| Same question applies to people who watch Chinese or Korean anime etc.. but for Chinese and Korean. I studied Japanese in high school way before I got into anime. Even though I got As in it and found it very straight-forward (we learned up to JLPT N5, maybe a tiny bit beyond that), I didn't really enjoy it. I wasn't super into the culture, and I had a hard time understanding spoken Japanese (so speaking and listening exams were hell for me!) and kanji was kinda hard too. After I graduated, I thought I had forgotten it all, but I started watching anime, I found myself being able to recall a lot of words and understand some sentences! I was so pleased with myself, and this really kicked started my interest in learning Japanese again and I plan to take Japanese units at university now! I really want to be able to understand some anime without subtitles, and reach at least JLPT N3. Have you been inspired to learn Japanese through anime? If so, what level of fluency are you at? Are you able to watch an anime without subtitles? How has learning Japanese impacted your life? Sorry that I've asked so many questions! |
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| No because I have always watched anime in english dub. |
| Yes, I'm around N4 level now, and plan to get to at least N3 level this year. Sometimes I look away from the subtitles to check how much I can understand without subtitles. |
takamonoJan 10, 2022 6:30 AM
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| Yes! I remember it as today (it was just a year ago lol :D), watching Death note (although in dub) and telling myself I should probably search for more anime (I almost didn't know DN was anime, but I saw the live action movie which was introduced to me by my friend and I decided to watch the anime because I liked it). Then I discovered there are many other good anime titles and when I started watching in original with subtitles I decided to learn Japanese because I think the language is beautiful! Now I am studying for JLPT N4 exam, and anime is just one small bit of Japanese culture I appreciate and love. |
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| Yes. At one point, I get interested in learning Japanese, the only ways I found to learn it was through Duolingo and other specialized apps. Well, in Duolingo I had to learn the language from English (which is not my first language, so it was somewhat complicated for me); while specialized apps needed wifi, and it occurred to me to try to use them when I didn't have wifi. Actually I am not really interested. Anyway, I understand some simple words and sentences. I know almost all the hiragana characters and like 2 kanjis, but I don't think I even reach a level of Japanese lol |
| id tried learning the language before but never really understood or had a motivation. but after watching some anime i decided if i can learn a few words from each one, i can start there. and here we are. i remember spending all of summer 2020 practicing my kana lol. i dont know what level im at but i can read and write basic stuff, its nice to see how much you can grow when you put the work in |
| You do you, but for me, no. I see no point in learning a language that won't be useful in life unless I use it, which is only if I live in Japan (unless as a hobby). I'm not wasting years of my time-wasting learning a language to just watch anime. Nothing gained from it. I can simply turn on the subtitles, or even more, which it dubbed. But yeah, that just my thought. You do you. I won't look down on the people who do. |
 Status: On A MAL Break _____________________________________________  ＤＯ ＮＯＴ Ｃʟɪᴄᴋ Ｔʜᴇ Ｌɪɴᴋ Ｂᴇʟᴏᴡ: 👉 ʜᴛᴘs://ᴍʏᴀɴɪᴍᴇʟɪsᴛ.ɴᴇᴛ/ᴅᴏ-ɴᴏᴛ-ᴄʟɪᴄᴋ-ᴛʜɪᴤ-ʟɪɴᴋ 👈 _____________________________________________________ |
| Well yeah, anime inspired me to study Japanese. I'm currently learning kanji. |
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| YES!!! so after watching many anime i am able to easily understand japanese conversations ,music and anime without subtitles.. i can also speak enough to survive in japan i took an online test of speaking and listening and got 34% and 68.6% respectively. but yes i cant understand techinical words that arent used in anime so maybe when i am free (after years of college) maybe i will pick it up seriously |
Stawberry Milk Supremacy  |
| Yes, I had given N3 exam back in 2016 but then I just lost interest in Japan and Japanese so I stopped studying. I still stick to reading only raw manga though because fan-translations are garbage. |
| No because I don't see the point in learning it but I appreciate the language. If I were to live in Japan then I'd learn it with passion. |
