How recommended is this? What I’ve noticed so far is the audio doesn’t match the subtitles (naturally). Is this better, worse, no difference? I’m having a hard time finding Japanese media (mostly series) that I can stay interested in (and are available with their original audio and subtitles) so I’m thinking of sticking to stuff like Back to the Future. Should I?
5 comments
Japanese film subtitles are subject to strict limits on the number of characters they’re allowed per line, plus in my experience a lot of E to J translations are kind of stiff and unnatural.
Personally I can’t watch overseas media that were dubbed into Japanese, it just sounds … off. Japanese voice acting also tends to be exaggerated and over the top, which might fit some movies but not most.
Frankly between anime, movies of all sorts of genres, vtubers, video games, manga, novels, light novels, comedy, TV series of all sorts of genres, documentaries, general news and so on and so on you really can’t find anything that interests you?!
Maybe learn a language where the culture interests you more?
The media I consume happens to have a lot of English speaking clips translated for the community so I end up watching them and I can’t say it’s passively helpful. It feels like the biggest benefit might be just seeing how they translate English into Japanese and pick up on some useful native phrasing and idiomatic expressions when compared to English.
If you’re struggling to find Japanese content with Japanese subtitles you could either:
– Look up how to add them yourself
– Go without subtitles for pure listening practice, and get your reading practice separately with books
I can’t imagine watching Japanese dubs (with subs that don’t match!) being as instructive or motivating as native content. Though in the end, whatever you’re interested in will work best for you.
It’s fair game, with some caveats. The dubs/subs were made by and for Japanese natives, so it’s especially good for vocab and training your ear for Japanese if nothing else. The benefit is that you already know the material, so you already mostly know what they’re saying which is great for motivation and pacing.
The caveats:
* Translated materials will not give you proper exposure to Japanese culture and mannerisms, which are essential for any serious student of Japanese.
* Translations, especially poor ones, sometimes resort to Japanese-coded English, where it’s technically Japanese but not anything a Japanese speaker would actually say. For example, in English we often say “How are you?” This can be translated to Japanese, but it’s not something Japanese people usually say, especially in the sense of a mindless greeting where you’re not actually asking about their health.