Jdrama and the Japanese Language

Being into japanese culture is great, as it comes with all the dramas, films, food, e.c.t

But how many of you on here have pruposley learned japanese simply to watch the dramas without the need to wait for a fan sub, now dont get me wrong repsect to all the subbers out there you guys & gals do a wonderful job.

But it is very nice to get excited about a drama that is airing after you finishesd work or school then sit down and watch it straight away and enjoy it, in it's native language how it was meant to be listened to.

just thought i would bring this up as i am one who was learning japanese langauge then come across the wonder of drama and tv shows which made me want to learn it even faster.

Responses to this guys would be great, to hear what you guys have done.

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 1:55 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

WELL, i am teaching myself japanese because i love the language and the culture and that was way before getting addicted to japanese dramas. (i was big manga fan and i wanted to be able to read them and understand) but now i also want to learn more and more to be able to fully understand japanese dramas and other programs and can hold a decent conversation when i go to japan.
but it's so true that japanese dramas, are a great way to improve your nihongo. when i look at myself, at very begining, i hardly could understand anything (even though was studing at the same time) but now, i see myself having less need to read subs and can understand at least 40% of what being said just by watching these dramas.
it has also helped to make small conversational sentenses that i was not able to do so before. cheers

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I'm learning Japanese so that I can watch and understand Japanese porn.

Just kidding!

I'm learning Japanese because i should have realized 20+ years ago that it would be a very useful language to know. In Hawaii, knowledge of Japanese opens up a infinite number of opportunities, including:

- Travel industry employment
- Translation services
- Government employment on all levels and sectors
- Japanese girlfriend

Man, why is sex keep popping up... Anyway, the ability to watch Japanese dramas without subtitles is more of a bonus for me.

--- groink

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:43 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

It's more of just a bonus for me, but it is where I first got the idea to study Japanese.

here · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:15 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Recently, there are a lot of people who are beginning to study the language because they are interested in manga or anime. At my high school, there were many students who took classes because they wanted to be illustrators or were huge anime maniacs. I wasn't into that at all, and actually I began taking classes out of accident (I wanted a break from Spanish, which was too easy for an English speaker). After a couple of years of just messing around in Japanese class, I finally got serious about the language itself, and kanji in particular. After high school, I took one year in college, but after that, I wasn't able to fit classes into my schedule. I didn't want to waste those five years of Japanese, so I decided to continue learning on my own and got into dramas, music, etc. Now, i don't know what I would do without Japanese music, television, magazines, books... I cringe at the thought of going back to American TV, as it's just not the same. In fact, I feel completely disconnected from the MTV-watching twenty-something young American male, but I take that as a good thing. Laugh

Nowadays, I'm not learning for anything in particular, but it gives me some enjoyment and keeps my mind going. It also gives you a whole different cultural perspective that you wouldn't have access to otherwise. Besides, you never know when a second language could turn out to be a huge asset in a career. To get back on topic though, it always helps to have some form of motivation when you are trying to learn the language. It could be something popular like anime or manga, or something more unusual like Zen or sumo. Whatever it is, it's good to have.

With regard to dramas and other TV shows, they're always much better without subs... Subs take your eyes away from the action and can't always convey everything that's really being said. For intermediate learners, I really recommend variety shows, as you get quite a bit of pop culture in and a lot of them, like HEYx3, show the Japanese on the bottom, so you get listening and reading comprehension at the same time. Besides, I find them more entertaining than your average drama--most of the dramas nowadays are hit or miss. I also recommend getting magazines or books, or visiting news sites like asahi.com, as that's probably the easiest way to pick up vocabulary and you can go at your own pace without feeling rushed. I realize books and such aren't easy for some people if they don't have something like a Kinokuniya nearby, but college libraries are also a good place to try.

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:59 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Doramas and variety shows are great for increasing your listening skills, they get you used to hearing the language and you understand how to use certain everyday words and phrases. A word of warning though, you should try and cultivate a japanese friend in order to run things by them. There are words/phrases that are gender specific so you japanese could not sound as...manly...as you think it might. (= If you don't have the benefit of a japanese friend pay attention to who says a certain phrase/word and if the other sex says it at all (and make sure they are not an okama (= ).

I didn't start with dorama though, I started watching anime about...my god has it been that long...20 years ago. Bootlegs were life back then, and you were damn lucky if they were subtitled. It's great to see how the community (anime/manga/dorama) has grown since then.

I was off and on again with my Japanese, finally really settled down to seriously study it a couple years ago. I finally moved to Japan last year. I am now married (yes she is Japanese) and enjoying my new life here.

A couple hints on the language:

Romaji is the devil, stay with hiragana and katakana. Also, you may be surprised how often katakana is used so do not neglect it. Also, jump in with kanji as soon as possible. It is a great way to learn new vocabulary, and learning it is actually fun. (= Little practice books for elementary school children are great things to use. Simple sentences with beginner kanji.

The first thing you should master is pronunciation, once you have that you can say everything and hopefully eventually you won't sound like a gaijin. I know people who have lived in Japan for over 5 years and though they can speak Japanese better, their pronunciation is much worse than mine. I drilled my pronunciation all the time when I started. It's so easy to do compared to English. Just because you might look like a gaijin doesn't mean you need to sound like one. ;)

Don't split your attention among different learning books. Research, pick one and stick with it. I recommend Genki as it suits my learning style and tastes. There are other good ones out there.

