My wife is native Japanese and we are trying to raise our children to be bilingual while living in America. My kids range from 3- to 10-years old. My wife talks to the kids exclusively in Japanese, and the kids have grown up watching a decent amount of anime in Japanese without any kind of subtitles (e.g., Moomin, Bonobono, Ghibli films, Future Boy Conan, Detective Conan, etc.). Now, my guess is that for some of the more difficult shows (like Detective Conan) they are picking up the gist rather than understanding the dialogue. Maybe that’s true of everything they watch; I’m not sure what it’s like learning two languages as a child!
I’m at a point where I’m wondering if it would be detrimental for their Japanese language development to watch Japanese shows/anime with English subtitles. Because their formal education is in English it’s their dominant language. Ideally I’d like them to watch Japanese material with Japanese subtitles, but they have had zero kanji training and limited kana training (they can probably read elementary-grade stuff written in kana, but their reading speed is halting). For the older kids who are in the thick of elementary school, I’m confident they’d be able to read and understand English subtitles where they would otherwise not understand what is being said in Japanese.
What should I do here? Continue showing them stuff in Japanese without any English subtitles, even if their comprehension of what is happening lags (which may also impair their interest); or, watch in Japanese with English subtitles to increase their understanding of what they’re watching? Is there a middle ground where maybe we start with English subtitles and then switch to Japanese-only on rewatch?
I know for myself that watching with English subtitles has helped me easily enjoy Japanese media, but it has not helped my language development much. I only just recently started watching Japanese media with Japanese subtitles and, while it’s much more work, it definitely has been much more beneficial to my language development. But I’m an older learner; not sure if the dynamic is different for young kids growing up exposed to both languages. And I have the ability to read Japanese subtitles (and, when I don’t know, look up words), which is a skill my kids do not have.
5 comments
Can you define bilingual?
It’s a lot of work and intervention if you define bilingual the way I do: grade/age/experience appropriate fluency, which includes speaking and writing (by hand).
I think you can put the learning in their hands and let them decide what they want to do when it comes to subtitles. My kid will watch the same show dubbed, with subtitles, without, rewind scenes and watch them over and over… and the result is a high level of fluency in both languages. Of course watching tv is only one tool.
Speak Japanese at home.
It works in Hispanic American and Asian American households where the parents and grandparents don’t learn English very quickly because they work among people from the same country they immigrated from.
If you’re not a native speaker but your wife is, develop a routine. She can be the one to fall back to when the kids can’t answer things but you’re learning with them. Even if you are, they don’t know how fluent you actually are.
Flash cards. Wall charts.
Reward systems. Balloons with mystery surprises in them that they get to throw a plastic dart at if they finish a lesson.
A shelf with rewards they can earn after 7 days on their star sticker chart for having practiced. My kids get pokemon cards usually or we rent a movie and get some inexpensive daiso/7-11 type snacks.
My 9 year old sometimes asks for a manga and we get the Japanese version to make a part of her lessons, which also count towards sticker charts.
When a show says familiar phrases and words you’re working on, make it fun by saying them out loud excitedly as if you yourself are excited to recognize it.
Outside of actual book and whiteboard time, make it a group experience, not a curriculum. One that doesn’t turn off.
Play dumb to challenge the kids to teach you things they’re working on and may have recognized. Rewind because YOU don’t get it. Or can’t hear the voice actor properly.
Repeat it incorrectly or translate incorrectly in situations where they’re most likely to be able to help you.
The more fun and mischievous it is, the more they’ll participate.
I am not big on anime but my kids are obviously.
So I’ve been sitting through doctor stone with them and helping them pause to look up words for their “word journal”.
Which is a binder full of cut out cards with vocabulary and where we learned it. As in which episode of which show and who said it.
I hope to do anime impression nights with these cards some day but it hasn’t happened yet.
Oh yah. I do awful anime voiced for my kids a lot and it helps them remember silly catchy phrases or iconic scenes.
I would recommend steering away from English subtitles, purely because English is their dominant language, and if the English is there it will be very tempting for them to read the English and more or less ignore the Japanese audio. They’ll likely start doing this without even realizing it. As humans, we often like to take the path of least resistance. Since their English is better than their Japanese, they’ll most likely start relying on the English, rather than using it as a tool to improve their Japanese.
If you’re worried about their comprehension abilities, I would recommend having your wife watch the show with them and then discuss the episode or movie with them in Japanese afterword, or even pausing mid episode to discuss. “Who was your favorite character? Why? What was your favorite part? Why? Mine was ~. What do you think will happen next?” etc. Having them summarize the plot (as they understood it) is also a good exercise.
This not only checks their comprehension, but also allows them to practice using Japanese to express their thoughts and opinions. It also helps them just become better, more thoughtful consumers of media. Tbh, stuff like this is also worth doing in English. It just helps with building foundational media analysis skills.
As far as general language acquisition goes, you’ll want to approach things differently between your 10 year old and your 3 year old. For your younger kids, you’ll just want to make everything feel like a game, even literacy activities. Sing songs, play games like “I spy” in Japanese, play hiragana karuta, etc.
As your 10 year old approaches adolescence, their motivations will change. Games are still good (shiritori’s great with older kids), but you’ll also want to tap into their intrinsic motivation. They’ll have to *want* to continue improving their Japanese. If they start to loose interest, forcing them to continue engaging with the language will just make them resent it. So how do you tap into their internal motivation? That depends on the kid. I’m an EFL teacher in Japan and I had an 11 year old who memorized the words to the entire The Wellerman sea shanty that was popular on TikTok last summer. They may not even know what it is that interests them yet, but if you come across something that catches their interest, let them run with it. Use that as a vehicle for further learning.
I’m fluent in both because my mum didn’t let me use english as a crutch. She was strict on Japanese only when speaking (no mixed sentences) and we watched shows on tv, anime and movies in Japanese only. Mum would explain anything we didn’t understand as long as we asked.
I also used to study the Japanese curriculum by correspondence and travelled to Japan for short term exchange one a year for about a month at a time.
I attribute these to why I’m significantly more fluent than my other bilingual Japanese friends.
To clarify, we spoke exclusively Japanese with mum and exclusively English with dad from a very early age.