Does watching anime with japanese subtitles seriously help?
I obviously barely understand anything and they speak so fast for me to catch anything, I do understand the context of some scenes but might miss the entire plot for the anime (Which I dont really care about since I am watching to learn).
Has anyone tried this method of input before? I might seem dumb asking such a question but you could understand why It would be hard for me to understand how its hard to eventually get the hang of it.
6 comments
Watching with subs helps you get used to the sounds while being able a little more than you would without subs.
If you don’t do a lot of reading I would recommend doing a lot more comprehensive listening…meaning pausing the vid when you don’t understand something so you at least get the overall picture by the end…I find that to help a lot…might initially mean you are pausing every other sentence or every sentence, but it does help and there is that sense of accomplishment of being able to get through an entire episode anime in full Japanese and still understand the gist 🙂
> I obviously barely understand anything and they speak so fast for me to catch anything, I do understand the context of some scenes but might miss the entire plot for the anime (Which I dont really care about since I am watching to learn).
At your level, the more look ups you do, the more helpful it will be. If you look up nothing and rely solely on context, you will whitenoise most of the content and learn very little if anything.
If you’re a higher level (like after you’ve read a few LNs or VNs) with lopsided skills, jp subs can help you bridge the gap between what you miss when spoken but understand when written.
I personally like to wat h dramas as the conversations tend to be more realistic and somewhat more relevant…but when I do watch anime I still am able to learn and pick up on things…
If you can’t really understand them, then it’s not gonna end up being very useful. I’d say immersion only really helps once you have a decent understanding of the sentences being said, so you should probably focus more on studying using other methods for now. Although if you’re willing to, you could watch anime for children since they speak slower and say simpler sentences
I can share my experience. I’ve been learning slowly over the last 9 months, self-study + attending a class in a language school. In terms of progress I’m at Genki II 2nd chapter, but I’ve come across more advanced material just from osmosis, watching youtube, reading tae kim, etc. I also can read Kanji since I spent 12 years learning mandarin in school.
I tried watching anime with japanese subtitles but it wasn’t fun. I realized I was fully focused on reading instead of watching what’s happening on screen. It wasn’t helping my listening skills either. I guess if you treat it like japanese reading practice then that’s fine.
I then tried watching without subtitles at all, no english nor japanese subs. I found I actually could understand 30-40% of stuff for a slower moving anime. The rest I could gather from context, or rewinding and turning on english subs occasionally.
So that’s what I’m going to do from now on.
Anime with subs helps a lot, but it depends on how much you’re willing to look up. The more you look up, the more comprehensible it becomes, and the more you learn.