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| I tried learning but found it too hard and just quit. |
| My waifu is the most wonderful waifu. Mai Valentine. We're freaking out that we're running out of time, but to do what? Should i stop and think of that? Is there something i could do to slow it down? Live in a day for once, instead of watch it sprinting by |
| I took it in high school for 4 years but that was like 17 years ago and I haven't been keeping up on it so I don't remember that much. I remember some stuff like hiragana, katakana and some kanji as well as some short sentences, easy paragraphs and some sentence structures but that's about it. We learned real beginner stuff and it didn't help that my teacher for the first two years didn't teach for shit and got fired due to it. |
Infinite-VoidJan 10, 2022 8:09 AM
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| Well. I don't learn languages very easily, let's start off with that. I dunno why, maybe I'm just really stupid, but learning languages has always been really hard for me. Putting together sentences makes me wanna die on the spot, but I'm semi-okay with learning words for things, if that makes sense? I took Japanese in college, and wow I barely passed with a C. I'm pretty sure that, to learn it, I'm going to need a personal teacher instead or just take things at my own pace instead of a school. ( If anyone's got any good online recommendations, hit me up please :") ) But yeah, it's kinda inspired me to learn, at least a little bit. I don't know a lot, still don't, but it's fun anyway! |
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| Passed N1 a few years ago. It was absolutely worth it, since I enjoy a lot of other media like games or novels and it's useful when I'm in Japan as well. I don't think it's really worth it just for anime though, since most anime get translated these days. Of course a lot of nuances are lost in translation, but still I don't think it's worth the effort just for that. |
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| Took a few classes. If I had to, I'd probably put myself somewhere on the level of a 5th grader, and I'm probably over-estimating my abilities. Suffice to say, I'm able to read children's literature, although there are still a ton of vocabulary new to me or which are not yet ingrained in memory. My writing skills isn't great, and my speaking abilities are even worse. Anime isn't a good way to gauge one's abilities for a few reasons. Characters in anime tend to use easier words compared to what one would find in literature, and these are often accompanied by body language. When people think that they understand what the characters are saying, more often than not, it is the body language, not spoken language, that they actually understand. I've written about it in my blog post years ago, and it remains true. As a general rule of thumb, if you can't transcribe what the characters are saying, you don't know what they are saying. I don't care if you have a "gut" feeling or whatever. Saying that you're at N3, N4 or whatever seem meaningless to me. If you haven't taken the test, you may be over-estimating your abilities. If you have passed the test, it only indicates that you were either lucky or had the minimum knowledge required to pass at the time you took the test, and may not necessarily be as knowledgeable due to passage of time (the curse of forgetfulness). I think a more useful approach would be knowing which kinds of books you can read as of now, whether you can understand Japanese sitcoms, and whether you can make written correspondence with a native speaker. In other words, how much Japanese you actually understand and use in real life. Fun fact, children's literature often uses grammar points from N2 to N5. You can probably find "advanced" N1 grammar from time to time as well. |
| You can buy lossless digital music from your favorite Japanese artists on https://ototoy.jp/. The songs are all DRM-free and you can re-download your purchased albums as you wish. Show your support to your favorite artist if you can! ps. if you are looking for Japanese albums, you have to search it in Japanese (not romaji). Just copy and paste the name. For those who want to learn Japanese through anime Resources for learning the language |
| It has inspired me to learn it but I'm too lazy to and I don't want to take classes because my parents don't like asians for whatever reason (Mexican moment lmao). I know only a few words and phrases and I can barely form a sentence (not cohesive though). I think my pronunciation is okay but I can't write or read it lol |