Don't take anything that you read in textbooks/etc as 100% accurate. I have found every book I have ever read/studied has mistakes or misleading definitions in it. Always double check things with a native speaker if possible. Some words are used very definitely then some books indicate or there may be an English word that translates into 2 or more Japanese words and you should know how and when to use them.

I was never into manga before I came to Japan, but I am picking it up. That is another good practice tool. You could read the English translation and then self-translate a Japanese copy.

SomethingI use to practice my Japanese are cookbooks, I do 99% of the cooking here so learning to read a recipe is important. (=

Anyways, Japanese is fun. Enjoy it. If you really want to learn it though get your a$$ over here. (=

Any other gaijin in Japan out there? (= Drop me a line.

Cheers,

Kendobc

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:46 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I'm about to tackle basic Japanese I on a more serious level - for now, going to self-study.

I was never into anime/manga and most likely, never will. Other than DA, I watch various shows on TV-Japan from documentaries to kabuki, SUMO, music shows, news, dorama, etc... - it helps me pickup pronunciation, intonation, and slang words. I don't understand everything but can identify lots of common phrases, slang words. And of course, a daily dose of Japanese music from The Brilliant Green (can't live without it).

I know it's not easy, and will take years... but if this daily effort of mine helps me get a clue of what Motokariya Yuika (本仮屋ユイカ) writes on her blog, then its all good, baby! Smile

And lastly, I concur what groink mentioned about the opportunities available as a result of being familiar with the language.

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:38 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

actualy watching j-drama was added last to the reasons i want to learn japanese

in the netherlands they aired dragonballz on tv, then some years alter around 1999 when i was bored i remembered the show and looked it up on internet and watched the eps then in ugly real media format.
somehow i found out there where other anime shows, but did not realy watch much until a few years later around 2003, when i got unemployed and got realy bored, so i went to look for entertainment and found a lot of subbed anime episode and watched an AWEFULL lot.

by this time i got a little curious about japanese also in this time i watched hikaru no go and thought the game rocked, this lead to mine second japanese related passion, the board game of GO(igo) its mine big passion (translated)and i think i will never grow bored of it and play it for the rest of mine life. im now a dutch NIDAN, what equals about GODAN in japan so if there are other go players here you can always challenge me to a game! or i can teach you if you want to learn the game!

around this time i also got into translated manga and some time later i found the "forbidden"world of (translated)h-games, i supose i am only human Smile

by this time those various things together made me interrested in the japanese language, of course by this time i picked up the standard "onii-san" words, but it was not until the end 2005 that i seriously considered learning japanese.

in 2007 i got serious about learning japanese and started to make real efforts to learn the language.
part of this was the deccision that in order to learn japanese i should use real-life sources, in other words japanese tv so that is when i found d-addicts and joined up.
sincesome time i am also watching eps without sub.
although this is a lot harder and i often cant follow things, i notice that becouse i must active try to understand it learning goes faster.

mine japanese learning activities now are:

watching anime
watching dorama
learning words with wordlists in anki
reading the japanese graded books level 2 and 3
playing the game clannad untranslated(i have to look up a lot)
reading manga in japanese(also have to look up a lot)

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:07 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Yeah I really want to start self learning Japanese as well but not sure where to start. Any advice anyone? It would be much appreciated. Thanks. Big Smile

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:37 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:55 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:15 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I watched Japanese anime for more than a year thanks to that i now understand 30%- 60% what is being said in the Jdramas

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:29 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

So true, I wanted to understand Japanese so that I don't have to wait for subs or scanlators to read or watch my favorite animes or mangas. I took 2 quarters of Japanese in college and learned Hiragana, Katakana and learned like 2000 Kanji characters. But because I haven't taken the class for so long, I'm forgetting how to write it. But I understand like 70-80% of non-subbed jdoramas. Well at least the non-business or non-historical ones like Hanakimi.

Dang, those 2000 Kanji characters are so hard to remember. I think I only remember the kanji for 1-10, family members, lol that's it right now. I'm so slow learning a new language Sad

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 9:44 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I'd just like to defer slightly from what sandersmc said... be wary of the timeframes he's given. I've lived in Japan for 2 years and only now do I feel I have a communicative grasp on the language (I'm a little beyond level 3 on the JLPT, if that means anything to anyone).

Of course, this depends on what exactly you're studying, how hard you study (I study an hour or two every day), how much you practice and what kind of learner you are. But don't be frightened off if you don't learn everything in the times he's given. Smile

I, for instance, only felt I had a proper, firm grasp on the kana after 2 months. Admittedly, I didn't study very hard back then, but it does take time to commit things to memory properly. Smile

Anyway... I agree with most of what he said. Try to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible. It's also helpful to get yourself a couple of textbooks so you have some sort of structure. There are loads available.

And that's totally off-topic! Haha. For me it's kind of the opposite - I use JDrama as a means of studying Japanese - I usually watch stuff on TV first, and then download it with subs to see how correct or how far beyond correct I was in my understanding. ^_^

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:50 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I used to be a complete Anime Otaku, interested in everything Japanese - but finally outgrew it. (I even managed a 110 episode marathon of Naruto once....Stupid holidays Goggle eyes

)

Now I have a more relaxed interest in the Japanese language. I know a few useful phrases (Very useful indeed when you hear schoolmates spewing out random sentences from X, Y or Z anime)