more structured approach. But, we're still talking in the range of 4-6 months to a year+ before you get where I am. And I'm not really at a point where I could reliably "fix" an entire episode of Anime so that the translations are pure enough to be good training material. I could, at this point, probably muster 85-90% of an Anime with a lot of research. At the end of it, the research getting the deck in order would be more useful to me than using the results.
And therein you'll find out how to decide if you can use Anime to help you learn (in my opinion). If you're a newbie but have someone who can and is willing to help with the translations or, if you're a little more advanced and you're OK with putting forth the time and effort to "fix" the translations and are also OK with the fact that the effort to fix the translations will end up being more benefit than anything else, then it is probably OK to use Anime as a learning tool.
Otherwise, I think it is perfectly fine to leave Anime as a form of enjoyment and reinforcement. I'm not analyzing every moment of every Anime. I invest as much effort in translating as I can afford without taking away from my enjoyment. This helps to track how readily I'm picking up on the language. Most times it is as simple as listening AND reading AND trying to match key words I know I should know from either the English to the Japanese or vice versa.
Another thing which might serve as a improvement over the things like Anki decks or other more standardized approaches is finding something you can watch multiple times. Watch it once with subtitles on, then watch it with them off a few times and keep that up. I don't think it is great as the sole way to practice. But, by not having the subtitles up on subsequent passes through you're likely to remember the gist of what was said, but not the translations supplied allowing you to focus on what the characters are actually saying. It is like taking Anime watching as a reinforcement tool to a whole new level.
So, there you have it. Why I don't think Anime is a great tool in itself for learning Japanese, but outlining ways in which it can be useful.
Don't get me wrong, watching anime isn't useless if you're learning the language. In fact, it is a great reinforcement tool. But, I think in most cases, that is where it should end. And I hope to outline why in this post. I'll also, try and outline use cases where it could work.
My problem with Anime is a simple one. Translations are too rough and inconsistent in quality and approach. So, as a standalone tool for learning a language it is pretty terrible. You would need to immerse yourself in it, in an engaging way, for the bulk of your days, every day for longer than it would likely take you to learn via other methods. And that inconsistency isn't just from Anime to Anime. It can even be within a single season of a single series.
Keep in mind, most translations these days come from companies like Funimation or Crunchyroll. There are certainly independent groups out there, but they are by no means much different in the following respect; they work as a team. In other words, it isn't always the same person translating.
That wouldn't be a huge problem in and of itself. But, what I've found is that the translations are more than just direct translations. And, by direct I don't mean literal. I mean, a lot of times the translators are actually adding to or changing the original dialog. Some times it is because the literal translation doesn't really have a good direct translation. But other times it is because the writers are trying to preserve the "feel" or meaning of the translations. And some times they go overboard.
If you watch a few episodes of a few different Animes, and you know what you're looking for, you'll find the simplest examples quickly. A simple はい becomes a small sentence. Names get added or omitted all of the time. A simple grunt, not even Japanese words, getting translated as full sentences.
With a literal translation, the show probably wouldn't be enjoyable to anyone other than those trying to learn the language, so it isn't done that way. But that would probably be the most efficient, especially if direct translations were supplied as well. Then, you could identify words and their associated meanings. Figure out how conjugation worked, etc... Even with JUST direct translations it could still work to some degree, after all, most direct translations are just literal translations with words arranged more appropriately and with the appropriate grammar for the target language. Patterns would still be fairly evident.
But, with Anime translations, there is simply too much artistic license being used though. Some times I understand the changes, but honestly, far more often than not it feels like the translators know that Japanese omit more words than Westerners and so they simply take every Japanese sentence they see and add as much crap to it as they can. In far too many cases I hear sentences being altered beyond a simple direct translation in ways which seem not only in-necessary, but in many cases alter the feel beyond the original author's intent.
The example I had most recently comes from 十二大戦 (Juni Taisen: Zodiac Warriors). Unfortunately I don't remember the specifics. But, I remember the situation and what I felt wrong about it; Tiger was drunk at a bar in a flashback, the Bartender asks a question and Tiger gives a brief response in Japanese. Tiger's character likes to numb herself from the world with Alcohol. She is young. And pretty much always terse. Her response in Japanese was perfect for her character. It was something like 2-3 words of rough simple language. It not only fit the character, it fit the scene where she was drunk out of her mind and not very talkative. The English translation was a long, somewhat eloquent sentence. It didn't contain a direct translation of ANTHING said in Japanese and the directly translation of the Japanese would have come over perfectly fine in English, and fit the mood.
Put simply, there was no reason at all to fluff up the translation, but the translator did so anyway. If I were trying to translate my way back from English to the Japanese sentence... I'd never get there. Not even if I took the English sentence and dropped all excess detail I could. If I was trying to use Anime as my sole learning tool, I'd have hit a roadblock on this translation. And the best case is that I'd simply know to walk away feeling confused, but the worst case is that I would actually try and find a way to associate the Japanese I heard with the translated English.
This comes back to using Anime to learn Japanese. The one site I found (Nihongo Shark had an article on it) came with recommendations of tools and strategy. And I can't really disagree with the conclusions. Note: they weren't really keen on people using Anime either. They just stressed that you needed to get a lot of information in place and make sure you understood everything. Basically, you needed the anime itself, in Japanese and subtitles for both Japanese and English.
But here is where several problems start. I tried this approach. I got subtitles from various locations and it became difficult to be sure everything line up both with the other sets of subtitles and with the audio. Added on top of that is that fact the English subtitles suffered all of the above translation problems. Now, all of a sudden, you, the person learning Japanese needs to do your own verification of the content before you can even study.
Dead in the water.
When you consider the rather vast differences between English and Japanese and the existence of phrases and words with no simple translation it is likely impossible for most beginners to verify on their own.
I've been at this a year now. I probably could have gotten to this stage sooner with a more structured approach. But, we're still talking in the range of 4-6 months to a year+ before you get where I am. And I'm not really at a point where I could reliably "fix" an entire episode of Anime so that the translations are pure enough to be good training material. I could, at this point, probably muster 85-90% of an Anime with a lot of research. At the end of it, the research getting the deck in order would be more useful to me than using the results.
And therein you'll find out how to decide if you can use Anime to help you learn (in my opinion). If you're a newbie but have someone who can and is willing to help with the translations or, if you're a little more advanced and you're OK with putting forth the time and effort to "fix" the translations and are also OK with the fact that the effort to fix the translations will end up being more benefit than anything else, then it is probably OK to use Anime as a learning tool.
Otherwise, I think it is perfectly fine to leave Anime as a form of enjoyment and reinforcement. I'm not analyzing every moment of every Anime. I invest as much effort in translating as I can afford without taking away from my enjoyment. This helps to track how readily I'm picking up on the language. Most times it is as simple as listening AND reading AND trying to match key words I know I should know from either the English to the Japanese or vice versa.
Another thing which might serve as a improvement over the things like Anki decks or other more standardized approaches is finding something you can watch multiple times. Watch it once with subtitles on, then watch it with them off a few times and keep that up. I don't think it is great as the sole way to practice. But, by not having the subtitles up on subsequent passes through you're likely to remember the gist of what was said, but not the translations supplied allowing you to focus on what the characters are actually saying. It is like taking Anime watching as a reinforcement tool to a whole new level.
So, there you have it. Why I don't think Anime is a great tool in itself for learning Japanese, but outlining ways in which it can be useful.
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