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| Aikatsu! did inspire me to learn Japanese. It’s not an anime about japanese culture/language or something like that. It’s just a genuinely good show, so good that it’s life-changing. 80% of my learning was through visual novels and games. Been doing that for a few years. Now I can read almost anything. Koshi_Inaba said: Good luck. Having N1, it’s like free pass to get mensetsu in most jp company. Though I personally don’t think very highly of the JLPT. まともな文章を書けず、高度な話題の会話に上手く対応できないN1合格者は結構いるし。そういう合格者は、日本語ができるから合格したのではなく、能力試験のためだけに勉強したから合格したに過ぎない。I'm currently at N1 and hoping to pass the JLPT N1 test this year. I think I can read around 1000+ kanji (writing them is another matter lol) and only read raw manga now. I'm studying with a Sensei who is a native Japanese and can talk to him in Japanese 90% of the time now. I'm planning to get a job in Japan one day and in fact, I just applied for a job at the Japanese embassy in my city, where you have to write the CV and cover letter entirely in Japanese. |
Edocchi said: Aikatsu! did inspire me to learn Japanese. It’s not an anime about japanese culture/language or something like that. It’s just a genuinely good show, so good that it’s life-changing. 80% of my learning was through visual novels and games. Been doing that for a few years. Now I can read almost anything. Koshi_Inaba said: Good luck. Having N1, it’s like free pass to get mensetsu in most jp company. Though I personally don’t think very highly of the JLPT. まともな文章を書けず、高度な話題の会話に上手く対応できないN1合格者は結構いるし。そういう合格者は、日本語ができるから合格したのではなく、能力試験のためだけに勉強したから合格したに過ぎない。I'm currently at N1 and hoping to pass the JLPT N1 test this year. I think I can read around 1000+ kanji (writing them is another matter lol) and only read raw manga now. I'm studying with a Sensei who is a native Japanese and can talk to him in Japanese 90% of the time now. I'm planning to get a job in Japan one day and in fact, I just applied for a job at the Japanese embassy in my city, where you have to write the CV and cover letter entirely in Japanese. I think that knowing the language is only part of consideration. Of course, if you don't know the language, you won't get very far. It's difficult to consider employing someone when they can't understand what you tell them. If the job requires strong communication skills, knowledge in the language is even more important. The last thing the employer needs is to lose a potential customer or business partner because an employee didn't learn or know proper keigo. Knowledge of individual kanji is meaningless on its own. What matters is whether you can read and understand the kanji representation of words, to the extent that you can read novels aimed at adults and newspapers. This is kind of like Japanese speakers who pass English tests with flying colors, but can't actually use English in real life. There's the luck factor when it comes to passing a test. People who are borderline can get lucky and pass because they guessed the answers correctly. Although, I would think that if you were able to pass the hardest JLPT level, you should be at least as fluent as a native high school student. |
| You can buy lossless digital music from your favorite Japanese artists on https://ototoy.jp/. The songs are all DRM-free and you can re-download your purchased albums as you wish. Show your support to your favorite artist if you can! ps. if you are looking for Japanese albums, you have to search it in Japanese (not romaji). Just copy and paste the name. For those who want to learn Japanese through anime Resources for learning the language |
| At one time I was interested in the idea, but I didn't really pursue it since I'm lazy. Now I don't have much interest in learning it lol. |
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DreamingBeats said: Edocchi said: Aikatsu! did inspire me to learn Japanese. It’s not an anime about japanese culture/language or something like that. It’s just a genuinely good show, so good that it’s life-changing. 80% of my learning was through visual novels and games. Been doing that for a few years. Now I can read almost anything. Good luck. Having N1, it’s like free pass to get mensetsu in most jp company. Though I personally don’t think very highly of the JLPT. まともな文章を書けず、高度な話題の会話に上手く対応できないN1合格者は結構いるし。そういう合格者は、日本語ができるから合格したのではなく、能力試験のためだけに勉強したから合格したに過ぎない。 