Does watching with SUB help sometimes?

18 comments

1. I believe there have been at least a couple studies comparing learners in three conditions: no subtitles, subtitles also in the target language, and subtitles in the learner’s native language. If I recall correctly, the target-language subtitles cohort showed better vocabulary retention than the no-subtitles group, and the native-language subtitles group learned more or less nothing.

   I’d be great if anyone could dig those studies up, but for now I can say it’s consistent with my experience – even if I intend to study, if the English is there in sight, my brain makes a valiant effort to do as little work as possible.

2. Watch with subs in Japanese only. When in doubt, press pause and look it up.

3. Studies have shown that watching with subs in your native tongue just does not help with language learning. Your brain focuses on the language you know and sort of tunes out the rest. The best way to learn by watching TV is to use subs *in the language you’re learning.” That way you are both hearing the language and seeing the words in that language.

4. >but I am N2 level in Japanese, mined over 11K words, and use anki everyday so I know when the subs is wrong or weird.

   Well that’s why lol. You’re at a level where you now have that meta-insight and can engage with non-Japanese subtitles differently. A beginner has none of that sense. Pretty much all advice is trying to be geared towards those who are absolute ground-zero beginners or at least all encompassing to all levels.

   It’s just not beneficial for a beginner/early intermediate learner to think watching something with English subtitles is a good way to learn. It does so little and ingrains really bad habits foundationally. I will say the advice I hear isn’t to necessarily raw-dog an anime, but at least watch it with Japanese subtitles.

   Like I wouldn’t tell someone to *never* watch an anime ever again with their native language subtitles. If it’s for fun and pleasure, they should enjoy whatever content they want in whichever form.

   But if it’s to learn? That time is simply better spent engaging with material fully in Japanese, whether they need to watch simpler content or just deal with the uncertainty for the time being as a beginner.

5. I’ll be the odd man out and say I’ve had similar experiences. Even early on in my Japanese adventures, listening with English subs would help me identify common words. Even these days I still find it helpful.

6. Nope.

   Anyone who put in effort would receive significant extra benefits just using JP subtitles over EN/Native subtitles. It really is just a zero gain for EN/Native subtitles. The only reason you do it is for entertainment. My brother has been watching Anime (while I stopped decades ago, he continued) and probably has more total hours than me by a long shot. 5-6 thousand hours. We went to a Japanese restaurant and the service staff said ありがとうございました on the way out. He asked me what they said. That is exactly why EN subtitles don’t really help, because they don’t force you to interpret anything about the language. It was how it was for me in the distant past too. Nothing wrong with it, of course. He’s not trying to learn the language. However I committed to learning the language and thus removed any language other than Japanese for my growth. I’ve never had the benefit of being able to reference translations.

7. If I’m watching something that is more difficult than n+1, and it is something of a lot of interest that I’d want to watch multiple times, I’ll listen first with English subs and try as much as I can to understand without looking at the subs. Then, I’ll listen again with Japanese subs, and start looking up words I don’t know. Understanding the story is useful in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th pass.

8. Your brain uses the path of least resistance. Watch something in japanese with subtitles that are in a language you know better than japanese, and your brain will just not work on the japanese at all.

   I do recommend turning on japanese subtitles though. That is helpful.

   I’d also say watching something with english subtitles, and then rewatching that episode with japanese subtitles or no subtitles, can be helpful. Watching it once, so you know what’s going on, will make it easier to pick up on the japanese the second time through.

9. If you mean watching with native language subs instead of Japanese, then no, it’s no help.

   However, if you mean watching with jsubs then yes, it does helps…and I know that’s how I did it. A few years back I would be basically glued to the subs…..this is something I do subconsciously in my NLs too…I always have subs enabled and I always pay attention to them. Some time back, however, I started watching anime without subs and for the first week or so it was a bit of an adjustment….but because I was watching with jsubs for so long (a couple of years) and I don’t really mine words or look up many words in the dictionary anymore, I was able to adjust and now I just watch raw content…..it was a much faster transition to raw than I initially though…..but this showed me that watching with subs was indeed a big help.

10. Although I’ve sworn off consuming content with English subtitles, I’ve taken up using them again.

    I use English subs as a starting point for when I make my own Japanese subtitles for my favourite Japanese films that don’t already have an easily accessible Japanese subtitle online. The reasons I use English subs are that (1) someone has already done the work of timing dialogues, and (2) it occasionally helps me catch a word I can’t make out with my ears.

    …But more often than not, it’s mostly just because I’m too lazy to do the timings myself or to figure out how to get auto-timing to be more accurate.

    Then when I’m done with the project, I just delete the English subtitle file and replace it with the Japanese one and embed it into the video file.

11. I watch with English subtitles, but periodically close my eyes and just listen to the Japanese. With eyes open I really focus on the Japanese and just glance quickly at the subs when necessary. It’s working well enough for me.
    When I watch with native subs, they fly by so fast I can often not even read them, so it’s just like watching without subs at all. And I understand all the simple phrases, but entirely miss the plot.
    For immersion, I much prefer reading.

12. i use language reactor extension. it gives the japanese subtitles + romaji + english and it has a popup dictionary for the captions

13. I don’t think it is. I always point to High School Anime clubs, where members have an interest in learning Japanese, have watched hundreds if not thousands of hours of subtitled anime, and yet still can’t understand more than a couple words.

    Japanese Subtitles are helpful, though, and at N2 it shouldn’t feel like too much work. There was a study recently about that, actually. Indicated that having target language subs on can help with learning, I’ll see if I can find it.

14. Personally, I do dual subtitles. Japanese at the bottom and English at the top.

15. I mean, many of the famous people like Jazzy who became N1 in a short period of time did so by reading visual novels which is essentially like watching anime with subs. Just don’t neglect raw listening and you should be good

16. Well it is really quite simple. You won’t pay much attention to what you hear because reading the subtitles is easier.

17. Subs in what language? Japanese or your natuve lang? Makes a huge difference here.

18. For like 3 years as a teenager i watched an insane amount of anime, mostly in sub, and did not learn anything in japanese beyond the frequently repeated words. Granted I wasnt studying at the time, but it seems like it would be entirely useless to me.
    I recommend watching with Japanese subtitles, Ive been doing that for a few months and I notice a considerable improvement in all aspects of my japanese.