Hey learners-
I have Amazon jp and was thinking of helping my learning strategies by watching jp TV shows with English subtitles and later remove them and start using jp CC as skills improve over the months. I think this is a good idea? Im looking for show suggestions- Im just starting out (I'm still working on mastering hiragana) and I dont want to subscribe / pay for other shows. Suggestions are very much welcomed!
by waywardorbit366
5 comments
I don’t mean to discourage you, but if you don’t even know any vocabulary or grammar yet, you’re not going to understand anything, and all the Japanese will just be a wall of incomprehensible text/white noise for you. The only benefit you could derive out of this is getting used to the way Japanese sounds, but that’s it. For native media consumption to be effective at all, you need to have some sort of base that you can use to navigate the Japanese and fill up any gaps in understanding through dictionary lookups. You can’t fill up gaps when _everything_ is a gap.
Not to say you can’t learn with English subtitles just from a learning perspective it’s not helpful at all to be using English subtitles. As other comment have pointed out, not having any foundation in the language is a much bigger detriment than you believe. If you’re coming from a western language, it takes significantly amount more work to learn the language and it’s just not something you can pick up. You do have to put in a lot of hours of study to build a foundation to make a lot of media more practical.
Check out cijapanese. It’s a (free) comprehensible input website that starts you from zero. I have to stress that you won’t be understanding every word of an anime every time soon, but it’s a great resource to pick up some words and general understanding of the language in an environment specifically built for it.
[Link](https://cijapanese.com/watch)
>was thinking of helping my learning strategies
The number one best way to help your learning strategies is to listen to the advice everybody in this thread is going to give you about the overhaul they need.
You can’t just turn on Japanese TV and remove the subtitles and expect to make… literally any progress at all.
The vast differences in vocabulary and grammar between Japanese and European languages is… so extreme that you will make, effectively, zero progress.
If you’re actually serious about learning Japanese, I recommend starting with something like Genki and/or Kaishi 1.5k.
[Here](https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/wiki/index/startersguide) is the starter’s guide. I recommend reading it.
You have the right idea, getting input, specially over extended amounts of time, is paramount to build comprehension of the language.
That said, the lack of any basis whatsoever is a massive problem, possibly a dealbreaker. In short, our brain acquires new language via an amazing ability of pattern recognition, but we already have a pattern that’s very ingrained, which is English (or whatever you’re native in). Learning a new language, or picking up some nuance, using this form of input at the very begginer stage requires next level of genius.
Still, there are two things to consider:
A) Shows aimed at toddlers, like whatever version of Backyardigans they have as the most mature show, potentially COULD net you some benefit, given they generally use very simple vocabulary, sentence structures, and they talk fairly slower, focus on simple concepts like shapes, colours, fruits, animals… You get the jist.
B) If you like watching japanese content daily, or somewhat regularly, it certainly doesn’t hinder your learning.
For both cases, as long as you continue your studies, you should gradually be able to catch a loose word here and there, and eventually learn some words by listening, subtitles and context. Still, that also requires a foundation.
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