I think that knowing the language is only part of consideration. Of course, if you don't know the language, you won't get very far. It's difficult to consider employing someone when they can't understand what you tell them. If the job requires strong communication skills, knowledge in the language is even more important. The last thing the employer needs is to lose a potential customer or business partner because an employee didn't learn or know proper keigo. Knowledge of individual kanji is meaningless on its own. What matters is whether you can read and understand the kanji representation of words, to the extent that you can read novels aimed at adults and newspapers. This is kind of like Japanese speakers who pass English tests with flying colors, but can't actually use English in real life. There's the luck factor when it comes to passing a test. People who are borderline can get lucky and pass because they guessed the answers correctly. Although, I would think that if you were able to pass the hardest JLPT level, you should be at least as fluent as a native high school student. Also the gap between N2 and N1 is fairly wide. N2 asks you some very straightforward questions, as long as you have general understanding of Japanese, passing should not be a problem. And maybe some luck to get the kanji questions that you knew already. Meanwhile N1 would go deeper like you need to know the underlying nuances, what is the speaker/writer implying, or high/low context culture. So, I think you are at least as good as a 中学生 if you can pass the N1. A friend of mine once called it a placebo for gaijin to inflate their confidence. I wouldn't go that far, but I understand the sentiment. Koshi_Inaba said: Edocchi said: Aikatsu! did inspire me to learn Japanese. It’s not an anime about japanese culture/language or something like that. It’s just a genuinely good show, so good that it’s life-changing. 80% of my learning was through visual novels and games. Been doing that for a few years. Now I can read almost anything. Good luck. Having N1, it’s like free pass to get mensetsu in most jp company. Though I personally don’t think very highly of the JLPT. まともな文章を書けず、高度な話題の会話に上手く対応できないN1合格者は結構いるし。そういう合格者は、日本語ができるから合格したのではなく、能力試験のためだけに勉強したから合格したに過ぎない。 Yeah, I know that. That's why I study under an Native Japanese sensei and not just learning from 試験対策 book. Even my sensei advised me to study seriously and not depend on JLPT. DreamingBeats said: I think that knowing the language is only part of consideration. Of course, if you don't know the language, you won't get very far. It's difficult to consider employing someone when they can't understand what you tell them. If the job requires strong communication skills, knowledge in the language is even more important. The last thing the employer needs is to lose a potential customer or business partner because an employee didn't learn or know proper keigo. Knowledge of individual kanji is meaningless on its own. What matters is whether you can read and understand the kanji representation of words, to the extent that you can read novels aimed at adults and newspapers. This is kind of like Japanese speakers who pass English tests with flying colors, but can't actually use English in real life. There's the luck factor when it comes to passing a test. People who are borderline can get lucky and pass because they guessed the answers correctly. Although, I would think that if you were able to pass the hardest JLPT level, you should be at least as fluent as a native high school student. Yeah, most definitely. In fact, most of my study under my native Japanese study includes reading excerpts of Japanese novels, research about global warming and disasters, research on primate behavior etc. and I can generally understand them. So while I'm not "super good" level yet, I believe at least I'm better than average. I think it shouldn't be that hard if you can already finely handle a conversation with a native Japanese. Especially considering its low threshold for passing (100 pts out of 180). |
| Yes, I have. I've technically finished N5, but I had studied from the internet waaaay before I'd taken the classes in a proper institute, so I can speak more Japanese than N5 level. I must say: anime has made it easier. Usually, I don't depend on subtitles when watching anime. Too many things are lost in translation. But, since my vocabulary is still low, I do need subtitles. Doesn't matter if it's Japanese subs or English ones. |
| Kind of. I have researched stuff about the Japanese language. I haven't gone to school for it or anything like that, though. I know a good couple hundreds words in Japanese yet barely any grammar, so I can't actually speak the language and also lack the context to be able to distinguish homophones. |
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| @Edocchi I think your friend meant to say Dunning–Kruger and not placebo. I wouldn't necessarily say that foreigners inflate their confidence. Rather, it's just an effect of D-K. If you know very little on a given subject, you tend to over-estimate your knowledge about it. I already mentioned about body language in my blog, but asides from that. When you talk to native speakers, they will often slow down and use easier vocabulary while praising you for being "good" in Japanese (the typical 日本語が上手ですね response), which only worsens the effect of D-K. |
| You can buy lossless digital music from your favorite Japanese artists on https://ototoy.jp/. The songs are all DRM-free and you can re-download your purchased albums as you wish. Show your support to your favorite artist if you can! ps. if you are looking for Japanese albums, you have to search it in Japanese (not romaji). Just copy and paste the name. For those who want to learn Japanese through anime Resources for learning the language |
| Yeah, I wanted to genuinely learn the language at one point. I took a few classes that focused on conversation topics. It's been a long time since then, so my writing and speaking are probably at the beginner level. I understand a few basic grammar/sentence-structure concepts and recognize hiragana, katakana, and a few kanji. I would like to self-study again, but I'm not that motivated at the moment. |
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| Yes but Japanese car culture is what fully pushed me into learning Japanese at the moment my reading level is much higher than me than my speaking level so i'll say around n4.5 i know 300 kanji and i can understand most basic japanese |
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| There are many reasons but that is one of them. Currently studying for the N3 Exam, so I still consider myself a beginner. Finally started watching anime without subtitles and reading books and manga in Japanese last year. Overall, it has been a fun learning this language. So hopefully, I can continue to get better. |
hai_X_isJan 10, 2022 9:45 PM
| Notice: I read most manga in Japanese now so I'm not sure where you can read in English. Sorry in advance. |
| Yes, anime was the main reason why I learnt Japanese in the first place and I passed N1 about 6 years ago. Not sure I'll manage to make it through if I have to take the exam again though. However, I'm confident that I can watch anime in most genres without subtitle (even though I might not fully understand 100%) or read raw manga as I already did those things several times before. Also, my current job is related to Japanese so you can say that the language has a big impact on my life. |
| Actually, I was already interested in Japan before I became an anime fan. Anime was merely another reason for me to like Japan. I studied japanese for about two years a long time ago. Would've loved to keep studying it, but that option wasn't available at the time. I'd love to go back to studying japanese someday so I can achieve my goal; to speak the language fluently. |
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| nah i always watch in english subs and i fucking suck at learning languages |
| hgwnejmp.ädqwsd |
| My motivation is more for manga. I like having a physical collection of the manga I read but many series are either digital only or have no chance of being localized. I used to use anime as a motivation but it felt rather pointless since most get subbed. I'm probably around N4 level. I just finished the second-year textbook my former university used and am currently using Tobira and Kanji in Context. I completed RTK a couple years ago, and the approach to kanji I recommend is to completely forget all thoughts of getting through all of them because the amount of time it takes is so long you'll just feel like it'll never end. Just focus on making it a part of your daily routine and you'll eventually get there; your goal shouldn't be to finish but to make consistent progress. |
HalcyonSkyJan 11, 2022 7:01 AM
 A society which fails to uphold empathy as its foremost guiding principle is doomed to ignore or even defend the exploitation of its most vulnerable members. |
DreamingBeats said: @Edocchi I think your friend meant to say Dunning–Kruger and not placebo. I wouldn't necessarily say that foreigners inflate their confidence. Rather, it's just an effect of D-K. If you know very little on a given subject, you tend to over-estimate your knowledge about it. I already mentioned about body language in my blog, but asides from that. When you talk to native speakers, they will often slow down and use easier vocabulary while praising you for being "good" in Japanese (the typical 日本語が上手ですね response), which only worsens the effect of D-K. It's the same anyway. And at this point everyone knows that getting jouzu'd means your jp is not good enough. The actual praise is when they say 長いんですか日本は？ or something like that |
| It never had the chance to inspire me because I've always been able to speak it |
 ManWild |
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